Western Sahara is a disputed territory in northwestern Africa, lying on the Atlantic coast between Morocco, Algeria, and Mauritania. A vast, sparsely populated expanse of desert, it is the subject of one of the world's longest-running territorial disputes: most of it is controlled and claimed by the Kingdom of Morocco, while a self-proclaimed state, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, backed by the Polisario Front, claims the whole territory and controls a thinner eastern strip. The United Nations lists it as a non-self-governing territory whose final status has never been settled.
The territory was inhabited by nomadic Sahrawi tribes of Arab and Berber heritage, who crossed the desert with their herds and caravans. In the late nineteenth century Spain colonised the region, ruling it as Spanish Sahara. When Spain withdrew in 1975, the territory was claimed by both Morocco and Mauritania, while the Sahrawi independence movement, the Polisario Front, declared the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and fought for independence. Mauritania later withdrew, leaving Morocco in control of most of the land, and a UN-brokered ceasefire in 1991 froze the conflict without resolving it.
The status of Western Sahara is deeply unresolved and contested. Morocco controls roughly the western four-fifths of the territory, including the coast and main towns, and regards it as part of the Kingdom, an integration recognised by a growing number of states. The Polisario Front's Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic claims the entire territory, is recognised by a number of countries and is a member of the African Union, and controls a sparsely populated eastern strip. A promised referendum on the territory's future has never been held, and its sovereignty remains genuinely undecided.
Western Sahara is an overwhelmingly desert territory, part of the great Sahara, consisting of vast stretches of flat, stony plains and sand, with very little rainfall and an arid, harsh climate. A long coastline on the Atlantic Ocean borders its western edge, where cold offshore currents make the waters rich in fish, even as the land behind remains barren. There are few permanent settlements, scattered oases, and intermittent watercourses that flow only rarely. The terrain is one of the most inhospitable and thinly populated in the world, a true expanse of the deep Sahara.
The flag shown is that of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, used by the Polisario Front and the independence movement, with horizontal bands of black, white, and green, a red triangle at the hoist, and a red star and crescent on the central white band. These are the pan-Arab colours, and the star and crescent reflect Islam. In the areas under Moroccan control, the flag of Morocco is flown instead. The two competing flags over the same territory are themselves a vivid symbol of the unresolved dispute over Western Sahara's status.
The people of Western Sahara, the Sahrawis, are overwhelmingly Muslim, following Sunni Islam, which is woven into the culture and daily life of this desert society as it is across the wider region of North Africa and the Sahara. Religious practice among the traditionally nomadic Sahrawi tribes blends mainstream Islam with local customs and the influence of Sufi traditions long present in the region. Islam provides a shared framework of faith and identity for the Sahrawi people, whether living under Moroccan control, in the Polisario-held areas, or in the refugee camps across the border in Algeria.
The cuisine of Western Sahara reflects the nomadic Sahrawi way of life and the wider food traditions of North Africa and the desert. Central to it are camel and goat meat, dates, and grains, often prepared simply for life on the move, and the elaborate ritual of preparing and serving sweet mint tea, poured in three rounds, is a cherished social custom of Sahrawi hospitality. Couscous and dishes shared with neighbouring Morocco and Mauritania feature as well. The food, like the culture, is shaped by the scarcity and mobility of life in one of the world's great deserts.
Agriculture is almost impossible across most of Western Sahara because of the extreme aridity of the desert, and the territory produces very little food, relying on imports and, for the refugee population, on international aid. Traditional livelihoods centred on the nomadic herding of camels, goats, and sheep across the sparse desert pastures. The territory's real economic value lies elsewhere: in the rich fishing grounds off its Atlantic coast, and in significant deposits of phosphate rock, both of which are part of what makes control of the land a matter of dispute.
The era of Spanish colonial rule, the withdrawal of Spain in 1975, and the ensuing conflict among Morocco, Mauritania, and the Polisario Front are the defining events of the territory's modern history. The Polisario's declaration of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, the years of guerrilla war, the construction by Morocco of a long defensive sand wall across the desert, and the UN ceasefire of 1991 shaped the present stalemate. Decades of negotiations and a long-promised but never-held referendum on self-determination have left the dispute frozen and unresolved into the present day.
The population of Western Sahara is small and difficult to count, numbering perhaps around half a million people in the Moroccan-controlled areas, a figure swelled by Moroccan settlers, while a large number of Sahrawi refugees, displaced by the conflict, live in long-established camps near Tindouf across the border in Algeria. The indigenous people are the Sahrawis, an Arab-Berber people speaking a distinctive Arabic dialect known as Hassaniya, traditionally organised into nomadic tribes. Arabic is the main language, with Spanish and French also present as legacies of colonial history. The largest town is the coastal city of Laayoune.
