Oujda

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Oujda وجدة
Oujda location of Oujda in Morocco
Coordinates: 34°41′21″N 1°54′41″W / 34.68917°N 1.91139°W / 34.68917; -1.91139
Country	Morocco
Region	Oriental
First settled	Roman times
Modern city	994
Population
- Urban	500,000
Time zone	WET (UTC+0)
- Summer (DST)	WET (UTC+0)

Oujda (Arabic: وجدة‎) is a city in eastern Morocco with an estimated population of half a 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.

Overview

Oujda is home to the Mohammed I University, a French, English and Arabic language and technology university. The city is served by Angads Airport, which has connecting flights to Amsterdam, Brussels, Marseille and Paris.

There is some evidence of a settlement during the Roman occupation, which seems to have been under the control of Berbers rather than Romans^[1]. The modern city was founded in 994 by Ziri ibn Atiyya, king of the Zenata tribes^[2]. Further additions were made in 1048. The city was rebuilt in the 13th century by sultan Abou Youssef. 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.

Since 2009, the city has been twinned with Trowbridge 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.

Uqba ibn Nafi began the Arab conquest of the region, during the reign of the Umayyad Caliphate, a conquest which was completed in 705 AD by Musa bin Nusair. 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 Fez, in this case as a rear base in their conflict with the Abdalwadids of Tlemcen. This situation was at the origin of several destructive invasions of Oujda. 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 Fez 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.

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 at Tlemcen in Algeria and Oujda, near the Algerian border.

Famous musicians of Gharnati

• Hassan El Hayek
• Sheik Salah Chaabane,
• Bouchnak Benyounes says Afendi
• Kerzazi Sheik Brahim.

Industry

Oujda has a cement works.

Transport

Market

The city is the endpoint of the mainline from Casablanca via Fez 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.

Town twinning

• Trowbridge, UK, since 2006
• Lille, France

See also

• Oujda group - an Algerian political faction named after the town.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Oujda

• Oujda PortailJournal d'actualités d'Oujda
• Oujda Times
• Entry in Lexicorient
• OujdaCity.net
• Le Maroc oriental

References

• FallingRain Map - elevation = 568m (Red dots are railways)

Coordinates: 34°41′12″N 01°54′41″W / 34.68667°N 1.91139°W / 34.68667; -1.91139

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