Smara

Smara (officially Es-Semara) is the capital of Es-Semara province¹, which belongs to the Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra region.² The town lies in the valley of the Saguia El Hamra.³ On 10 November 2025 Royal Air Maroc opened a direct route from Casablanca to Es-Smara, flown twice a week on Mondays and Fridays.⁴

In 2024 the municipality had 56,607 inhabitants and the province 73,864.⁵ The province's population has almost doubled since 1994, when it stood at 39,726; between 2014 and 2024 it grew by an average of 1.1 per cent a year. The town is home to 76.6 per cent of the province's inhabitants.⁶

Sheikh Maâ El Aïnin, who usually lived along the Saguia El Hamra, founded his largest zawiya at Smara in 1898, and it became a cultural centre. Together with it a kasbah was built as the core of the town, which took shape in 1904; building materials and craftsmen came from other parts of the country, above all from Tangier, aboard the ship Triki.⁷ His library held several hundred books; he himself wrote more than 80 works, some of which were printed during his lifetime in Cairo or at the lithographic press in Fez.⁸

Remains survive of the great mosque and of the sheikh's house, which consisted of four small houses, as well as lodgings for students and grain stores.⁹

The province has numerous rock engravings, including in the areas of Elasli and Miran.¹⁰ In February 2022, according to the Ministry of Culture, an exploration mission found around ten further sites with prehistoric rock paintings. At that time 15 sites were recorded and 11 more were being registered; three rock art museums serve their conservation.¹¹

The climate is desert: the Smara station records an average of only 34.5 millimetres of precipitation a year. Mean daily maximum temperatures range from 23.2 degrees in January to 38.0 degrees in August.¹²