The Western Sahara is a disputed sovereignty that’s located in North Africa and has a population of about 515,000 people with the capital and largest city being El Aaiun (Laayoune).
The North Atlantic Ocean lies to the west and the total area of the region is just over 100,000 square miles, with most of it being desert flatlands. Arabic is the official language,
but you’ll also hear quite a bit of Spanish and French being spoken as well as some local dialects.
The land was relinquished by the Spanish in 1975 and the Western Sahara region has been listed as a non-self-governing territory by the United Nations ever since 1963. Currently,
Polisario Front and Morocco are disputing the land. There are three regions of Morocco that overlap the Western Sahara. The region also borders Mauritania, Morocco, and Algeria. While
the land is very arid and hard to live on it is rich in phosphates in some areas.
As well as the phosphates, the area’s coastline is ideal for fishing, but the rest of
the land is actually too dry for any type of farming because it hardly rains there. However, it’s believed there may be some rich off-shore
natural gas and oil fields in the area. Most of the residents make their living by fishing, nomadic herding, and mining phosphates. This means that most of the region’s food needs
to be imported. The government of Morocco controls all of the economic activities and trade in the region and signed a fishing treat with the European Union.
The native people of the Western Sahara region are known locally as Sahrawis. These are tribes of people that have a Arab–Berber mixed heritage. Traditionally, the Sahrawis are nomadic
Bedouins and they can also be found in the regions surrounding countries. Most parts of the region are very barren and the few people that do live there are nomads who herd camels
between Mauritania and the Tindouf area.
The Sahrawis are Muslims and speak a dialect of Arabic known as Hassaniya dialect of Arabic, which is also common in the country of Mauritania. It’s believed the tribes originally
settled in the area during the 11th century when they migrated across the Sahara Desert.
The city of El Aaiun, which was founded by Spain in 1928, is home to most of the citizens of the region and it’s estimated there is a population of about 200,000 people living there.
The airport is called Hassan Airport and there’s also a local soccer team known as Jeunesse Massira which uses Mohamed Laghdaf stadium as its home field.
The city’s residents are made up of Moroccans who come from the north region of Western Sahara and Sahrawis who hail from the south part of the region. About a fifth of the city’s
population is made up of natives from Western Sahara. The temperatures aren’t too hot as the average high for the year is about 73 F. The region receives only about 18 days of rain on
average per year.
A trip to Western Sahara is truly only for the most adventurous of travelers. However, it has a lot of history and still offers a lot to see.
About Western Sahara