Western Sahara
Western Sahara (officially Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic) is a country in Northern Africa, with its capital at El Aaiún, and is home to roughly 600.0K people.
Its official languages are Berber, Hassaniya, Spanish; the currency in circulation is Algerian dinar (دج) and Moroccan dirham (DH) and Mauritanian ouguiya (UM); people from here are called Sahrawi.
- »Western Sahara is listed by the UN as a non-self-governing territory; Morocco controls most of it and the Polisario Front claims it.
- »A sand berm over 2,700 km long, one of the longest military barriers in the world, divides the territory.
Western Sahara straddles the Tropic of Cancer.
Western Sahara touches three neighbours: Algeria to the east, Mauritania to the southeast and Morocco to the northeast. Directions run from one centre to the other.
Laayoune is the largest city of Western Sahara and is administered by Morocco, while the Polisario Front names Tifariti as its own seat.
90,283 km² (34,858 sq mi), 109th largest of 198 countries and territories on file, almost exactly the size of Jordan.
Population 600,000, 168th of 198 on file. That averages 6.6 per km² (17 per sq mi).
The flag of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, in pan-Arab colours with a red crescent and star. Which flag flies where depends on who controls the ground.
Easily confused with Palestine and Jordan.
Palestine ▸
Jordan ▸