Dakhla (Dajla), or ad-Dakhla (Arabic: الداخلة, formerly Villa Cisneros under Spanish rule), is a city in the Western Sahara and the capital of the Moroccan administrative region Oued Ed-Dahab-Lagouira. It has about 55,618 inhabitants and is built on a narrow peninsula of the Atlantic Coast about 550 km south of El Aaiún (Laayoune).