Wadan

Wadan, also called Ouadane, is an old caravan town on the Adrar plateau. Its stone houses, mosque and palm groves occupy a rocky desert setting where wells sustained travellers crossing the Sahara. The town became a centre of trade and Islamic learning, linked to routes leading north to the Maghreb and south towards the Niger. In 1487 the Portuguese established a trading post at Wadan in an attempt to reach the commerce carried across the desert. The post did not last long, but its presence illustrates the attraction of Saharan exchange to merchants arriving by sea. The older town continued to reflect the lives of oasis residents, scholars and caravan traders in the western Sahara.