Saguia el-Hamra ( es, Saguía el Hamra, ar, الساقية الحمراء, lit=Red Canal, translit=al-Saqiyah al-Hamra'a) was, with Río de Oro, one of the two territories that formed the Spanish province of

Spanish Sahara Spanish Sahara ( es, Sahara Español; ar, الصحراء الإسبانية, As-Sahrā'a Al-Isbānīyah), officially the Spanish Possessions in the Sahara from 1884 to 1958 then Province of the Sahara between 1958 and 1976, was the name used f ...

after 1969. Its name comes from a waterway that goes through the capital. The wadi is inhabited by the

Oulad Tidrarin The Oulad Tidrarin ( ar, أولاد تيدرارين) is a Sahrawi tribe of Arab origins, formerly considered to be of Ansar status. They speak Hassaniya Arabic. They are Muslims, belonging to the Maliki school of Sunni Islam. They live mainly ...

Sahrawi tribe. Occupying the northern part of

Western Sahara Western Sahara ( '; ; ) is a disputed territory on the northwest coast and in the Maghreb region of North and West Africa. About 20% of the territory is controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), while the r ...

, it lay between the

26th parallel north The 26th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 26 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Africa, Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, North America and the Atlantic Ocean. A section of the border between Wes ...

and 27°50'N. The city of

Cape Bojador Cape Bojador ( ar, رأس بوجادور, trans. ''Rā's Būjādūr''; ber, ⴱⵓⵊⴷⵓⵔ, ''Bujdur''; Spanish and pt, Cabo Bojador; french: Cap Boujdour) is a headland on the west coast of Western Sahara, at 26° 07' 37"N, 14° 29' 57"W ...

served to divide the regions. Its colonial capital was El Aaiún (Laâyoune), and it also included the city of Smara. The territory takes its name from an intermittent river, the Saguia el-Hamra, the route of which runs west from south of El Farcya to reach the Atlantic at Laayoune. The area is roughly , making it approximately a third of the entire Western Sahara.

References

Former Spanish colonies Geography of Western Sahara States and territories established in 1969 States and territories disestablished in 1975 Arabic words and phrases Spanish Sahara {{WesternSahara-geo-stub