Mostaganem () is a

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

(''

wilaya A wilayah ( or ''wilāya'', plural ; Urdu, Pashto and ; ) is an administrative division, usually translated as "state", "province" or occasionally as "governorate". The word comes from the Arabic root "''w-l-y''", "to govern": a ''wāli''—"g ...

'') of Algeria, with a population of 892165 inhabitants in 2019, with a density of 393/square kilometers. Its capital is

Mostaganem Mostaganem () is a port city in and capital of Mostaganem (province), Mostaganem province, in the northwest of Algeria. The city, founded in the 11th century lies on the Gulf of Arzew, Mediterranean Sea and is 72 km ENE of Oran. It is consi ...

Geography

The land relief in Mostaganem Province can be divided into four regions: the

Dahra Range The Dahra Range () is a mountain range located in northern Algeria. 'Dahra' is an Arabic word meaning 'back'; in toponymy this term indicates a long plateau of lesser altitude. Geography The Dahra is a low mountain chain part of the greater Tell ...

to the east, the Mostaganem Plateau to the south, the

Chelif River Chelif River () (also spelled Chéliff, or Sheliff) is a river in Algeria, the longest in the country. It rises in the Saharan Atlas near the city of Aflou, flows through the Tell Atlas and empties into the Mediterranean Sea north of the cit ...

valley which separates the two highland regions, and the plains on the province's southern border which lie next to the marshes of the Macta. The Mostaganem Plateau covers eleven municipalities in the southern part of the province: Mostaganem, Ain Tedles,

Sour The gustatory system or sense of taste is the sensory system that is partially responsible for the perception of taste. Taste is the perception stimulated when a substance in the mouth biochemistry, reacts chemically with taste receptor cells l ...

, Bouguirat, Sirat, Souaflia, Mesra, Ain Sidi Cherif, Mansourah, Touahria and Sayada. It is a semi-arid and sandy plateau, in the shape of a triangle and bounded to the north by the Chelif River. It receives 350 mm of rainfall per year. During French colonization,

viticulture Viticulture (, "vine-growing"), viniculture (, "wine-growing"), or winegrowing is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine ...

was introduced on the plateau. After the country's independence, it was replaced by irrigated

market garden A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumers and restaurants. The diversity of crops grown on a small area of land, typically from under to s ...

ing and the culture of citrus fruits and cereals. However, in certain sectors east of Mostaganem, the replacement of the vineyards caused the appearance of small dunes as a consequence of the resumption of soil movement.

History

In 1984

Relizane Province Relizane () is a province ('' wilaya'') of Algeria. Relizane is the capital. Other localities include Bendaoud, Bouzegza, Hamri, Kalaa, Mazouna and Zemmoura. The Wilaya of Relizane massacres of 4 January 1998 happened in Relizane. Histo ...

was carved out of its territory.

Administrative divisions

The province is divided into 10

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

s (''

daïra A daïra or daerah ( ''circle''; plural ''dawaïr'') is an administrative division in Algeria and Western Sahara in West Africa, as well as Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia in Southeast Asia. It is commonly translated in English as "district". Wes ...

s''), which are further divided into 32 ''communes'' or municipalities.

Districts

# Achacha # Aïn Nouïssy # Aïn Tédelès # Bouguirat # Hassi Mamèche # Kheïr Eddine # Mesra #

# Sidi Ali # Sidi Lakhdar

Communes

# Achacha (Achaacha) #

Aïn Boudinar Aïn Boudinar is a town and commune in Mostaganem Province, Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the north ...

# Aïn Nouïssy # Aïn Sidi Chérif # Aïn Tédelès (Ain Tedles) # Benabdelmalek Ramdane (Abdelmalek Ramdane) # Bouguirat # El Hassaine # Fornaka # Hadjadj # Hassi Mamèche (Hasi Mameche) # Khadra # Kheïr Eddine (Kheiredine) # Mansourah # Mazagran (Mazagrain, Mezghrane) # Mesra #

# Nékmaria #

Oued El Kheïr Oued El Kheïr is a town and commune in Mostaganem Province, Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the nort ...

# Ouled Boughalem # Ouled Malah (Ouled Maalef) # Safsaf (Saf Saf) # Sayada # Sidi Ali # Sidi Bellater (Sidi Belatar) # Sidi Lakhdar (Sidi Lakhdaara) # Sirat # Souaflia #

# Stidia # Tazgait # Touahria

References

Provinces of Algeria States and territories established in 1974 {{mostaganem-geo-stub