Oujda
Encyclopedia
Oujda is a city in eastern Morocco
with an estimated population of 1 million. The city is located about 15 kilometers west of Algeria
and about 60 kilometers south of the Mediterranean Sea
. It is the capital of the Oriental Region of Morocco and the birthplace of the current Algerian president
, Abdelaziz Bouteflika
. The urban area of Oujda has a beach called Saidia
.
s rather than Romans.
Uqba ibn Nafi
began the Arab conquest of the region, during the reign of the Umayyad Caliphate, a conquest which was completed in AD 705 by Musa bin Nusair
.
The modern city was founded in 994 by Ziri ibn Atiyya
, king of the Zenata
tribes. Further additions were made in 1048.
In the mid 11th century, Oujda acquired prominence through its strategic position on the road east from Sijilmasa
. Throughout the history of the dynasties of the Muslim West, Oujda played an important strategic role among the Merinids, settled in Fes
, in this case as a rear base in their conflict with the Abdalwadid
s of Tlemcen
.
The city was rebuilt in the 13th century by sultan Abu Yusuf Yaqub
. The city experienced great difficulty in making peace with its neighbours to the east, and sometimes to the west, because of its position in respect to the clashes between the Saadi dynasty
and Turks. It was torn between the rulers of Fes and the disputed Tlemcen, and from the 16th century, it was contested by the Alaouite dynasty
of Morocco and the Turks in Algiers. In 1692, Sultan Ismail led in the Turks, who established their hegemony on Algeria. Oujda fell again under Turkish rule in the following century.
The French
occupied it in 1844 and again in 1859. Also to the west is the site of the 1844 major Franco-Moroccan Battle of Isly
. Once Morocco
was occupied by the French
, Oujda was used as a military base to control eastern Morocco. The city grew up along the roads that were built and owes much of its present form to the French.
The Moroccan border with Algeria
is just east of Oujda, on the other side of the border is the Algerian town of Maghnia
. The state of the border crossing depends on relations between the two countries which are often strained.
Gharnati constitutes the musical mode most used in the Moroccan city of Oujda, where besides this musical kind is omnipresent and where one organizes each year in June the International Festival of the Gharnati music. This musical art was preserved mainly in Oujda and Rabat
and near Moroccan-Algerian borders at Tlemcen in Algeria. Like Oran is Oujda the destination of raï
.
The first musician ever to introduce Gharnati music to Morocco in the 1940s was Mohammed Salah Chaabane known as Sheikh Salah. His sons Mohammed and Nasreddine Chaabane carried on his tradition after his death in 1973.
Musicians of (Gharnati) raï include Hamid Bouchnak
.
, English
and Arabic
language and technology university.
, which has connecting flights to Amsterdam, Brussels, Madrid, Marseille and Paris.
The city is the endpoint of the main railroad from Casablanca
via Fes
and Taourirt before the border with Algeria
. There are several day and nighttrains to and from the city linking it to the Western part of the country.
Apart from this raillink and many bus/coach services the city also has an airport
offering both national as international destinations.
in England
due to the huge number of diasporans most of whom originate from villages close to Oujda. Trowbridge has the largest Moroccan community in the UK outside London
.
Trowbridge
, UK, since 2009/10 Lille
, France
Oujda relies heavily on trading because of its location between west of Algeria and east of Morocco. The economy of the city is directly related to the border's condition as it represents a passage for businesses directed towards Fes
in the west, Talmasan in the east, Figuig
in the south and Melilla
in the north.
As for the Industry in Oujda, the first mill was founded in 1928. The industry showed significant improvement during the seventies and eighties but was still humble compared to the industry of major Moroccan cities.
There are few touristic and historic locations such as Sidi Yahya's oasis. However due to the lack of resources tourism does not contribute much to Oujda's economy.
On March 18, 2003 king Muhammad the sixth has indicated to the importance of reviving the economy of the eastern area. In the context of this effort, Technopol Oujda was established. Other efforts such as road improvement, airport expansion and other project to improve the cities economy was founded.
The historic and geographic documents describes the area as being rich with orchards, animals and oases.
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
with an estimated population of 1 million. The city is located about 15 kilometers west of Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
and about 60 kilometers south of the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
. It is the capital of the Oriental Region of Morocco and the birthplace of the current Algerian president
President of Algeria
The President of Algeria is the head of state and chief executive of Algeria, as well as the Commander-in-Chief of the Algerian armed forces.-History of the office:...
, Abdelaziz Bouteflika
Abdelaziz Bouteflika
Abdelaziz Bouteflika is the ninth President of Algeria. He has been in office since 1999. He continued emergency rule until 24 February 2011, and presided over the end of the bloody Algerian Civil War in 2002...
. The urban area of Oujda has a beach called Saidia
Saidia
Saïdia, known as the "Blue Pearl", is a town and beach in Oujda. It is located in the extreme northeast Moroccan province of Berkane, near the Mediterranean Sea and at the Moroccan-Algierian border. Its 14 km coastline is one of the longest beaches of Morocco and is characterized by its golden...
.
History
There is some evidence of a settlement during the Roman occupation, which seems to have been under the control of BerberBerber people
Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...
s rather than Romans.
Uqba ibn Nafi
Uqba ibn Nafi
Uqba ibn Nafi was an Arab hero and general who was serving the Umayyad dynasty, in Amir Muavia and Yazid periods, who began the Islamic conquest of the Maghreb, including present-day Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Morocco in North Africa. He was the nephew of 'Amr ibn al-'As. Uqba is often surnamed...
began the Arab conquest of the region, during the reign of the Umayyad Caliphate, a conquest which was completed in AD 705 by Musa bin Nusair
Musa bin Nusair
Musa bin Nusayr al-Balawi was a balawi who served as a governor and general under the Umayad caliph Al-Walid I. He had ruled over the Muslim provinces of North Africa , and directed the islamic opening of the Visigothic kingdom in Hispania....
.
The modern city was founded in 994 by Ziri ibn Atiyya
Ziri ibn Atiyya
Ziri ibn 'Atiyya ibn Abd Allah ibn Tabādalt ibn Muhammad ibn Khazar az-Zanātī al-Maghrāwī al-Khazarī was the first Maghrawa ruler of the Kingdom of Fes and other parts of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia....
, king of the Zenata
Zenata
Zenata were an ethnic group of North Africa, who were technically an Eastern Berber group and who are found in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco....
tribes. Further additions were made in 1048.
In the mid 11th century, Oujda acquired prominence through its strategic position on the road east from Sijilmasa
Sijilmasa
Sijilmasa was a medieval trade entrepôt at the northern edge of the Sahara Desert in Morocco. The ruins of the town lie along the River Ziz in the Tafilalt oasis near the town of Rissani...
. Throughout the history of the dynasties of the Muslim West, Oujda played an important strategic role among the Merinids, settled in Fes
Fes, Morocco
Fes or Fez is the second largest city of Morocco, after Casablanca, with a population of approximately 1 million . It is the capital of the Fès-Boulemane region....
, in this case as a rear base in their conflict with the Abdalwadid
Abdalwadid
Zayyanids or Abd al-Wadids , or Banu Zayan, is the name of a Berber zenata dynasty in North Africa. The Zayyanids, whose capital was Tlemcen existed from 1235 to 1556...
s of Tlemcen
Tlemcen
Tlemcen is a town in Northwestern Algeria, and the capital of the province of the same name. It is located inland in the center of a region known for its olive plantations and vineyards...
.
The city was rebuilt in the 13th century by sultan Abu Yusuf Yaqub
Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd Al-Haqq
Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd al-Haqq was a Marinid ruler of Morocco. He was the fourth son of Marinid founder Abd al-Haqq, and succeeded his brother Abu Yahya in 1258. He died in 1286.-History:The Marinids had been fighting the Almohads for supremacy over Morocco since 1210s...
. The city experienced great difficulty in making peace with its neighbours to the east, and sometimes to the west, because of its position in respect to the clashes between the Saadi dynasty
Saadi Dynasty
The Saadi dynasty of Morocco , began with the reign of Sultan Mohammed ash-Sheikh in 1554, when he vanquished the last Wattasids at the Battle of Tadla....
and Turks. It was torn between the rulers of Fes and the disputed Tlemcen, and from the 16th century, it was contested by the Alaouite dynasty
Alaouite Dynasty
The Alaouite Dynasty is the name of the current Moroccan royal family. The name Alaouite comes from the ‘Alī of its founder Moulay Ali Cherif who became Prince of Tafilalt in 1631. His son Mulay r-Rshid was able to unite and pacify the country...
of Morocco and the Turks in Algiers. In 1692, Sultan Ismail led in the Turks, who established their hegemony on Algeria. Oujda fell again under Turkish rule in the following century.
The French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
occupied it in 1844 and again in 1859. Also to the west is the site of the 1844 major Franco-Moroccan Battle of Isly
Battle of Isly
The Battle of Isly was fought on August 14, 1844 between France and Morocco, near the Isly River. French forces under Marshal Thomas Robert Bugeaud routed a much larger, but poorly organized, Moroccan force under Mohammed, son of sultan Abderrahmane of Morocco...
. Once Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
was occupied by the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Oujda was used as a military base to control eastern Morocco. The city grew up along the roads that were built and owes much of its present form to the French.
The Moroccan border with Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
is just east of Oujda, on the other side of the border is the Algerian town of Maghnia
Maghnia
Maghnia is a town in Tlemcen Province, northwestern Algeria, near the border with Morocco. It is known for the Treaty of Lalla Maghnia between France and Abderrahman, Sultan of Morocco, which established the boundaries between Algeria and Morocco...
. The state of the border crossing depends on relations between the two countries which are often strained.
Music
Gharnati refers to a variety of Moroccan music originating in Andalusia. Its name is related, being derived from the Arabic name of the Spanish city of Granada.Gharnati constitutes the musical mode most used in the Moroccan city of Oujda, where besides this musical kind is omnipresent and where one organizes each year in June the International Festival of the Gharnati music. This musical art was preserved mainly in Oujda and Rabat
Rabat
Rabat , is the capital and third largest city of the Kingdom of Morocco with a population of approximately 650,000...
and near Moroccan-Algerian borders at Tlemcen in Algeria. Like Oran is Oujda the destination of raï
Raï
Raï is a form of folk music that originated in Oran, Algeria from Bedouin shepherds, mixed with Spanish, French, African and Arabic musical forms, which dates back to the 1930s....
.
The first musician ever to introduce Gharnati music to Morocco in the 1940s was Mohammed Salah Chaabane known as Sheikh Salah. His sons Mohammed and Nasreddine Chaabane carried on his tradition after his death in 1973.
Musicians of (Gharnati) raï include Hamid Bouchnak
Hamid Bouchnak
Hamid Bouchnak is a Moroccan singer.Bouchnak was a member of a band called Les Frères Bouchnak . His father Ben Younas Afandi was also a musician who was known to promote the genre of Andalusian Maghrebi music scene. His music is generally categorized under raï genre.-External links:***...
.
Education
Oujda is home to the Mohammed I University, a FrenchFrench language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
language and technology university.
Transport
The city is served by Angads AirportAngads Airport
Angads Airport is an airport serving Oujda, a city in the Oriental region in Morocco. Also known as Oujda Angads Airport, it is located about north of Oujda and about northeast of Casablanca, near the Algerian border.-History:...
, which has connecting flights to Amsterdam, Brussels, Madrid, Marseille and Paris.
The city is the endpoint of the main railroad from Casablanca
Casablanca
Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...
via Fes
Fes, Morocco
Fes or Fez is the second largest city of Morocco, after Casablanca, with a population of approximately 1 million . It is the capital of the Fès-Boulemane region....
and Taourirt before the border with Algeria
Transport in Algeria
- Railways :There are a total of 3,973 km of railways: 2,888 km is standard gauge, with 283 km of that being electrified and 215 km of that being double tracked...
. There are several day and nighttrains to and from the city linking it to the Western part of the country.
Apart from this raillink and many bus/coach services the city also has an airport
Angads Airport
Angads Airport is an airport serving Oujda, a city in the Oriental region in Morocco. Also known as Oujda Angads Airport, it is located about north of Oujda and about northeast of Casablanca, near the Algerian border.-History:...
offering both national as international destinations.
Town twinning
Since 2009, the city has been twinned with TrowbridgeTrowbridge
Trowbridge is the county town of Wiltshire, England, situated on the River Biss in the west of the county, approximately 12 miles southeast of Bath, Somerset....
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
due to the huge number of diasporans most of whom originate from villages close to Oujda. Trowbridge has the largest Moroccan community in the UK outside London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Trowbridge
Trowbridge
Trowbridge is the county town of Wiltshire, England, situated on the River Biss in the west of the county, approximately 12 miles southeast of Bath, Somerset....
, UK, since 2009/10 Lille
Lille
Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...
, France
Economy
Oujda has a strategic importance because of its location on the border.There are many economic and natural resources however, problems of overpopulation of the city and increase in unemployment rate up to 18% of the 11% on the national level. migration to foreign countries was up to 28.3% of the national total.Oujda relies heavily on trading because of its location between west of Algeria and east of Morocco. The economy of the city is directly related to the border's condition as it represents a passage for businesses directed towards Fes
Fes, Morocco
Fes or Fez is the second largest city of Morocco, after Casablanca, with a population of approximately 1 million . It is the capital of the Fès-Boulemane region....
in the west, Talmasan in the east, Figuig
Figuig
Figuig - Ifiyey is a town in eastern Morocco near the Atlas Mountains, on the border with Algeria.The town is built around an oasis of date palms, called Tazdayt in the Berber languages, surrounded by rugged, mountainous wilderness...
in the south and Melilla
Melilla
Melilla is a autonomous city of Spain and an exclave on the north coast of Morocco. Melilla, along with the Spanish exclave Ceuta, is one of the two Spanish territories located in mainland Africa...
in the north.
As for the Industry in Oujda, the first mill was founded in 1928. The industry showed significant improvement during the seventies and eighties but was still humble compared to the industry of major Moroccan cities.
There are few touristic and historic locations such as Sidi Yahya's oasis. However due to the lack of resources tourism does not contribute much to Oujda's economy.
On March 18, 2003 king Muhammad the sixth has indicated to the importance of reviving the economy of the eastern area. In the context of this effort, Technopol Oujda was established. Other efforts such as road improvement, airport expansion and other project to improve the cities economy was founded.
Geography
The city has desert climate. Lack of rain is noticed as it does not exceed 150 mm in the rain seasons. And the temperature goes up over 40 degrees in the summer.The historic and geographic documents describes the area as being rich with orchards, animals and oases.
Architecture
The main characteristic of the city is having the old city in the center. The old city maintains traditional features of the Moroccan architecture with its narrow and twisted allies which leads to the houses and different markets such as jewelry market and the leather market.See also
- Oujda groupOujda GroupThe Oujda group or Oujda clan was a gathering of military officers and politicians in Algeria, during its War of Independence and until approximately the 1970s....
- an AlgeriaAlgeriaAlgeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
n political faction named after the town. - The Jinn: A Horror Novel - Oujda is the setting for the horror novel, The Jinn.
External links
- Oujda et sa région Tout sur Oujda et sa région
- Oujda Portail Portail d'actualités et Immobilier d'Oujda
- Oujda Portail Journal d'actualités d'Oujda
- Oujda Times
- Entry in Lexicorient
- OujdaCity.net
- Le Maroc oriental