MASCARA, a fortified town of Algeria in the province of Oran, 60 miles south-east of Oran, lies at a height of 1900 feet above the sea, on the southern slope of the first chain of the Atlas mountains, and occupies two small hills separated by the Oued Toudman. The walls, upwards of 2 miles in circuit, and strengthened by bastions and towers, give the place a somewhat imposing appearance; the French part of the town is substantial and clean; and among the public buildings are three mosques (one used as a church, another as a granary), a large hospital, a small theatre, and the usual establishments attaching to the seat of a sub-prefect and the centre of a military subdivision. A public garden of 10 acres has been laid out in the ravine. The population was 9442 in 1866, and 9240 in 1872.

Mascara (i.e., place of soldiers) was the capital of a beylik during the Spanish occupation of Oran from the 16th to the close of the 18th century; but for the most of that period it occupied a site about 2 miles distant from the present position. On the removal of the bey to Oran its importance rapidly declined; and it was quite an insignificant place when in 1832 Abd-el-Kâdir, who had been born in the neighbourhood, chose it as the seat of his power. It was laid in ruins by the French under Marshal Clausel and the duke of Orleans in 1835, and, being again occupied by Abd-el-Kadir in 1838, was again captured in 1841 by Bugeaud and Lamoricière.