Bordj Badji Mokhtar ( ar, برج باجي مختار) is a town and

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

Bordj Badji Mokhtar District Bordj Badji Mokhtar District is a district of Bordj Baji Mokhtar Province, Algeria. According to the 2008 census it has a population of 20,930. Communes The district is further divided into 2 communes: *Bordj Badji Mokhtar Bordj Badji Mokhtar ...

Bordj Badji Mokhtar Province The Wilaya of Bordj Baji Mokhtar () is an Algerian Province created in 2019, previously, a delegated wilaya created in 2015. It is in the Algerian Sahara. Geography The wilaya of Bordj Baji Mokhtar is in the Algerian Sahara; its area is 131 ...

, in south-western

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

. According to the 2008 census it has a population of 16,437, up from 9,323 in 1998, with an annual growth rate of 6.0%, the highest in the province. It was named after the Algerian independence activist Badji Mokhtar (1919–1954). The

Prime Meridian A prime meridian is an arbitrary meridian (a line of longitude) in a geographic coordinate system at which longitude is defined to be 0°. Together, a prime meridian and its anti-meridian (the 180th meridian in a 360°-system) form a great c ...

passes near Bordj Badji Mokhtar.

Geography

Bordj Badji Mokhtar is located at an elevation of in the

Tanezrouft The Tanezrouft ( ar, تنزروفت) is a natural region located along the borders of Algeria and Mali, west of the Hoggar Mountains. Along with the Libyan Desert it is one of the most desolate and most arid parts of the Sahara Desert. This area ...

, a desolate and mostly flat area in the

Sahara Desert , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

. The region is extremely sparsely populated with only four significant settlements in the Algerian part (the other three being

Timiaouine Timiaouine ( ar, ﺗﻴﻤﻴﺎوﻳﻦ) is a town and commune in Bordj Badji Mokhtar District, Bordj Baji Mokhtar Province, in southwest Algeria near the border with Mali. According to the 2008 census it has a population of 4,493, up from 4,20 ...

In Guezzam In Guezzam (Arabic: عين قزام, ''lit.'' springs of Guezzam; Berber spelling: Gezzam) is a town and commune that is the capital of In Guezzam Province, Algeria, on the border with Niger. Till 26 November 2019 it was part of the Tamanrasse ...

and

Tin Zaouatine Tin Zaouatine ( ar, تين زاوتين) (also spelled Tinzouatine) is a commune, coextensive with the district of Tin Zaouatine, in In Guezzam Province, Algeria. According to the 2008 census it has a population of 4,157, up from 2,314 in 1998, wi ...

). Unlike most other towns in Saharan Algeria, Bordj Badji Mokhtar is not settled near an

oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...

but water is available from wells dug underground.

Climate

Bordj Badji Mokhtar has a

hot desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''BWh''), with long, extremely hot summers and short but hot winters, and very little rainfall throughout the year as the town only averages 38 mm (1.5 in) of rainfall. Occasional showers and thunderstorms do occur from July to September due as the town falls under the far northern edge of influence of the

West African Monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscill ...

Transportation

Bordj Badji Mokhtar is very distant from other population centres, but the N6 national highway does connect it to

Reggane Reggane (from Berber "Argan"; ar, رقان) is a town and commune, and the capital of Reggane District, in Adrar Province, central Algeria. Reggane lies in the Sahara Desert near an oasis. According to the 2008 census it has a population of 20,4 ...

and

Adrar Adrar (in Tifinagh script "ⴰⴷⵔⴰⵔ"), a Berber word meaning "mountain", is the name of several areas in Northwest Africa: Algeria * Adrar, Algeria, a town in Algeria * Adrar Province, an administrative division of Algeria * Adrar District, ...

to the north and

to the southeast. The smuggling of drugs, fuel and migrants is an important economic activity in the area, employing the El-Khalil border crossing into

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

, about southeast of the town. Bordj Badji Mokhtar is served by

Bordj Badji Mokhtar Airport Bordj Badji Mokhtar Airport is an airport northwest of Bordj Badji Mokhtar, Algeria. The airport is northeast of the Mali border. Airlines and destinations The only airline currently operating regular flights to/from the airport is Air Algéri ...

Education

1.2% of the population has a tertiary education, and another 4.4% has completed secondary education. The overall literacy rate is 26.1% (the lowest for any commune in

Adrar Province Adrar ( ar, ولاية أدرار, ber, ⴰⴷⵔⴰⵔ) is a province (''wilaya'') in southwestern Algeria, named after its capital Adrar. It is the second-largest province, with an area of 424,948 km2, roughly the size of the US state ...

), and is 33.3% among males (the lowest in the province) and 17.8% among females (the second lowest in the province).

Localities

As of 1984, the commune was composed of one locality: *Bordj Badji Mokhtar Bordj-Mokhtar (1990).jpg, Bordj Badji Mokhtar (1990).

References

Neighbouring towns and cities

{{Adrar Province Communes of Adrar Province Algeria–Mali border crossings Adrar Province