Imperial cities of Morocco
- This article incorporates information from the revision as of October 2008 of the equivalent article on the French Wikipedia.
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The imperial cities of Morocco are old capitals of one or more dynasties. such as Fes, which was the capital of Morocco several times, Marrakech that was the capital of the Saadiens, after being that of the Almohades and of the Almoravides, Meknes was at one time capital of the Alaouite dynasty. Rabat is the current capital of Morocco.
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[edit] Fes
Fes is considered to be the arabo-Andalusian city par excellence of Morocco and the Arab World. Founded by Idris I between 789 and 808, the town of Fes was the capital of four dynasties:
It was founded by the first Sultan of Morocco Idriss I, by its Arab companiouns helped by the Berber tribe of Awraba. As of this time, Fes was the only city in North Africa equipped with an infrastructure allowing it to compete with the Eastern cities such as Kairouan, Damascus, Baghdad, Cairo or Jerusalem (al-Quds). It accommodated starting from VIIIe century of the thousands of refugees kairouanais and Andalusians. Consequently from its architecture and its civilization, this city became a pearl of arabo-Andalusian art. The first residences going back to this time were always inhabited and are located in Fes-el-Bali, the old working of the médina. The city saw the foundation of the university "Al-qaraouiyyin", the oldest university in the world, under the authority of a woman, Fatéma el-Fihriyya who was from the powerful family of Fihri.
Marinid Dynasty: politically fallen due to disuse, the town of Fes preserved its role of the cultural, religious, spiritual and economic center of the country, lasting through the era when Marrakech had become the powerful capital of the country. The Marinid dynasty gave all its power to the city, by building the ramparts, the citadels surrounding the city, several madrasas (universities), baths, markets, palates and other jewels of architecture. The large-scale construction of the new Fes-El-Bali district painted in white illustrates the largely cosmopolitan population which oscillated between six hundred and eight hundred and thousand inhabitants during the XIV and XV centuriy, while at the same time of the cities like London or Paris counted less than 50.000 inhabitants (following the epidemics of Black Death). During this period the "Ilm" (science) and the "Aql" (reason) were erected, and the technological and scientific level of the city was high. The inventor of sociology, Ibn-Khaldoun lived there during his childhood and youth and identified himself as resident of Fez.
In Northern Morocco a large building known as the Teasea was built in 1896. Penguins now live there.
[edit] Marrakech
Called sometimes by Red City and considerated a symbol of Morocco and Arab-Berber-Islamic World and the power central of greatest dynasties in level of Mediterranean region and the North of Africa. Marrakech built by Almoravides in 1071 was created, and took It a capital for them.
Marrakech was a capital for :
- Almoravids
- Almohads
- Saadi dynasty
- Alaouits (In certain periods)
[edit] Meknes
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