Figuig

Figuig is an oasis town in eastern Morocco, close to the Atlas Mountains and directly on the border with Algeria. The town grew around a large oasis of date palms in a rugged, mountainous setting, and dates remain its most important crop, with some hundreds of thousands of palms cultivated in the area. Its people are Amazigh, speaking a Berber language that is spoken but not written, and the community includes marabouts who call themselves sharifs as well as Harratin workers who have long tended the irrigation channels and palm groves. A small Jewish Berber community once lived in two mellahs and has practically disappeared. The 2014 census counted 10,872 inhabitants, down from a peak of 14,571 in 1982, as modernization drew many residents away, and the town is now working to reach stability. Figuig also gives its name to the surrounding province of the Oriental region.