The M'zab is a chain of five fortified oasis cities — Ghardaïa, Beni Isguen, Melika, Bounoura, and El Atteuf — strung along a hundred-kilometre wadi on the northern edge of the Algerian Sahara. The pentapolis was founded between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries by Ibadi Muslims fleeing the Fatimid conquest of Tahart, their earlier capital.
The Mozabites speak Tumzabt, an eastern Tamazight variety with around two hundred thousand speakers. The community follows Ibadi Islam, a third branch of Islam distinct from Sunni and Shi'a, and maintains a distinct theology, jurisprudence, and social code organised around the council of the halqa.
The towns are densely built in cubic earthen architecture climbing tiered hillsides, each crowned by a fortified mosque whose minaret functions as both call to prayer and watchtower. Public space is sharply demarcated: separate cemeteries, separate market schedules, and a strict customary regulation of dress and behaviour for residents and visitors alike.
The M'zab valley was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982 for the integrity of its urban form and the continuity of its inhabited tradition. Ghardaïa is the regional commercial centre and a hub for the carpet trade and date export.