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The port and the city of Oran seen from Mount Murdjadjo

Oran - El bahia Important prehistoric station called Ifri (the caves). The city was founded in 903 by sailors from Andalusia on the territories of the Azdadja Berbers. There is no evidence that Oran replaced a Roman center Prosperous under the Almohads and the Ziyanids of Tlemcen, its port shared maritime traffic with Rachgoun and Honaïne. Oran was taken on May 17, 1509 by the army of Cardinal Ximenes, commanded by Pedro Navarro; the square was stormed to the cry of Santiago y Cisneros: 4000 Muslims were killed and 8000 imprisoned, the Cardinal entered on a magnificent boat above which floated a banner embroidered with the cross: mosques were converted into churches, hospices and convents founded, fortifications re-established. The Spanish remained in Oran, they were masters of the city until 1708; Bey Mustapha Ben-Youssef, nicknamed Bou-Chlarem (the man with the big mustaches), the founder of Mascara, then seized it and the Turks mined it for 24 years. The Spanish returned in 1732 and left for good after the great earthquake in 1792.