Tinghir

Tinghir, also Tinerhir ( Tamazight: ⵜ ⵉ ⵏ ⵖ ⵉ ⵔ; Arabic: تنغير ) is an oasis town in southern Morocco in the Souss -Massa -Draa. The city has about 40,000 residents - most of whom are members of different Berber tribes.

Location

Tinghir is located about 165 kilometers northeast of Ouarzazate or about 150 kilometers west of Erfoud in the south of the High Atlas running N 12 at an altitude of about 1340 meters above sea level. inst.

Economy

In earlier times clearly dominated the oases to the south and east of the city spreads in the two large-scale Dattelpalmenoasen and guaranteed year-round self-sufficiency of residents. Cattle played only a minor role in all oases.

Since 2009 is Tinghir capital of the newly created province of the same name. In addition, there is an important regional administrative and market. In the city there are many small workshops, transport companies, doctors and pharmacies, wholesalers and retailers that provide much of the environment with their products or services. However, many a family lives very much on the remittances of migrated to the cities of the North Men.

Cityscape

The center of Tinghir consists only of new, mostly two - to four-storey houses with walls made of hollow blocks, ceilings and stairways of concrete and a satellite dish on the roof terrace. As usual in Morocco - - After completion of the shell houses are plastered and painted in yellow, bright red or pink shades. The last surviving and sometimes still used for residential purposes mud buildings can be found at the edges of the oases.

Kasbahs

Thami El Glaoui was - to document his claim to power - built in the years 1919 and 1930 two building complexes with a political-strategic and representative significance ( Kasbahs ) in Tinghir. Both monumental buildings were acting, however, has always been regarded by the inhabitants of the city as a foreign body and are engaged in ARGEM decay - they are therefore not accessible to visitors. Another Kasbah was built in 1944 by Cheikh Bassou, the head of a rival with El Glaoui Berber clans built - the building now serves as a hotel.

Oases

Actually, there are two large palm oases that make up Tinghirs appeal and ask for exploratory walks - a rather extends in an east-west and the other more in a north-south direction. Both form green landscapes along the banks of the Oued Todgha and where the fertile land border, the building begins. In the past these - sometimes even multi-storey - adobe buildings with corner towers in the type of Tighremts, but of them nothing received. The still existing - tower and unadorned - adobe buildings all date from the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. Many are no longer held by the owners repaired, because in the lightless, dusty, and now also in danger of collapsing mud houses no one wants to live in the present time. Only volatile country small farmers who are among the poorest in Morocco and hire themselves out as day laborers in Tinerhir, have no choice and are satisfied with the cheapest housing.

Are grown or planted cereals ( barley ), vegetables (beans, chickpeas, carrots, etc.) and tree fruits ( dates, figs, pomegranates, olives, etc.). The trees also provide the necessary for the oases in the shade. The water is supplied by the effluent from the mountains melt water from the Todgha River, which with the help of: - transported diesel pumps, which has replaced the handwork of former times, in small, higher ground channels and passes from there to the fields - only intermittently operated.

Environment

About 12 kilometers north of Tinghir the touristic Todgha Gorge lies with its spectacular, about 300 meters high and nearly vertical rock walls.