Figuig (Province)

Figuig Province (red) in the Oriental (pink) region

Bouarfa

The oasis town of Figuig

The Figuig province, which is about 56,000 km² in size and has a population of 150,000 ( Arabic إقليم فكيك, Tamazight : ⵜⴰⵎⴷⵉⵏⵜ ⵏ ⵉⴼⵉⵢⵢⵉⵢ) belongs to the Moroccan region of Oriental and is located in the far east of the country in the Sahara , north of the Algerian border town of Béchar . The province had 138,325 inhabitants in 2014. With an area of ​​around 34,700 km², the capital of the province is Bouarfa .

geography

location

The province of Figuig borders Algeria to the south and east, the provinces Jerada and Taourirt to the north, the Boulemane province to the northwest, the Midelt province to the west and the Errachidia province to the southwest .

landscape

Large parts of the Figuig province are about 1000 m above sea level. d. M. in the western foothills of the Sahara and have a desert or semi-desert character. However , there are no sand dunes ( ergs ); stone deserts ( hammadas ) dominate, in which mountains sometimes rise up to 2000 m.

climate

Due to the altitude, the nights in the Figuig province are among the cooler in the whole of Morocco, even though daytime temperatures of 40 ° C and more can be reached here in summer. It rains - if at all - only in the winter months from November to February.

population

The population of the province, which has a population of around 150,000, is roughly half Arab and half Berber . The only two cities are Figuig (approx. 13,000 inhabitants) and the much larger Bouarfa (approx. 30,000 inhabitants). Other small towns that form the center of rural communities are Bni Tadjite , Bouanane , Talsint, and Tendrara . While Moroccan Arabic is mostly spoken in the two larger cities , traditional Berber dialects predominate in the country .

places

Only the first two municipalities are classified as urban settlements (M = commune municipal ); the rest are considered rural communities ( communes rurales ) and consist of a large number of villages.

Residents

local community	1994	2004	2014
Bouarfa (M)	19,631	25,947	28,846
Figuig (M)	14,245	12,577	10,872
Ain Chouater	1,332	1,144	1.006
Bni Tadjite	12,316	14,931	16,149
Bouanane	10,563	10,818	10,035
Bouchaouene	8,772	11,231	13,057
Boumerieme	6,629	7,488	8,521
Valley sint	12,696	14,651	16,166
Ain chair	-	-	1,554
Abbou Lakhal	1,862	1,497	2.017
Bni Guil	9,014	9,059	6,726
Maatarka	8,623	8,030	7,986
Tendrara	11,328	12,057	15,390
to hum	117.011	129,430	138,325

economy

In the winter months - depending on the rainfall - farming is possible; otherwise herds of sheep and goats sometimes roam the landscape. During the protectorate there were some mining operations, but all of them have been closed. Today, the supply of the military stationed near the Algerian border plays a major economic role.

history

In the absence of written records, nothing is known about the older history of what was once an extremely sparsely populated region. Rock drawings or references to primitive stone structures have not yet been discovered. In the few oases, the process of settling down did not begin until the turn of the ages, if not later. During the French protectorate, political prisoners were held in the remote and deserted region (e.g. in Bouarfa).

Web links

Commons : Figuig Province  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Communes & Villes du Maroc. Province Figuig
• Geonames: Figuig Province
• Monograph de la province de Figuig. May 2005 (PDF; 251.9 kB)

• Figuig in english language zousfana.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Population statistics Morocco ( Memento from March 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ Statistics Province of Figuig on citypopulation.de.