Saida Algeria Administrative center in the Atlas Mountains, 200km (124 miles) south of Mostaganem on the main western rail and road route across the mountains to the Sahara. The town lies along the right bank of the Wadi Saïda, protected by the Abd el-Krim 1,209 m (3,966 feet), wooded mountains on the opposite shore that rise steeply from the valley floor. The city's site has been of military importance since the construction there of a Roman fort. Saïda was a stronghold of Abdelkader, the Algerian national leader who burned the town upon the approach of French forces in 1844. Its growth was stimulated by the arrival of the Oran-Béchar railway, and it was incorporated in 1862.

It stands in the middle of an important agricultural region producing mainly wheat, where the country's agricultural revolution a plan to make Algeria self-sufficient in food was launched in the 1970s. The surrounding region is fertile and well-watered, and cereals (mainly wheat), olives, and grapes are grown to the north. Esparto grass and cereals are grown and goats and sheep are herded in the dry steppelike Hauts Plateaux and in the Saharan Atlas. These resources combine to make Saïda a trade centre for sheep, wool, and cereals. It is also noted for fine leatherwork and especially for its mineral waters bottled and sold nationally.

Population : (estimated) 90.000