El Bayadh

El Bayadh lies on the high steppe at the northern edge of the Saharan Atlas. A watering place and the remains of a fortified settlement, or ksar, mark the site. Farther south, the oases and mountain communities were linked with the Awlad Sidi Shaykh, a confederation named for the Sufi teacher whose descendants established religious houses across the region. Their followers included both settled cultivators and pastoral groups moving through the surrounding country.