Dakhla, Western Sahara
Dakhla | |
|---|---|
| File:Dakhla95.jpg | |
| Country |  Western Sahara |
| Claimed by |  Morocco, Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic |
| Controlled by | Morocco |
| Population (2006) | |
| • Total | 67,468 |
Dakhla (Dajla), or ad-Dakhla (Arabic: الداخلة) (formerly Villa Cisneros, which is its current name in Spanish), is a city in the Western Sahara with about 67,468 inhabitants[1]. It is about 550 km south of El Aaiún on a narrow peninsula of the Atlantic Coast. It is the capital of what the Moroccan government called the Oued Ed-Dahab-Lagouira region, but for the POLISARIO is part of the Occupied Territories.
Dakhla was founded as Villa Cisneros in 1502 by Spanish settlers during the expansion of their Empire.
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During the colonial period, the Spanish authorities made Dakhla the capital of the province of Río de Oro, one of the two regions of the Spanish Sahara. They built a military fortress and a modern Catholic church, both of which remain points of interest for visitors to the city. A prison camp also existed here during the Spanish Civil War, at which writers such as Pedro García Cabrera were imprisoned.
During the 1960s, the Francoist dictatorship also built here one of the three paved airports in Western Sahara at Dakhla Airport. Between 1975 and 1979, Dakhla was the province capital of the Mauritanian province of Tiris al-Gharbiyya, consisting of its annexed portion of Western Sahara. Dakhla Airport is used as public airport and by the Royal Air Maroc. The 3 km. long runway can receive a Boeing 737 or smaller planes. The passenger terminal covers 670 m² and is capable to handle up to 55.000 passenger/year.
The main economic activity of the city is fishing. In recent years the town has become a centre for aquatic sports, such as kitesurfing, windsurfing and surf casting.
Sahara Regency
The Sahara Regency Hotel is a 4-star hotel, serving Dakhla. It has 82 rooms, 41 of them have views of the lagoon.[2] Built in the early 90's under the orders of King Hassan II, the Sahara Regency was intended on increasing tourism and decreasing the isolation of Dakhla. The hotel offers many services, from expeditions of the desert, to a massage.
Climate
| Climate data for Dakhla | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 21 (70) |
20 (68) |
22 (72) |
21 (70) |
22 (72) |
23 (73) |
23 (73) |
25 (77) |
25 (77) |
25 (77) |
23 (73) |
21 (70) |
22 (72) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 18 (64) |
18 (64) |
20 (68) |
19 (66) |
20 (68) |
21 (70) |
22 (72) |
22 (72) |
23 (73) |
22 (72) |
21 (70) |
19 (66) |
20 (68) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 15 (59) |
15 (59) |
17 (63) |
17 (63) |
17 (63) |
18 (64) |
20 (68) |
20 (68) |
20 (68) |
20 (68) |
18 (64) |
16 (61) |
18 (64) |
| Average precipitation days | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 13 |
| Source: Weatherbase[3] | |||||||||||||
References
- ^ Stefan Helders (2006). "Western Sahara - largest cities (per geographical entity)" (in English). World Gazetteer. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) - ^ Sahara Regency (French)
- ^ "Weatherbase: Historical Weather for Dakhla".
External links
