Tarfaya (province)

Tarfaya Province in the former Laayoune-Boujdour-Sakia El Hamra region

Aerial view of the city of Tarfaya

Tarfaya city skyline

The Moroccan province of Tarfaya is located in the south of the country and has been one of the four provinces of the Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra region since 2015 . With a total area of ​​approx. 12,270 km², about half of which is in the Western Sahara , which was annexed by Morocco in 1975/76 , it is the country's smallest province in terms of population with only approx. 13,000 inhabitants. The capital is the city of Tarfaya , which has a population of around 8,000 . The northern part of the province belonged to the so-called Tarfaya Strip from 1916 to 1958 .

population

The settling down of the nomads , which only began in the 20th century, played an essential factor ; Since the 1960s, Berbers from the increasingly arid regions of the Anti-Atlas have also settled here. The annexation of the Western Sahara areas brought an additional economic boost to the region.

economy

Fishing and agriculture play only minor roles in the economic life of the province; animal husbandry was far more important in earlier times. Many men now work in the cities of the north or in Europe. In the last decades of the 20th century, tourism was added as a source of income.

places

Only the city of Tarfaya is classified as an urban settlement area ( municipalité ); the other places are considered rural communities ( cummunes rurales ).

local community	1994 residents	2004 residents	Residents 2014
Tarfaya (M)	4,506	5,615	8,027
Daoura	966	878	1.108
El Hagounia	882	1,089	151
Akhfennir	1,334	1,583	2,280
Tah	563	1,255	1,516
to hum	8,251	10,420	13,082

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Population statistics Morocco ( Memento from March 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ Statistics Western Sahara