Oujda

Oujda is the seat of the Oriental region; the 2015 decree names the prefecture of Oujda-Angad as the region's capital.¹ In the 2024 census the city had 506,224 inhabitants, 11,972 more than in 2014, passing the 500,000 mark.² A third (33.6 per cent) of the region's urban population lives in Oujda, and at 90.5 per cent the prefecture is the most urbanised administrative unit of the Oriental.³

The medina was founded in 994 near the Angad plain by Ziri ibn Atiyya, leader of the Maghrawa.⁴ It lay on two trade routes, one from the coast to Sijilmassa and one from Fez to the east. In the 13th century the city was destroyed in 1271 and rebuilt in 1295 under the Marinids, with walls, a kasbah, a palace, baths and a mosque.⁵

The Great Mosque was founded by the Marinid sultan Abu Yaqub Yusuf in 1296.⁶ The minaret on the west side, about 24 metres high, was probably built around 1317. The mihrab and the neighbouring decorative arches are considered part of the original building, the courtyard and the north-eastern section later extensions.⁷

The medina is surrounded by crenellated walls. Its best-known gate is Bab Sidi Abdelwahab in the east, a pointed-arch gate between two bastions; Bab El Khemis in the north was demolished in June 1920.⁸ In the medina stands the Sidi Ziane school, regarded as the first modern school in Morocco, which celebrated its centenary in 2007.⁹

Gharnati is the name of the repertoire of Arab-Andalusian music in the Tlemcen school; the name recalls Granada.¹⁰ Families from Tlemcen and Algiers brought it to Oujda and Rabat, where conservatories were founded in the 20th century. In eastern Morocco, Mohammed Salah Chaabane, known as Cheikh Salah, introduced this music in the 1940s.¹¹

The Université Mohammed Premier was founded in 1978; most of its institutions in the region are in Oujda.¹² It also includes the Faculté Pluridisciplinaire in Selouane near Nador, which began teaching in September 2005.¹³

The official national portal describes the Moroccan rail network as a corridor linking Marrakesh in the centre with Oujda in the east.¹⁴ Oujda-Angads airport lies about ten kilometres north of the city.¹⁵

The Oujda weather station (WMO 60115) lies at 465 metres. Averaged over the years 1991 to 2020, daily maximum temperatures reach 34.8 °C in August and 16.6 °C in January. Annual precipitation is 270.8 millimetres, with only 1.5 millimetres in July.¹⁶