Tafraout, also Tafraoute (, ) is a town in

Tiznit Province Tiznit () is a province in the Moroccan economic region of Souss-Massa. Its population in 2004 was 344,831. The major cities and towns are: * Tafraout * Tiznit Subdivisions The province is divided administratively into the following municipalit ...

Souss-Massa Souss-Massa () is one of the twelve regions of Morocco, regions of Morocco. It covers an area of 51,642 km² and had a population of 2,676,847 as of the 2014 Moroccan census. The capital of the region is Agadir. Geography Souss-Massa bord ...

region,

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. Situated in the central part of the

Anti-Atlas The Anti-Atlas, also known as Lesser Atlas or Little Atlas, is a mountain range in Morocco, a part of the Atlas Mountains in the northwest of Africa. The Anti-Atlas extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the southwest toward the northeast, to the heig ...

mountains, a mountain range in

which is part of the

Atlas Mountains The Atlas Mountains are a mountain range in the Maghreb in North Africa. They separate the Sahara Desert from the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; the name "Atlantic" is derived from the mountain range, which stretches around through M ...

in the northwest of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, the town has a population of 4,931 at the 2004 census.

Name and etymology

The basic meaning of the

Shilha Shilha (from Colloquial Arabic ''Šəlḥa'') is a term used to refer to a number of Berber languages spoken across northern Africa. In international usage, it most commonly refers to Shilha language, Tashelhiyt (Tašlḥiyt), the language of the Sh ...

feminine noun ''tafrawt'' is "basin or cistern in which water drawn from a well is poured", with a derived meaning "valley". The centre of the town of Tafraout is actually situated in a small valley, at the foot of Djebel Lekest, a pink granite mountain formed by erosion. A male inhabitant is called in Shilha "''u Tfrawt''", (plural "''ayt Tfrawt''"); a female inhabitant is "''ult Tfrawt''", (plural "''ist Tfrawt''").''Tfrawt'' is the annexed state of the noun ''Tafrawt''; see the article

Shilha language ( ; from its name in Moroccan Arabic, ), now more commonly known as Tashelhiyt or Tachelhit ( ; from the endonym , ), is a Berber language spoken in southwestern Morocco. When referring to the language, anthropologists and historians prefer the ...

, section Prefixed nouns. The area is surrounded by mountains and olive and almond groves, as well as

argan ''Sideroxylon spinosum'', known as argan (), synonym ''Argania spinosa'', is a species of flowering plant. It is a tree endemic to the calcareous semi-desert Sous valley of southwestern Morocco and to the region of Tindouf in southwestern Algeri ...

and fig trees.

Notable People

Mohamed Lahyani Mohamed Lahyani (born 27 June 1966) is a Swedish tennis umpire. He is a Gold Badge Chair Umpire certified by the Association of Tennis Professionals. He is noted for presiding over the longest match in professional tennis history at the 2010 ...

: Moroccan-Swedish Tennis umpire

Notes

References

* *

External links

* Populated places in Tiznit Province Municipalities of Morocco {{SoussMassa-geo-stub

Name and etymology

Notable People

See also

Notes

References

External links