ORAN | Algeria

Oran (Arabic:وهران, pronounced Wahran; also transliterated as Ouahran, Spanish: Orán. From the Berber word Wahran, the plural of Wahra, i.e. "lion", hence Wahran means "two lions") is a city on the Mediterranean coast in northwestern Algeria. Oran marked the largest westernmost metropolitan area of the then Ottoman Empire. During French rule in Algeria Oran was a prefecture in the Oran département. It is now the capital of the much smaller Oran Province (wilaya). The city has a population of about 1 million, and the urban area has a population of about 2 million making it the 2nd largest city in Algeria. Oran is a major port, and since the 1960s has been a commercial, industrial, and educational centre for Western Algeria.