The Sahrawi, the People of the Western Sahara

The Sahrawi are the people of the Western Sahara, the disputed desert territory on the Atlantic coast of northwest Africa, and of the refugee camps near Tindouf in southwestern Algeria. Numbering some hundreds of thousands, they are a people of Arab, Berber and Bedouin descent, traditionally nomadic camel herders of one of the harshest deserts on earth.Muslim, speaking the Hassaniya Arabic dialect, and famed for their poetry and their ceremony of tea, the Sahrawi lived for centuries as desert nomads, but in modern times their homeland has become the subject of a long and unresolved dispute, and much of the people has lived in exile. This article traces their origins, language, homeland, nomadic life and the customs that continue to define them.

The Sahrawi on Film

Origins
The Name
The Language
The Homeland
The Old Way of Life
Society and Community
Religion and Belief
Traditions
Crafts
Food
Festivals
History
Today

Origins

Sahrawi in the Algerian desert; many live as refugees in camps near Tindouf.

The Sahrawi, or Saharawi, are the people of the Western Sahara, the disputed desert territory on the Atlantic coast of northwest Africa, and of the refugee camps near Tindouf in southwestern Algeria. Numbering some hundreds of thousands, they are a people of Arab, Berber and Bedouin descent, traditionally nomadic camel herders of one of the harshest deserts on earth.

The name Sahrawi means, simply, people of the desert, from the Arabic word for the Sahara. Muslim, speaking a distinctive Arabic dialect, and organised into tribes, the Sahrawi lived for centuries as nomads ranging across the western Sahara. In modern times their homeland has become the subject of a long and unresolved dispute, and much of the people has lived in exile, but they have preserved a strong sense of a distinct identity.

The Name

Laayoune, the largest city of the Western Sahara.

The people call themselves the Sahrawi, a name meaning inhabitants of the desert, the Sahara. They are descended from a mingling of Arab tribes, above all the Beni Hassan who came from the east, with the earlier Berber inhabitants and with Bedouin and other elements, blended over the centuries into a distinct desert people.

Their identity is bound up with the western Sahara, with their nomadic and tribal heritage, and, in modern times, with the struggle over their homeland. The name Sahrawi denotes a people proud of their desert origins and their distinct culture, set apart from their neighbours by their history, their dialect and their way of life.

The Language

A Sahrawi with a flag; the people speak Hassaniya Arabic.

The Sahrawi speak Hassaniya, a dialect of Arabic that takes its name from the Beni Hassan Arabs and that is spoken across the western Sahara, in Mauritania and in parts of Morocco, Algeria and Mali. It is distinct from the Arabic of the north and retains a strong Bedouin character, along with Berber influences.

Rich in the oral poetry for which the desert Arabs are famous, Hassaniya is the everyday language of the Sahrawi and a central marker of their identity. Spanish, from the era of Spanish colonial rule, and standard Arabic are also known, but Hassaniya, the tongue of the tents and the poetry, remains the heart of Sahrawi culture.

The Homeland

The desert of the Western Sahara, the arid homeland of the Sahrawi.

The Sahrawi homeland is the western Sahara, a vast and arid land of stony desert, sand, dry riverbeds and a long Atlantic coast, one of the driest and least hospitable regions on earth. Rainfall is minimal and unpredictable, and the sparse pasture that appears after rare rains determined the movements of the nomads and their herds.

This harsh country, crossed by old caravan routes and rich, in parts, in phosphates and fish, shaped the nomadic life of the Sahrawi, who ranged widely in search of pasture and water. Much of the people now lives in the towns of the territory, such as Laayoune, and in the refugee camps of the Algerian desert, but the Sahara remains the homeland and the touchstone of Sahrawi identity.

The Old Way of Life

A caravan in the desert; the Sahrawi were nomadic camel herders.

The Sahrawi were traditionally nomadic pastoralists, herding camels, goats and sheep across the desert in search of the scanty pasture, and moving their tents with the herds. The camel was central to their life, providing milk, meat, transport and wealth, and enabling survival and movement in a land where little else could live.

Trade along the caravan routes that crossed the Sahara, carrying salt, goods and, in the past, slaves, supplemented the herding, and some Sahrawi fished the rich Atlantic coast. This mobile, tribal life, finely adapted to the desert, was transformed in the twentieth century by colonisation, war and the settling of much of the people in towns and camps, but the pastoral and nomadic heritage remains central to Sahrawi identity.

Society and Community

A traditional Sahrawi tent, the khaima, the centre of nomad life.

Sahrawi society was organised into tribes and clans, and ordered by a system of social ranks inherited from the desert Arab world, including warrior tribes, religious and learned tribes, tributary groups and, historically, those of servile descent. Kinship, tribal solidarity and the code of honour of the desert were powerful forces.

There were no kings or centralised state over the Sahrawi; the tribes governed their own affairs, and assemblies of notables and the authority of the learned and the elders ordered social and political life. The tent, the khaima, was the centre of family life, and hospitality, so vital in the desert, was a sacred duty. Marriage, kinship and the customs of the tribe governed the life of the Sahrawi, in a society shaped by the demands of the desert.

Religion and Belief

A mosque at Laayoune; the Sahrawi are Muslims.

The Sahrawi are Muslims, Islam having been established among them long ago and reinforced by the coming of the Beni Hassan Arabs, and the faith is central to their identity and daily life. Certain tribes were noted for their religious learning and piety, and produced scholars, teachers and holy men respected across the desert.

Mosques, Quranic learning and the observance of the faith order the religious life of the Sahrawi, and, as among many desert peoples, the veneration of holy men and the religious brotherhoods held their place. Islam links the Sahrawi to the wider Muslim world and has been woven into their tribal society and their poetry, and it remains the defining religious tradition of the people.

Traditions

The melhfa, the flowing garment worn by Sahrawi women.

The traditions of the Sahrawi are those of a desert, tribal and poetic people. The code of honour, the sacred duty of hospitality, the solidarity of the tribe and the ceremonies of the life cycle order and enrich the life of the community. The Sahrawi share the desert Arab passion for poetry, and the composing and reciting of Hassaniya verse is a cherished and highly developed art.

The ceremony of tea, prepared and served in three rounds with elaborate custom, is central to Sahrawi social life and hospitality. Music, song and dance, the distinctive dress of the women, the flowing melhfa, and the customs of the tent and the desert express the identity of the people. Poetry, tea and the customs of hospitality give Sahrawi culture its distinctive character.

Crafts

A desert tent of the Sahara, woven and set up by the nomad women.

Sahrawi craftsmanship is spare and suited to a nomadic desert life. The women weave and set up the tents, the khaima, of woven cloth or hair, the essential dwelling of the nomads, and make the mats, cushions and furnishings of the interior. Leatherwork, for bags, cushions and the gear of the camel and the tent, is an important craft.

The Sahrawi also make silver jewellery, worn by the women as adornment and wealth, and work wood into the utensils and the fittings of the tent, and metal into the tools and vessels of daily life. Everything is made to be portable and to suit the mobile life of the desert. These crafts, centred on the tent, the camel and the adornment of the women, reflect the nomadic culture of the Sahrawi.

Food

Life in the Sahrawi camps, where tea and dates are central to hospitality.

The diet of the Sahrawi is that of desert nomads, based on the milk of their camels and goats, on dates and on grain, above all barley and, later, imported flour, made into porridge, couscous and bread. Meat, especially camel and goat, is eaten on occasions of hospitality and celebration.

Above all, tea, strong, sweet green tea flavoured with mint and poured in three rounds, is central to Sahrawi life and hospitality, drunk throughout the day and offered to every guest. Milk, dates, grain and meat, and the ever-present tea, make up a diet suited to the scarcity of the desert. Today, in the camps and towns, imported and aid foods have changed the diet, but the traditions of tea and hospitality endure.

Festivals

A gathering in the Sahrawi refugee camps of the Algerian desert.

Festive life among the Sahrawi is shaped by the Muslim calendar, the milestones of the life cycle and the customs of the desert. The great Muslim festivals are celebrated with prayer, feasting and gathering, and weddings in particular are elaborate occasions of music, poetry, dance, feasting and the display of dress and jewellery, lasting several days.

Poetry contests, the recitation of Hassaniya verse, music, song and dance mark celebration, and the endless rounds of tea accompany every gathering. In the refugee camps, cultural festivals and the commemoration of the people’s history and cause have become important occasions. Poetry, music, tea and the customs of hospitality give Sahrawi festivity its distinctive character, sustaining identity in exile as at home.

History

Wrecked tanks of the Polisario, from the conflict over the Western Sahara.

The Sahrawi emerged from the mingling of Berber, Arab and Bedouin peoples in the western Sahara, and lived for centuries as nomadic tribes ranging across the desert, beyond the effective control of the states around them. In the late nineteenth century Spain claimed the coast, and gradually established the colony of Spanish Sahara over the Sahrawi lands.

When Spain withdrew in 1975, the territory was claimed and largely taken by Morocco, while the Sahrawi nationalist movement, the Polisario Front, proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and fought a long war for independence. A ceasefire in 1991 left much of the territory under Moroccan control and a large part of the Sahrawi people in refugee camps in Algeria, and the dispute over the Western Sahara, one of the world’s most intractable, remains unresolved.

Today

Today the Sahrawi number some hundreds of thousands, divided between the Western Sahara, much of it under Moroccan administration, and the refugee camps near Tindouf in Algeria, with communities also in Mauritania and the diaspora. The old nomadic life has largely given way to life in the towns and the camps, and the dispute over their homeland continues to shape their existence.

In exile and at home the Sahrawi have preserved their identity, their Hassaniya language, their poetry and their traditions of tea and hospitality, and the cause of self-determination remains central to their politics and their sense of themselves. Proud of their desert heritage and their distinct culture, and enduring one of the longest unresolved conflicts in the world, the Sahrawi carry their identity through a difficult and uncertain present.