Saharawi
|
|
|---|---|
Sahrawi man
|
|
| Total population | |
| (570,866) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Morocco
|
90,000–221,000 |
 Algeria
|
90,000 (UNHCR claim) to 165,000 (Algerian claim) refugees in the Sahrawi refugee camps at Tindouf–184,000 |
 Mauritania
|
26,000 (Refugees) |
 Spain
|
3,000–12,000 |
| Languages | |
| Hassaniya Arabic (native), Berber languages (native), Modern Standard Arabic (written only), and Spanish | |
| Religion | |
| Sunni Islam (Maliki), Sufism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Arabs, Moors, Berbers | |
The Sahrawi people (Arabic: صحراويون ṣaḥrāwīyūn; Berber: ⵉⵙⴻⵃⵔⴰⵡⵉⵢⴻⵏ Iseḥrawiyen; Moroccan Arabic: صحراوة Ṣeḥrawa; Spanish: Saharaui) are the people living in the western part of the Sahara desert which includes Western Sahara (claimed by the Polisario and mostly controlled by Morocco), other parts of southern Morocco not claimed by the Polisario, most of Mauritania, and the extreme southwest of Algeria.
As with most peoples living in the Sahara, the Sahrawi culture is mixed. It shows mainly Arab, Berber and Arab-Berber characteristics, like the privileged position of women, as well as characteristic common to ethnic groups of the Sahel. Sahrawis are composed of many tribes and are largely speakers of the Hassaniya dialect of Arabic, and some of them still speak Berber in both of Morocco's disputed and non-disputed territories.
The Arabic word Ṣaḥrāwī صحراوي literally means "Inhabitant of the Desert". The word Sahrawi is derived from the Arabic word Ṣaḥrā' (صحراء), meaning desert. The men are called a "Sahrawi", and the women are called a "Sahrawiya". In other language it is pronounced in similar or different ways:
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Wikipedia