Mascara, Algeria

Mascara معسكر
—  City  —
Seal
Location of Mascara, Algeria
Country	Algeria
Province	Mascara Province
Population (2008)
– Total	150,000

Historic city flag.

Mascara (Arabic: معسكر‎) is the capital city of Mascara Province, Algeria, in northwestern Algeria. It has 150,000 inhabitants (2008 estimate). The name Mascara comes from the Arabic "Mother of Soldiers".

Mascara was the capital city of Emir Abd al-Qadir, a leader of the Algerian resistance to early French colonial rule.

Mascara is an administrative, commercial and a market centre. Its trade is mostly centered on leather goods, grains, and olive oil, but it is especially famous for its good wine.

Mascara has good road and rail connections with other urban centres of Algeria. Relizane is 65 km northeast, Sidi Bel Abbes 90 km southwest, Oran 105 kkm northwest and Saïda 80 km south.

Mascara has two parts, a newer French area, and an older Muslim one. Large parts of the town lie inside the ruins of its ancient ramparts.

The city is also home of Lakhdar Belloumi, the former Algerian football (soccer) star.

The word mascara (cosmetic) is unrelated etymologically, being derived from Italian maschera ‘masked.’^[1] Some sources, however, do attribute it to another Arabic word, masḵara ‘buffoon.’^[2]

History

Emir Abd al-Qadir.

• 1701: Ottomans built a military garrison in the town. Many Muslims with Andalucian origins were settled there by the Ottomans.
• Around 1790: Andalucian Muslims leave Mascara, causing the Ottoman Empire to relocate Jews to Mascara.
• 1832: Abd al-Qadir makes Mascara his headquarters.
• 1835: Mascara is destroyed by the French.
• 1841: The French establish full control over Mascara.
• August 18, 1994: An earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale kills 171 people in Mascara.

Sister cities

• Elkader, Iowa, United States
• Tifariti, Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic
• Bursa, Turkey

References

1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary. 
2. ^ New Oxford American Dictionary (2 ed.). "late 19th cent.: from Italian, literally ‘mask’, from Arabic masḵara ‘buffoon’."