Water and the Making of the Hydro-Social Oasis Landscape in the Touat Region during the Medieval Period: A Historical Perspective on Settlement Dynamics and Saharan Urbanism

Abstract

This article examines the dialectical relationship between water and settlement in the region of Touat, one of the principal oasis spaces of the central Sahara within the medieval Islamic Maghreb. The study proceeds from the premise that water was not a neutral natural given, but rather a central agent in the production of social and built space through the foggara irrigation system, which allowed heterogeneous human groups to establish stable settlements in an arid environment. The analysis draws on a critical reading of descriptive geographers, on travel accounts as field testimonies, and on Ibn Khaldun's data concerning valleys, water tributaries, urbanization, and the desert economy. The study concludes that the territorial anchoring of settlement in Touat resulted from a complex interaction between hydrological geography, social organization, and trans-Saharan trade networks, warranting the notion of an integrated hydro-social space.