Oran is a major coastal city located in the north-west of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria after the capital Algiers, due to its commercial and cultural importance, it is 432 km from Algiers. The total population of the city was 759,645 in 2008, while the metropolitan area has a population of 1,500,000 making it the second largest city in Algeria. A legend says; the last two lions were hunted on a mountain near Oran and are elsewhere referred to as "mountain lions". The word derives from the Berber root hr; the name is attested for instance as uharu and ahra. A locally popular legend tells that in the period around AD 900, there were sightings of lions in the area; the two last lions were killed on a mountain near Oran, it became known as La montagne des lions. Two giant lion statues stand in front of Oran's city hall. See also: Timeline of Oran and History of Oran During the Roman empire, a small settlement called Unica Colonia existed in the area of current Oran, but this settlement disappeared after the Arab conquest of the Maghreb.

Present-day Oran was founded in 903 by Moorish Andalusi traders. It was captured by the Castilians under Cardinal Cisneros in 1509, Spanish sovereignty lasted until 1708, when the city was conquered by the Ottomans. Spain recaptured the city in 1732. However, its value as a trading post had decreased so King Charles IV sold the city to the Turks in 1792. Ottoman rule lasted until 1831. Under French rule during the 19th and 20th centuries, Oran was the capital of a département of the same name. In July 1940, the British navy shelled French warships in the port after they refused a British ultimatum to surrender; the action increased the hatred of the Vichy regime for Britain but convinced the world that the British would fight on alone against Nazi Germany and its allies. The Vichy government held Oran during World War II until its capture by the Allies in late 1942, during Operation Torch. During French rule, Jews were encouraged to modernize and take on jobs they had not before including agriculture.

Jews In the city were allowed to join the French Army starting October 24, 1870 when Algerian Jews were granted citizenship. French Jews would soon be targeted after not choosing to side with the Algerian Muslims who fought for independence against France. Before the Algerian War, 1954–1962, Oran had one of the highest proportions of Europeans of any city in North Africa. In July 1962, after a ceasefire and accords with France, the FLN entered Oran and were shot at by a European. A mob attacked pied-noir neighborhoods in response to the attack and massacred thousands of Europeans in Oran; this triggered a larger exodus of Europeans to France, underway. Shortly after the end of the war, most of the Europeans and Algerian Jews living in Oran fled to France. In less than three months, Oran lost about half its population; this population lost is similar to the Jews as many fled after siding with France in the Algerian War for Independence. As the war progressed, those who supported independence in Algeria threatened those who sided with Europe causing these people to flee and thus defeating European Imperialism.

With its location as the closest port to Spain and its prominence on the Mediterranean, Jewish refugees first immigrated to Oran to flee persecution and conversion to Christianity in Spain in 1391. This refuge brought other religious refugees that included both Jews again and Muslims in both 1492 and 1502. On October 24, 1870, with the French dominance, Algerian Jews were given French citizenship with the Cremieux Decree. Despite a World War II sentiment that favored acceptance, Oran still had a history marked by intolerance. There was a decrease in the Jewish population as Muslims were the only group granted citizenship protection in 1963, one year after Algerian independence. Before the Spaniards, the Portuguese launched a failed expedition to capture the city in July 1501. Four years the Spanish took Mers-el-Kébir, located just four miles to the west of the Oran, thus began the first organized incursions against the city which, at the time, numbered 25,000 inhabitants and counted 6,000 fueros.

Count Pedro Navarro, on the orders of Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros captured the city on May 17, 1509. The occupying forces set fire to the archives of the town. By 1554, the Turks had reached Algiers; the governor of Oran, Count Alcaudete, allied himself with Moroccan Sultan Mohammed ash-Sheikh against them. Nine years in 1563, Álvaro de Bazán, Marquis de Santa Cruz, built the fort of Santa-Cruz, strategically placed at the top of a mountain, l'Aïdour, more than 1,000 ft above the sea, directly to the west of the city. Pedro Garcerán de Borja, Grand Master of the Order of Montesa, was captain of Oran when, on July 14, 1568, John of Austria, led a flotilla of 33 galleys against the Algerians. In April 1669 the Spanish governor, the Marquis of Los Vélez, expelled all the Jews who lived in Oran and Mers El Kébir sending them to be resettled in either Nice, or Livorno; the Spanish rebuilt Santa Cruz Fort to accommodate their city governors. "The fortifications of the place were composed of thick and continuous walls of over two and a half km in circumferen

Duke of Talavera de la Reina known as Duke of Talavera, is a title of Spanish nobility, accompanied by the dignity of Grandee of Spain. It was granted to María Luisa de Silva y Fernández de Henestrosa on 25 September 1914 by king Alfonso XIII as a result of her marriage to Infante Fernando of Bavaria; the king, who held great affection for her, made her Infanta of Spain in 1927, to date, the only exception of a member of a non-dynastic family becoming an Infante. María Luisa de Silva y Fernández de Henestrosa, 1st Duchess of Talavera Juan de Silva y Goyeneche, 2nd Duke of Talavera Juan Manuel de Silva y Mazorra, 3rd Duke of Talavera Álvaro de Silva y Mazorra, 4th Duke of Talavera List of dukes in the peerage of Spain List of current Grandees of Spain

Lee Ann Womack is an American country music singer and songwriter. Her 2000 single, "I Hope You Dance" was a major crossover music hit, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Country Chart and the Top 15 of the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her signature song. When Womack emerged as a contemporary country artist in 1997, her material resembled that of Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette, except for the way Womack's music mixed an old-fashioned style with contemporary elements, her 2000 album I Hope You Dance had an different sound, using pop music elements instead of traditional country. It was not until the release of There's More Where That Came From in 2005 that Womack returned to recording traditional country music. After a hiatus in 2008, Womack returned in 2014 with a new album and a new sound which blended country and Americana. Womack has released a total of two compilations. Four of her studio albums have received a Gold certification or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America. Additionally, she has received five Academy of Country Music Awards, six Country Music Association Awards, a Grammy Award.

She has sold over 6 million albums worldwide. Womack is the wife of record producer Frank Liddell, ex-wife of songwriter and musician Jason Sellers. Womack was raised in Jacksonville, Texas. At an early age she was interested in country music, her father, a disc jockey took his daughter to work with him to help choose records to play on the air. Womack was the second of two daughters, her mother was a schoolteacher and her father was a high school principal. As a child, Womack studied the piano and graduated from Jacksonville High School in 1984. After graduating, Womack attended South Plains Junior College in Texas; the college was one of the first in the nation to offer country music degrees, soon she became a member of the college band, Country Caravan. A year she left the college and after an agreement with her parents, Womack enrolled at Belmont University in Nashville, where she studied the commercial aspect of the music business. In Nashville, she interned at the A&R department of MCA Records.

She studied at the college until 1990. Womack spent a few years raising her children before reentering the music business in the mid 1990s. In 1995 she began performing her music at showcase concerts. At one of these showcase concerts, she was spotted by Tree Publishings, who signed her after listening to one of her original demo recordings. Womack wrote songs with some popular Nashville songwriters, including Bill Anderson and Ricky Skaggs, who recorded her composition, "I Don't Remember Forgetting" for one of his albums. After divorcing her first husband around that time, Womack decided to pursue a career as a country music artist, she auditioned for Bruce Hinton, who praised her talents. Shortly afterward, she accepted a contract from MCA's sister record company, Decca Nashville in 1996. Womack released her self-titled debut album in May 1997, produced by Mark Wright; the album consisted of self-penned material as well as songs written by other artists, including Mark Chesnutt, Ricky Skaggs, Sharon White.

The first single, "Never Again, Again" made the country charts and playlists by March 1997, which led to the release of the album's second single, "The Fool" shortly afterward. More successful than her first single, "The Fool" reached the Top 5 on the Billboard Country chart that year; that year she won major awards from the country music community. Decca Nashville decided to close its doors in 1998, moving Womack to MCA Nashville Records that year. In 1998, Womack released her second studio album, Some Things I Know, produced by Wright; the album's first two singles, "A Little Past Little Rock" and "I'll Think of a Reason Later" both went to No. 2 on the Billboard Country Chart. Two additional singles, " Now You Don't" and "Don't Tell Me" were released in 1999, the album was certified Gold by the RIAA soon after; that year, she won Favorite Country New Artist from the American Music Awards. Womack contributed her vocals to the songs "If You're Ever Down in Dallas" and "The Man Who Made Mama Cry" in collaboration with her ex-husband and musician, Jason Sellers.

The material was promoted through shows through October to November before the birth of Womack's second child in January 1999. Womack released her third studio album in 2000 entitled I Hope You Dance which met with major success; the title track, reached No. 1 on the Billboard Country chart for five weeks and crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100, becoming a major crossover Pop hit, reaching No. 14. It peaked at the top spot on the adult contemporary chart and reached the UK Singles Charts, peaking at No. 40. Both of Womack's daughters appeared in the song's video that year. Towards the end of 2000, "I Hope You Dance" won the Country Music Association's "Song of the Year" and "Single of the Year" awards. With the Pop success of "I Hope You Dance," Womack drew the attention of the magazines People and Time, both of which praised the single, calling it "one of her best." The song won awards in 2001 from the Grammy and Academy of Country music awards. The album of the same name has sold 3 million copies in the United States to date.

The album's follow-up single, a cover of Rodney Crowell's "Ashes by Now" peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard C