Laayoune[note 1] or El Aaiún[note 2] (Arabic: العيون, al-ʕuyūn[alʕujuːn], Hassaniyya:[ˈləʕjuːn]ⓘ, lit.'The Springs') is the largest city of the disputed territory named Western Sahara, with a population of 271,344 in 2023.[7] The city is de facto under Moroccan administration as occupied territory. The modern city is thought to have been founded by the Spanish captain Antonio de Oro in 1938.[8] From 1958, it became the administrative capital of the Spanish Sahara, administered by the Governor General of Spanish West Africa.[9]
In 2023, Laayoune is the capital of the Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra region administered by Morocco, it is still under the supervision of MINURSO, an UN mission.
The town is located south of the dry river of Saguia el-Hamra, where the old lower town constructed by Spanish colonists is located.[10] The St. Francis of Assisi Cathedral was constructed during the Spanish period and is still active with a few Catholic missionaries.
History
Laayoune or El Aaiún are respectively the French and Spanish transliterations of one of the possible Romanized Maghrebi Arabic names for the city: Layoun, which could mean "the springs", in reference to the oases that furnish the town's water supply.[11]
The city was founded by the Spanish captain Antonio de Oro in 1938 as a small military outpost, but quickly became the Spanish Sahara's administrative and political centre.[10] The location was chosen for two reasons: the presence of water and the strategic military position the site offered. Its position on the banks of the Saguia el-Hamra river enabled good communication with the harbors of Tarfaya and Boujdour. The city underwent a period of rapid economic growth in the 1940s due to the discovery of vast deposits of phosphates at the Bou Craa site fuelling a phosphate industry.[10]
The town was the scene of the Zemla Intifada that occurred on June 17, 1970, that culminated in a massacre, resulting in the deaths ranging from 2 to 11 people and hundreds injured.[citation needed]
After the Spanish withdrew in 1975, Laayoune, along with much of the rest of the Western Sahara, was annexed by Morocco.[10] Since then, large numbers of Moroccans have moved to the city, and now outnumber the indigenous Sahrawis, who have gradually given up their traditional nomadic lifestyles.[10]
The city has continued to develop rapidly and benefits of a desalinization plant. The city's rate of urbanization continues to outpace that of Morocco, though on most indicators of human development, it lags behind southern Morocco.[10]
A 2019 paper published in PLOS One estimated that under Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5, a "moderate" scenario of climate change where global warming reaches ~2.5–3 °C (4.5–5.4 °F) by 2100, the climate of Laayoune in the year 2050 would most closely resemble the current climate of Alexandria. The annual temperature would increase by 1 °C (1.8 °F), and the temperature of the warmest month by 1.8 °C (3.2 °F), while the temperature of the coldest month would decrease by 0.1 °C (0.18 °F).[14][15] According to Climate Action Tracker, the current warming trajectory appears consistent with 2.7 °C (4.9 °F), which closely matches RCP 4.5.[16]
Demographics
Laayoune has a population of 271,344[1] and is the largest city in Western Sahara.
The city is a hub for fishing and for phosphate mining in the region.[18] In 2010, the country was negotiating a new fishing agreement with Europe over offshore fishing.[citation needed]
French school associated to the Alliance française was established in 2018, the city also includes a Spanish international school, Colegio Español La Paz, owned by the Spanish government.[19]
^Santana, Txema (2015-04-10). "El colegio español en El Aaiún pide ciclo de secundaria". El País (in Spanish). ISSN1134-6582. Retrieved 2023-02-07. Lagadaf Lahsen, presidente del AMPA del centro educativo, asegura que es "la única forma de evitar" que sus hijos "se vayan a otras ciudades de Marruecos o a Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, además de que no se pierda el español en el Sáhara"." and "[...]una instalación de 17.000 metros cuadrados que es propiedad del Estado español[...]
