Adrar

Adrar, palm grove settlement, the largest of the Touat oasis group, southwestern Algeria, in the Sahara. Adrar’s historical name was given it by the local Berber (Amazigh) people, the Timmi, who established their ksar (fortified village) here. The modern name is derived from the Berber adrar (“mountain”). The settlement lies between the sand-dune regions of Erg Chech and the Grand Erg Occidental near the streambed of the Wadi Messaoud. The Adrar area was historically a strategic point on the trade route between North and West Africa. The settlement’s distinctive thick-walled red-wash architecture is characterized by sawtooth crenellation.

The French captured Adrar from Moroccan forces in 1900, and in 1962 it became part of independent Algeria. The contemporary town is entered through a monumental gateway and has two main squares and rectangular avenues. The surrounding region consists almost entirely of sand-dune-covered plains. Nearly all of the region’s inhabitants live in the vicinity of the Touat oases group, although palm-grove settlements are strung out along the Wadi Messaoud. Pop. (2008) 63,039.