M'hamid El Ghizlane
| M'hamid El Ghizlane | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|||||
| Basic data | |||||
| State : |
 Morocco
|
||||
| Region : | Drâa-Tafilalet | ||||
| Province : | Zagora | ||||
| Coordinates | 29 ° 49 ′ N , 5 ° 43 ′ W | ||||
| Residents : | 7,590 (2014) | ||||
| Height : | 500 m | ||||
M'hamid El Ghizlane ( Central Atlas Tamazight ⵜⴰⵔⴰⴳⴰⵍⵜ Taragalt , Arabic امحاميد لغزلان= 'Plain of the Gazelles'), usually just called M'hamid , is a small oasis town in southern Morocco ( Zagora province / Drâa-Tafilalet region ) with around 7,500 inhabitants.
location
M'hamid is located on - here and in its further course only extremely rarely water-bearing - Wadi Draa at an altitude of about 500m above sea level. d. M. and about 24 kilometers from the border with Algeria on the edge of the Sahara . The national road N 9 connects M'hamid with the cities of Zagora (approx. 97 km) and Ouarzazate (approx. 260 km) to the north and northwest .
history
In the absence of written records, nothing is known about the earlier history of the place. The extensive palm oases make an early settling down (around 3000 or 2000 BC) of the hunter-gatherer cultures previously roaming in the area likely. Due to the spread of the desert , the place has been threatened by silting since the second half of the 20th century and the population is steadily declining. Due to the strategically important border location with Algeria, M'hamid could only be reached with a special permit until the end of the 1980s. Even today, there are many military stations in the area around M'hamid.
economy
In the past, the inhabitants of M'hamid lived - according to the principles of self-sufficiency - from the oasis economy , which, however, has produced less and less income since the 1970s due to reduced or even no winter rainfall and has been almost completely abandoned. In addition, a fungal disease ( Fusarium oxysporum ) has attacked the date palms, which are already considerably weakened by the drought .
M'hamid was also a center for nomads and passing caravans . Today the small town is the starting point for tourist camel or jeep safaris into the desert.
Townscape
The original mud buildings of M'hamid are already badly dilapidated and only a few - mostly poor - families live there. In M'hamid, too, new (terraced) houses in the usual southern construction (walls made of hollow blocks, ceilings made of concrete, light red or ocher paint) have established themselves in recent decades. Desert winds repeatedly carry vast amounts of sand into the city.
Surroundings
Hidden in the palm oases of M'hamid are seven old - now almost uninhabited and decaying - ksour . The Erg Chegaga sand dunes ( Erg ), some of which are more than 100 meters high and, compared to Merzouga , are rarely visited by tourists, rise about 45 to 60 km away . The “ Sacred Oasis of Oum Lâalag ” may also be of interest to some visitors.
literature
- Edith Kohlbach: Travel Guide Morocco. E. Kohlbach-Verlag, Taunusstein 2011 ISBN 978-3-941015-06-7
Web links
- M'hamid and surroundings - photos + information ( Memento from September 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Population statistics Morocco 1994 to 2014 ( Memento from March 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive )