Touat

(or Tuat), a group of oases in the Algerian Sahara, in Saoura Wilaya. It is located west of the Plateau du Tademai’t, in the valley of Oued Messaoud; it extends for 170 km. Its center is at Adrar (population, 3,500). Population, about 54,000 (1968) in 135 settlements. There is oasis land cultivation; groundwater is collected in underground culverts (foggarah). Date palms (more than 550,000 trees), cereals, vegetables, and tobacco are cultivated; some of the dates are shipped via the trans-Saharan highway.