History · 3,000 years in one page
Morocco before Morocco.
You don’t need to be a historian to travel well. But eight milestones do help read the stones you’re about to walk on.
ca. 1100 BC
The Phoenicians found Lixus
On the northern Atlantic coast. The Berbers have been there for millennia. Morocco isn’t yet called Morocco: the north is called Mauretania Tingitana when the Romans arrive.
789
Idris I founds Fez
Refugee from the Battle of Fakhkh, Idris settles in the Sebou valley. His son Idris II makes Fez the capital. A thousand years of Andalusi character begin here.
1062
The Almoravids found Marrakech
Yusuf ibn Tashfin chooses the oasis at the foot of the Atlas. Marrakech will become capital of an empire reaching from Senegal to Toledo. The Koutoubia rises a hundred years later.
1492
The Andalusians arrive
After the fall of Granada, thousands of Muslims and Sephardic Jews cross the Strait. Their imprint is eternal: cuisine, zellige, tilework, pastry, family names.
1672
Mulay Ismail founds Meknes
The Alawi sultan builds a 50,000-spot court to emulate Versailles. His daughter Lalla Khnata bint Bakkar is the first woman to act as regent of the country.
1912
French and Spanish protectorate
Treaty of Fez. France controls centre and south, Spain the north and Sahara. The Fez medina remains intact because the new colonisers build new cities beside it.
1956
Independence
Mohammed V returns from exile. Morocco becomes a kingdom again. La Mamounia, opened in 1923, hosts Churchill that same decade painting the gardens.
today
The Maghreb’s quietest seat
Mohammed VI has been on the throne for 26 years. Morocco qualifies first of Africa in the 2022 World Cup. Investment in high-speed rail is the highest in Africa.
To delve deeper, go to the page on Readings. The first book on the list, “Morocco before Morocco” by Bernard Lugan, covers it in 412 pages.