El Golâa (Arabic: القلعة Al Qal'ah) is a village in southern Tunisia. It is located southeast of Chott el Djerid a few miles north of Douz in the region of Nefzaoua.
It is administratively attached to the Kebili Governorate, Tunisia. As of 2004, it had a population of 7,037.
Like many villages and towns surrounding its name provides information on the site. Here, El Golâa means "citadel" (like its namesake in the south of the Algeria). Indeed, the population of El Golâa originally occupied a high point relative to the plain surrounding. Estimated at about 700 people at the end of the nineteenth century, it has steadily expanded its area of Habitat to hold down the hill and then the surrounding plain. As shown in the photo of the village, it remains at the top of the Hill as one mosques of the village (of which there are the minaret) and a public garden.
Given the absence of written sources, first hand, it is difficult to define precisely the origins of the population of El Golâa. Several competing narratives about the origin and descent of Guelaouas (so that the villagers are called).
El Goléa (Arabic: القلعة) is an oasis town and commune, and capital of El Ménia District, in Ghardaïa Province, Algeria. The official name is El Ménia (Arabic: المنيعة); together in Arabic, the two names mean Impregnable Castle. According to the 2008 census it has a population of 40,195, up from 28,848 in 1998, with an annual growth rate of 3.4%. The area is inhabited by the Zenete Berbers. El Goléa oasis grows many agricultural products. The grave of the French priest Charles de Foucauld is located in the town.
El Goléa is located almost at the center of Algeria, lying at the eastern border of the Grand Erg Occidental at an elevation of 380 metres (1,250 ft). The town is a gateway to the Sahara in the south, and has an estimated 180,000 palm trees within the oasis area. The oasis itself lies beneath an escarpment rising up to 200 metres (660 ft) above. Some of the largest continuous areas of Saharan sand dunes begin just a few kilometres to the west of the oasis.