TAN-TAN

town, provincial capital, and province, Sud region, southwestern Morocco. The town, about 16 mi (25 km) by road east of the Atlantic Ocean in the extreme northwestern reaches of the Sahara, is a military post and market centre for the Regeibat and Tekna nomads that live in the area. The annual musim, a commercial and religious fair, attracts traders and nomads from as far away as Senegal and Marrakech; camels and sheep are exchanged for grains, tea, sugar, and other necessities. Tan-Tan province fronts the Atlantic Ocean (northwest), and is bounded by the provinces of Guelmim (east) and the Moroccan administered provinces of es-Semara (south) and Layoune (or El Aaiun; southwest) in the Western Sahara disputed (since 1976) territory. It embraces an area of 6,678 sq mi (17,295 sq km). The territory that now comprises Tan-Tan province became a part of the Spanish Protectorate of Morocco (the area defined as an integral part of Morocco by a Franco-Spanish convention in 1912) known variously as the Tekla zone, Tarfaya zone, or Spanish Southern Morocco. This region was returned to Morocco in 1958 and in 1976 Tan-Tan province was established in its northwest corner. Tan-Tan has been the site of warfare between Moroccan troops and the Western Saharan Polisario Front guerrillas; guerrillas raided Tan-Tan town twice in 1979. The province is a relatively flat, stony plain with occasional intermittent stream beds, low-lying mountains, ridges, and saline depressions; sand dune beaches and high cliffs are found on the Atlantic coast. Ocean fog preserves limited scrub growth near the coast. Nomads are increasingly raising sheep rather than camels, and practicing transhumance. Pop. (1971) town, 10,722; (1981 est.) province, 27,900.