Laayoune

Laayoune or El Aaiún (Arabic: العيون, al-ʕuyūn [alʕujuːn], Hassaniyya: [ˈləʕjuːn] , lit. 'The Springs') is the largest city of the disputed territory of Western Sahara, with a population of 262,791 in 2024. The city is the de jure capital of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, though it is under de facto Moroccan administration as occupied territory. The modern city is thought to have been founded by the Spanish captain Antonio de Oro in 1938. From 1958 it became the administrative capital of the Spanish Sahara, administered by the Governor General of Spanish West Africa.

Laayoune is the capital of the Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra region administered by Morocco, but it is still under the supervision of MINURSO, a UN mission.

The town is located south of the dry river of Saguia el-Hamra, where the old lower town built by Spanish colonists is located. The St. Francis of Assisi Cathedral was constructed during the Spanish period and is still active with a few Catholic missionaries.

History

Laayoune or El Aaiún are respectively the French and Spanish transliterations of one of the possible Romanized Hassaniya Arabic names for the city: Layoun, which could mean "the springs", in reference to the oases that furnish the town's water supply.

The city was founded by the Spanish captain Antonio de Oro in 1938 as a small military outpost but quickly became the Spanish Sahara's administrative and political center.