The ****Draa (, ; also spelled Dra or Drâa, in older sources mostly Darha or Dara, ) is Morocco's longest river, at 1100 km. It is formed by the confluence of the Dadès River and Imini River. It flows from the High Atlas mountains, initially south-eastward to Tagounite, and from Tagounite mostly westwards to its mouth in the Atlantic Ocean somewhat north of Tan-Tan. In 1971, the (El) Mansour Eddahabi dam was constructed to service the regional capital of Ouarzazate and to regulate the flow of the Draa. Most of the year the part of the Draa after Tagounite falls dry. In the first half of the 20th century, the lowest course of the Draa marked the boundary between the French protectorate of Morocco and the area under Spanish rule. The valley contains the Fezouata formations, which are Burgess shale-type deposits dating to the Lower Ordovician, filling an important preservational window between the common Cambrian lagerstätten and the Late Ordovician Soom shale. In the fossilized fauna were numerous organisms previously thought to have died out after the mid-Cambrian.

History

Prehistory

Human occupation in the Draa valley and adjacent mountains dates at least to the Lower Paleolithic, as attested by Oldowan and Acheulean tools found near Tamegroute. Middle Paleolithic sites are widespread. Neolithic-era rock art can be found throughout the Draa valley, depicting hunting scenes as well as domesticated cattle. The chronology of these sites is uncertain, but the earliest may date to the 3rd millennium BCE.

Before 1054

The Draa River was also well known to the ancient Romans. It figures on the first world map in history made by Ptolemy (90-168 AD).

Wattasids

During the reign of the Wattasid Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad, Askia Ishaq I of the Songhai Empire sent Tuareg raiders into the Draa valley to avenge a diplomatic insult where Morocco had demanded the cession of the valuable Taghaza salt mine.

Saadi

Alaouites

Four of the sons of Ismail Ibn Sharif have been khalifa of the Draa:

Language

Two languages are spoken in the area: a local variety of Colloquial Arabic which is closely related to Hassaniya, and Shilha or Tashelhiyt, a Berber language.

Oases

The Upper Draa River valley, about 200 km long, consists of six stretches of oases/palm groves from north to south:

Ksour

in the Mezguita

in Tinzouline

in Ternata

in the Fezouata

in the Ktaoua/Ktwawa

This is the southern stretch of the valley between the Azagha and the Bounou dam near Tagounite. There are 55 villages, mostly consisting of ksour (plural of ksar): Source : Recensement général du Maroc, 1994 (Recensement général de la population et de l'habitat (RGPH, Haut-Commissariat au Plan du Royaume du Maroc (HCP), septembre 1994)).

Exploration

The Draa has attracted the attention of a number of notable explorers including Frenchman Charles de Foucauld who travelled throughout Morocco disguised as a Jewish merchant in the 1800s, and Jeffrey Tayler who wrote a book about his experiences.