Reggane (from

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...

"Argan"; ar, رقان) 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 ...

, and the capital of Reggane District, 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 o ...

, central

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

. Reggane lies 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 = , ...

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 ...

. According to the 2008 census it has a population of 20,402, up from 14,179 in 1998, with an annual growth rate of 3.8%.

tribes and people live in and around Reggane.

History

To the east of Reggane there was, until 1965, a

rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...

launching site where numerous civilian and military ballistic rockets were launched. France began its

nuclear testing Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine nuclear weapons' effectiveness, yield, and explosive capability. Testing nuclear weapons offers practical information about how the weapons function, how detonations are affected by ...

program in the vicinity of Reggane, conducting four such tests during the

Algerian War The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...

in 1960 and 1961, before

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

Geography

The town of Reggane and its neighbouring villages lie next to the southernmost

of the

Tuat Tuat, or Touat, is a natural region of desert in central Algeria that contains a string of small oases. In the past, the oases were important for caravans crossing the Sahara. Geography Tuat lies to the south of the Grand Erg Occidental, to t ...

region, which stretches northward to

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, ...

. The Tidikelt region, a plain with isolated oases, lies to the east, including towns such as

In Salah In Salah or officially Aïn Salah ( ar, عين صالح) is the oasis town in central Algeria that is the capital of the In Salah Province and In Salah District. It was once an important trade link of the trans-Saharan caravan route. As of the 2 ...

In Ghar In Ghar (Arabic: عين غار, lit. ''Cave spring'') is a town and commune, coextensive with the district of In Ghar, in In Salah Province, Algeria. According to the 2008 census it has a population of 11,225, up from 8,059 in 1998, with an annual ...

, Aoulef and Tit. To the west is the sandy

Erg Chech The Erg Chech ( ar, عرق شاش), is a large erg in southwestern Algeria and northern Mali. Geography It is an almost uninhabited part of the greater Sahara Desert, an inhospitable desert region with long, extremely hot summers and short, very w ...

desert, while to the south lies the vast barren plain of 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 ...

Climate

Reggane 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, very warm winters. The climate is torrid and almost rainless. Daytime temperatures are known to consistently approach 50 °C (122 °F) in summer and nighttime temperatures routinely remain above 30 °C (86 °F). Average annual rainfall is extremely low, with only 10 mm (0.39 in). The sky is always clear throughout the year and the sunshine reigns supreme. The area in the heart of the

Algerian Desert The Algerian Desert ( ar, الصحراء الجزائرية) is located in north-central Africa and is part of the Sahara Desert. The desert occupies more than four-fifths of Algerian territory. Its expansion starts from the Saharan Atlas as a ...

bounded by Adrar - Reggane - In Salah is nicknamed the "triangle of fire" by local inhabitants due to the extreme heat that bakes the region from May to September.

Transportation

Reggane is the last town on the

track heading south across the

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

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 ...

. Customs and police inspection here are mandatory before crossing 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 Tanezrouft track is the southern part of Algeria's N6 national highway, which connects to

to the north and

Bordj Badji Mokhtar Bordj Badji Mokhtar ( ar, برج باجي مختار) is a town and commune in Bordj Badji Mokhtar District, Bordj Badji Mokhtar Province, in south-western Algeria. According to the 2008 census it has a population of 16,437, up from 9,323 in 1998, ...

to the south. Another highway, the N52, leads through the Tidikelt region to Aoulef and eventually

. The town is served by Reggane Airport, located about east of the town.

Education

6.0% of the population has a tertiary education, and another 15.6% has completed secondary education. The overall literacy rate is 75.9%, and is 85.0% among males and 66.3% among females.

Localities

As of 1984, the commune was composed of 11 localities: *Bahou *El Mestour *Zaouit Lahchef * Anzeglouf * Aït Massaoud * En Nefis * Timadanine *Taarabt *Tinoufel Djedida *Tinoufel Elgadima *Zaouit Reggani * Taourirt *Berriche

References

External links

Reggane Chronology and Launch LogFrench nuclear tests in the Sahara
(video)

Neighbouring towns and cities

{{Authority control Communes of Adrar Province Nuclear test sites French nuclear test sites Spaceports

History

Geography

Climate

Transportation

Education

Localities

See also

References

External links