Oran’s name likely means “place of lions” in Berber speech
Oran (Wahrān) is Algeria’s second city after Algiers—432 km west—prized for population and commercial-cultural weight. Founded in 902 by Andalusians, it passed through Arab-Berber dynasties and Zayyanid rule, Spanish occupation from 1509, Bey Mohamed el-Kebir’s 1792 reconquest, then French colonial boom.
Oran, called Wahrān in Arabic and Wehṛan in Berber, is a major port on Algeria's northwest coast and capital of Oran Province, lying 432 km west-southwest of Algiers. Its population, commerce, industry and culture make it the country's second city. It counted 803,329 residents in 2008, while the metropolitan area holds roughly 1,500,000.
The name most plausibly derives from a Libyco-Berber root for lion, wa-iharan or "place of lions", a link shared with Tiaret, Tahert and Taher. Local legend reports Barbary lions around AD 900; the last pair died on a nearby height that became la montagne des lions, and two huge lion statues guard city hall. Much earlier, Phoenicians left necropolises at Les Andalouses, Bethioua, Mers El Kébir and Madegh between the 6th and 1st centuries BC, and a small Roman outpost, Unica Colonia, vanished after the Vandals came in 435, followed by Mauro-Roman Berbers and then Arabs early in the 8th century.
Accounts date the founding to 902 by Andalusians or 903 by two Berber groups, the Azdadja and Ajissa, who belonged to the Maghrawa confederation. The Almohad caliph Abd al-Mu'min built thirty ships to tie it to Andalusia, and the Zayyanids of Tlemcen used its harbour as an outlet to Spain. Cardinal Cisneros seized it for Castile in 1509; Algerians took it in the 1707–1708 siege, Spain returned in 1732, and after an October 1790 earthquake the bey Mohamed el-Kebir won it back by 1792. The beylik lasted until 1831.
French rule made Oran capital of Département 92 and fuelled rapid growth into Algeria's second-largest city. In July 1940 the Royal Navy shelled French warships in the port after they rejected an ultimatum, a move meant to keep the fleet from Germany that deepened Vichy hostility toward Britain. Vichy held the city until Operation Torch brought Allied capture in late 1942. Since independence Oran has stayed western Algeria's economic capital and its chief financial, commercial and industrial hub.
Source: Oran
