Ghardaïa

Ghardaïa rises above the M’Zab valley, its closely packed houses climbing towards a mosque whose minaret also served as a watchtower. It is one of five fortified settlements founded by Ibadi communities in the valley between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries. Walls, narrow streets and palm groves form a landscape shaped by communal life and the demands of the desert. The inhabitants developed systems to capture and distribute scarce water, allowing gardens and date palms to flourish beside the wadi. Ghardaïa’s market and the neighbouring ksour made the valley an important centre of settled life in the Sahara.