Oran

Oran (pop. 663,500), Algerian port city about 225 mi (362 km) west of Algiers on the Mediterranean Sea. Settled by the Moors in the 10th century, it fell successively to the Spanish (1509 and 1732) and the Turks (1708 and 1791). In the aftermath of an earthquake, it became French (1831), who controlled it during World War II, when it was a U.S. base of operations.

See also: Algeria.