Akka, Morocco

Akka (Arabic: أقا ) is an oasis city with approximately 7,500 inhabitants in the province of Tata in the region Guelmim-Es Semara in southern Morocco.

Location

The approximately 670 m above sea town of Akka is located on the edge of about 1000 m high mountain peaks of the southern foothills of the Anti-Atlas Mountains, about 146 km ( driving distance ) east of Taghjijt on the N12. Up to Tata there are over 60 km in a north-easterly direction.

Population

The Akkas population consists almost exclusively of members of different Berber tribes of the area. Most are - due to lack of rains in their home villages, but also socio-cultural reasons ( hope of finding work, improvement of material living conditions and health care, better opportunities for school education of children etc.) - immigrated since the 1970s.

Economy

In earlier centuries, the self-sufficiency was at the center of economic activity. Only after completion of a runway of Guelmim over to Tata and Akka on to Ouarzazate during the French colonial period, the food produced in the Dattelpalmenoase could also be placed on regional or national markets. Same time, new vegetables (potatoes, tomatoes, etc.) came to the area, enriching the diet. Even today, the oases dominated the lives of most residents; are produced primarily dates, olives, grapes, pomegranates and figs, as well grain (barley, wheat, corn ) and vegetables ( broad beans, carrots, tomatoes, etc. ) is possible. About the Department of Agriculture addition, many small enterprises in the craft, business and service sectors have developed.

History

Missing on the history of Akka any written tradition As with all Berber villages. However, one can assume that the palm oasis already discovered by early hunters and gatherers and was permanently settled some centuries later by nomads. However, the livestock (sheep, goats, chickens ) could no longer roam free, but had to be kept in pens or stalls, causing the stock significantly reduced. In the phase of settlement support recurrent and often fatal conflicts between the oasis inhabitants and nomadic cattle nomads were not rare. In the Middle Ages the oasis of Akka was probably - at least temporarily - an important Karawanenort.

Attractions

Some of the new houses in the center of Akka have - a rarity in Morocco - protecting from the sun Arkadenvorbauten the ground floor. In about 3 km north-east suburb Azro the ruins of a fort ( kasbah ) from the 19th century and a collective memory ( Agadir) are for safe storage of food supplies, farm equipment and other valuables. In the midst of about 8 km north of Akka village situated Agadir Amghar stands on a small hill about 10 meters high, built of mud brick stump of a minaret, which because of its eye-catching diamond decoration of many still in the 12th or 13th century, so in the era the Almohads, is dated. The adjacent, built of rammed earth mosque is almost gone. Near the path between Aït Rahal and the north-west canyon of Targannt there are some petroglyphs, where one but passes without a local guide. The same applies to the petroglyphs at approximately 7 km east of Akka situated place Oum el Alek.

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