During his visit to Algeria, General de Gaulle on a 6-day tour first went to in the departement of Oran (near the Moroccan border), a stronghold of French colonialism. The town has 9000 european settlers and 25.000 moslem residents and is well known for its farmlands and fruit plantations. He received a mixed welcome, some proclaimed "Vive de Gaulle", "Vive l'Algérie", "Vive la France"... in the first stop of a French-Algerian debacle.