![]() They settled in five fortified villages located on rocky outcrops, known locally as “Kosars”, although they could have lived in one larger village encompassing all the five. They first moved to Sedrata and finally to the M'Zab valley. They were forced to leave Tahert consequent to a devastating fire in 909 (it is reported that destruction was caused by the founder of the (Shi'ite) Fatimid Dynasty ). ![]() It is ascribed to the Ibadis, with their cultural identity originally traced to the Maghreb they had their capital at Tahert as an Ibadi Kingdom. The original architecture of the semi desert valley is dated to early 11th century. The M'Zab valley, in limestone plateau, was inscribed under the UNESCO Heritage List, is a unique conglomeration of five cities confined in area of 75 km² situated 600 km to the south of Algiers, the capital of Algeria. The name of Ghardaïa has its origins in a female saint named Daïa who lived in a cave (ghār) in the area before it blossomed into a town inhabited by Ibadi Muslims who came to escape persecution from the Fatimid Caliphate in the north. In her 1963 book, La Force des choses, the French existentialist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir described Ghardaïa as "a Cubist painting beautifully constructed". Distinctive white, pink, and red houses, made of sand, clay and gypsum, rise in terraces and arcades. At the centre is the historical Mʾzabite area, with a pyramid-style mosque and an arcaded square. Divided into three walled sectors, it is a fortified town. It is a major centre of date production and the manufacture of rugs and cloths. It was founded by the Mozabites, an Ibadi sect of the Berber Muslims. Ghardaïa is part of a pentapolis, a hilltop city amongst four others, built almost a thousand years ago in the M’Zab valley. The M'zab in the Ghardaïa Province was made a World Heritage Site in 1982, as a cultural property evaluated under the criteria II (for its settlement affecting urban planning even to the present century), III (for its Ibadi cultural values), and V (a settlement culture which has prevailed to the present century). It is located in northern-central Algeria in the Sahara and lies along the left bank of the Wadi Mzab. The commune of Ghardaïa has a population of 93,423 according to the 2008 census, up from 87,599 in 1998, with an annual growth rate of 0.7%. Ghardaïa ( Arabic: غرداية, Tumzabt: Taɣerdayt) is the capital city of Ghardaïa Province, Algeria.
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