Marrakesh

(Travellers | Cities | Routes | Trade Goods | Themes)

by Caroline Stone

Marrakesh (31.36 N, 8.00 W) is one of the makhzaniyya, or royal, cities of Morocco. It is set between the base of the High Atlas and the Sahara. Europeans, through a confusion, gave the name of the city to the country as a whole. Marrakesh was important at various periods as a capital city, an intellectual centre and, because of its position on the roads linking the north and the coast with the trans-Saharan routes south, a major trade mart. The city was until very recently surrounded by great palm groves orchards and olive trees, which contributed to its prosperity, as did the many craftsmen.

Marrakesh [Marrakush] is believed to have been built on the site of a minor Roman city, Bocanum Hemerum, but was re-founded in 1062 by Yusuf ibn Tashufin, the leader of the reforming dynasty of the Almoravids. The Almoravids came up from the Sahara and conquered much of North Africa and al-Andalus, eventually opening new patterns of cultural and economic exchange throughout the region.

The Almoravids succumbed to the pleasures of city life and were in turn conquered by a new dynasty, the Almohads – who made Marrakesh their capital in 1147, while Seville headed their Andalusian kingdom. Elaborate building programmes were begun in both cities. The Giralda, minaret of the Great Mosque in Seville and the Kutubiyya (Mosque of the Books) in Marrakesh share an architect. Ibn Rushd (Averroes), the philosopher and commentator on Aristotle, is said to have been involved with both projects. The Kutubiyya was named from the alleged 200 booksellers surrounding it – which gives an idea of Marrakesh’s status as an intellectual centre for western Islam, rivalling Cairo in Egypt.

The succeeding Merinid dynasty made Fez their capital and attempted the re-conquest of al-Andalus. They took Marrakesh definitively in 1268. In spite of this loss of status, it remained an extremely important link in the system of trade routes which led to the great caravan city of Sijilmasa and on across the Sahara, bearing salt and manufactured goods south and slaves, gold and ivory up out of Africa.

In 1591, Abu al-Abbas Mansur of the Sa‘adien dynasty conquered Timbuktu, thus drawing Muslim Africa south of the Sahara politically and culturally closer to North Africa. He also made Marrakesh his main residence and enriched it with numerous buildings, including some very fine tombs. It is said that the Carrara marble used for these was paid for in sugar (a luxury in Europe at that time) weight for weight, giving some idea of the agricultural wealth of the area.

Marrakesh continued to be a favourite residence of the Sultans of the ‘Alawi dynasty, who endowed it with numerous mosques, madrasas (religious colleges) and palaces, but it was only very briefly their capital and declined as a centre of general learning.

Marrakesh's trans-Saharan trade survived the destruction of Sijilmasa in 1362 and its economy was not adversely affected by the brief Portuguese conquest of the coastal cities in the 16th century. Indeed, there were mutually advantageous trading arrangements and one of the Sa‘adian princes married Doña Mencia, the daughter of the last Portuguese governor of Agadir.

Marrakesh's importance waned with the decline of the trans-Sahara trade routes, and the shrinking of Morocco's European markets. It remained a city of great importance in internal politics and the main market city for the area. It had sufficient commercial activity to retain a considerable Jewish population (largely jewellers and metal-workers) until the middle of the 20th century. Recently, tourism and the re-development of the palm groves for leisure activities have stimulated the economy, greatly increasing prosperity.