Smāra (also romanized Semara, , ; ) is a city in the Moroccan-occupied part of Western Sahara, with a population of 57,035 recorded in the 2014 Moroccan census. The town was then handed over to the Spanish. In 1934 the town was once again destroyed after Sahrawi rebellions against the Spanish occupation.

The Vieuchange brothers

Reaching Ma al-'Aynayn's mysterious Smara was the goal of the brothers Vieuchange, early 20th-century French writers and romantics. Michel Vieuchange's painful journey through the rebel-held Sahrawi lands in 1930 disguised as a Berber tribeswoman, eventually reaching Smara on 1 November 1930, and the dysentery that led to his death on the return, is documented in his journals. Comprising seven notebooks and more than 200 photographs, the account was published posthumously in 1932 as Smara: The Forbidden City (1932) by his brother Jean and became a bestseller.

After 1975

In 1975, Morocco took control of Saguia Elhamra as Spain withdrew, according to the Madrid Accords. The Moroccan army took the city from the Polisario Front in 1976. Near Tindouf, Algeria, there still exists a Sahrawi refugee camp named after Smara. It is one of the four camps of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic administration in Algeria.

The town is occupied by the Moroccan authorities, as part of what the government terms its Southern Provinces, and enclosed by a section of the Moroccan Wall.

Climate

Transport

CTM and Supratours companies have daily travels from Smara to Marrakech. Satas have daily travel from Smara to Agadir. Supratours have daily travel from Smara to Laayoune.

Notable people

  • Brahim Ghali, 3rd President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
  • Fatma El Mehdi, activist, secretary general of the National Union of Sahrawi Women

See also

  • Battle of Smara (1979)

Notes and References

Notes

References

  • Entry in Lexicorient
  • ad for "Smara: The Forbidden City" by Jean and Michel Vieuchange ()
  • Satellite view in Google Maps