Tan-Tan
Tan-Tan طانطان ⵟⴰⵏⵟⴰⵏ |
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Basic data | ||||
State : | Morocco | |||
Region : | Guelmim-Oued Noun | |||
Province : | Tan-Tan | |||
Coordinates | 28 ° 27 ′ N , 11 ° 6 ′ W | |||
Residents : | 86,134 (2014) | |||
Area : | 19.9 km² | |||
Population density : | 4,328 inhabitants per km² | |||
Height : | 35 m | |||
Atlantic coast at Tan-Tan |
Tan-Tan ( Tamazight : ⵟⴰⵏⵟⴰⵏ , Arabic طانطان, DMG Ṭānṭān ) is a city with over 70,000 inhabitants near the Atlantic Ocean in southern Morocco . Tan-Tan is the capital of the province of the same name in the Guelmim-Oued Noun region .
Location and climate
Tan-Tan is located about 27 km from the coast of the Atlantic on the banks of the river Oued Khil, which is only occasionally watery . The N1 trunk road runs through the village and runs along the coast in a north-south direction. To Agadir it is about 330 km (driving distance) in a north-easterly direction; Tarfaya is about 210 km southwest. The locals also call Tan-Tan al-Hamra ( the red one ). The climate is desert-like; the extremely sparse rain (approx. 95 mm / year) falls almost exclusively in the winter half-year.
population
year | 1994 | 2004 | 2014 |
Residents | 58,079 | 70,146 | 86,134 |
The population of the formerly rather insignificant place has increased enormously since the beginning of the independence of Morocco (1956) through immigration of Berber families .
history
The place was a post of the Spanish military in the Spanish colonial times and was only handed over to Morocco in 1958.
Attractions
- Tan-Tan has no historically significant buildings.
- The full length of the city is criss-crossed by the main and commercial street, Avenue Mohammed V , for 1.8 kilometers .
- The Mosquée du Souk, built in 1942, is located on the central market .
Nuclear power plant
The first Moroccan nuclear reactor ( NHR-10 ) has been planned on the Atlantic coast near Tan-Tan since the late 1990s with Chinese support . The 10 MW reactor is to be coupled with a system for the desalination of seawater and used for irrigation of agriculture. Distillation is said to produce 8,000 cubic meters of potable water per day. In 2010 a preliminary study was completed.
Others
- The city's patron saint is Mohammed Laghdaf Ma el Ainin , who died in 1960 and was buried three kilometers west of Tan-Tan , a resistance fighter against the occupation of Morocco by the colonial powers France and Spain.
- The moussem of Tan-Tan, which has been held in September every year in his honor since 1963, was recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2005 .
- In 1999 a possibly carved stone was found in the deposits of the Oued Drâa near Tan-Tan, which is known as the Venus of Tan-Tan .
- A serious bus accident occurred near Tan-Tan in April 2015, with 33 dead. The bus collided with an oncoming truck carrying petrol in a container. The bus caught fire immediately and nearly all of the occupants were killed.
Surroundings
About halfway between Tan-Tan and Tarfaya is the Khenifiss National Park , which was formed in 2006 from nature reserves established earlier and whose lagoon is mainly used as a breeding ground for water birds.