Oujda (Arabic: وجدة) is a city in eastern Morocco with an estimated population of half a million inhabitants. 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. It is the birthplace of current Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika.Oujda is home to Mohammed I University, a French, English and Arabic language and technology university. The city is served by Angads Airport, which receives many international flights coming from Europe.
There is some evidence of a settlement during the Roman occupation, but this 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 13th century by sultan Abou Youssef. The French twice occupied it (in 1844 and again in 1859). Also to the west is Isli, which saw a major Franco-Moroccan battle in 1844. 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 2006, 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.
Arabic invasion and conquest was undertaken by Ibn Nafi Oqba Al Fihri during the reign of Omeyades Damascus, and completed by 705 AD to Musa bin Nusair. In the mid-((s XI )) e, Oujda took prominence through its city status on the road relay Sijilmassa - East. Throughout the history of successive dynasties in Muslim West, Oujda eventually play an important strategic among Merinids, settled in Fez, in this case as a rear base in their conflict with the Abdelouadides of Tlemcen. This situation was at the origin of several destructive invasions Oujda which was exhibited. Similarly, she experienced great difficulty in agreeing either to the east, sometimes in the West because of its situation on the fields of clashes between Saadienss and Turks. Long, the rulers of Fez and the disputed Tlemcen and from the s-(( XVI )) e, it was contested by dynasties chérifiennes Morocco and the Turks in Algiers. In 1692, Sultan Ismail drove in the Turks who have established their hegemony on Algeria. But Oujda falls again under Turkish rule in the following century.
