Morocco in antiquity

[_thetruth]

A bit of history for Moroccan born abroad the foreigners

During prehistory, the Berbers got established in Morocco coming from eastern Asia through the north (Syria then Europe) and the south (Ethiopia). In fact, first men lived 50 000 years ago and "Rabat man" is the older Neanderthal found in the country. Then around 8 000 BC, Stone Age with Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages began lately in Morocco.
At the end of the second millenium BC, probably during the 10th century BC, the Phoenicians created trading posts on Moroccan Mediterranean coast, what made the Berbers evolve directly into Iron Age and thus skip Bronze Age.

The 6th c BC let the Carthaginians control Moroccan coasts before they were taken over by the Sicilians at the end of the 4th c BC. The Romans finally won the latter in 236 BC and started annexing northern Morocco after the collapse of Cartage in 146 BC.

And in 33 BC, Rome imposed its government on northern Morocco called Tingitanian Mauretania, took Tingis as its capital and annexed it completely in 42 AD. During the 2nd c AD, Rome occupied territories beyond Moroccan Sahara and from the 3rd c, the Berbers who were most Jewish began partially to embrace Christianity.

the 5th c, the Vandals invaded some of the northern regions of Morocco. After them came again the Romans from the Byzantine Empire and from 533 gained control over coasts and fortified towns.
Later, in 704, the Arabs who had been Muslims since 622 entered Tangier and the Berber chiefs converted to Islam, then Tariq ibn Ziyad the Berber conquered Spain starting from Gibraltar in 709. Morocco became then a simple province of the Arab Empire but the northern Muslim Berbers revolted against Umayad caliphate and got autonomous.

South of the River Sebou, the Barghwatian founded in 744 a small independent state in western Morocco that practiced an altered Islam and lasted until the end of the 11th c. However, two small Islamic states took place on the Mediterranean coast: an Arab one that lasted in Nakour from 809 to 917 and a Berber one in Sebta (Ceuta) that vanished in 931.

The first real Moroccan State is nevertheless the Islamic one founded by Idriss the Alaouite who had escaped from Abbasside tyranny and had arrived in Oualili (Volubilis) in 788. His son Idriss II founded Fez in 808 and established in it. The Idrisside State grew rapidly and welcomed many waves of emigrants from Qortoba (Cordoba) and then from Kairaouan. Afterwards, they removed the Maghrawian from Tlemcen and advanced towards the south taking Shella at northern borders of the Barghwatian State and Nfis in the Souss. The Idrissides reigned this way over most Moroccan towns: Sebta, Aghmat, Sijilmassa, Tlemcen and Fez and so controlled the roads of gold. However, they had to fight many times against the Fatimides that came from the east and the Umayads that came from Andalucy, but their enemies united and the State faded away in 959.

In 976, the Maghrawian took Sijilmassa from the Fatimides and Fez in 987 from the Umayads and then controlled the region of Aghmat. The other Zenata tribes occupied Sale, Tlemcen and Oujda. The Idrissides stayed established south of the Barghwatian State and in cities-states like Sebta.

The Almoravides, nomads originating from the Saharan Sanhaja tribe, reigned from the 9th c over the Ghana, the Senegal and most of Niger; they controlled therefore the gold trade. They took Sijilmassa in 1053 and then the whole southern Morocco from Aghmat to Taroudant. And in 1062, Youssef ibn Tachfine founded Marrakech, which gathered all the trade, and made it its capital; later, in 1069, his armies took Fez. The Almoravides finished in 1080 unifying western and middle Maghreb, from the Atlantic Ocean to Algiers and from the Mediterranean Sea to the Sahara. They won afterwards the Zallaqa battle against the Christian Spaniards in 1086, and by taking Balensa (Valencia) in 1102 and Saraqosta (Sargasso) in 1110, they dominated Andalucy of which they took Ichbilia (Seville) as the capital. Their Empire had been well organized and their tax system attractive but the armies had no longer their former great military value.
The dynasty weakening began when the Christian Spaniards took Saraqosta from them in 1117 and went on with the advent of the Almohads from 1144.

[_thetruth]

In 1124, Ibn Toumart the Soussi Berber established in Tinmel and began teaching his Islam-inspired doctrine. The Almohads, his followers originating from the Berber Masmouda tribe, took Tlemcen in 1144, Fez a year later and Marrakech in 1146. The other Moroccan towns (in Northern Africa and in Andalucy) claimed their submission ones after the others and the Almohads finally occupied all the Almoravide territories in 1151. The same year, Abd Al Mou'min (Abdelmoumen) advanced with his armies towards the east of Maghreb.
In 1158, the Almohads finished what the Almoravides had started: the unification of the Maghreb, from the Atlantic Ocean to Tripoli; their Empire had been better organized and they had important and powerful armies and navy and a strong unit of money. They controlled therefore the access to the Mediterranean Sea, on which they had great influence, and governed Western and Northern Africa and Andalucy.
However, the links between the Dynasty established in Marrakech and the provinces of Andalucy, and then of Eastern Maghreb, slackened increasingly. The east of the Empire fell first under the control of the Abbassides from 1203; but the defeat in the battle of Al Uqab against Christian Spaniards in 1212 destabilized the Dynasty that lost Andalucy in 1230. The Maghreb fragmented progressively due to many adversaries and the Almohad Empire collapsed in 1269.

Years before the fall of the last Almohad fortress, the Merinides originating from the Sahara took Fez in 1216, Meknes in 1238 and Marrakech in 1269, then Sijilmassa fell in 1274. The Merinides won several battles in Andalucy from 1275 and secured the Kingdom of Gharnata (Granada) from which they, however, disengaged in 1291. The Merinide Kingdom widened as far as Algiers from 1295 but Tlemcen resisted; Sebta was recovered in 1309, Algesiras from 1333 to 1344 and Tlemcen finally gave up in 1337. The Kingdom even widened further to Tunis for a short period.
During half a century, the Kingdom had been attacked from the north by the Portuguese, the Spaniards and Genoa armies and from the east by the Hafsides and their allies; it therefore experienced many divisions and then reunions, and many wins and defeats.

In 1420, the Wattassides, a Zenata tribe, imposed their regency on the Merinide sultan and occupied the north of Morocco in 1471. During their reign, the Wattassides had lost the whole Eastern and Southern Maghreb and many coastal towns had been taken over by the Portuguese especially after the collapse of Gharnata in 1494. The Dynasty faded away in 1550

[Ghazala]

but a bit of modern history wouldn't go amiss either. After all, us 'foreigners' need to learn

[moroccanchica]

THX SO MUCH TI for the info- its always educate yourself whenever u can

[_thetruth]

Originally posted by Ghazala
but a bit of modern history wouldn't go amiss either. After all, us 'foreigners' need to learn

I kept Modern Morocco because it's rubbish
Chica darling I said it because we used to have marks on our hands if we forgot to learn the history Falaqa was bad unlike you guys you got away with it

[moroccanchica]

Originally posted by _thetruth

I kept Modern Morocco because it's rubbish
Chica darling I said it because we used to have marks on our hands if we forgot to learn the history Falaqa was bad unlike you guys you got away with it

Ti hun, did u have the plastic ruler or wooden stick as a threat to learn from ur noble local teacher? Im guessing the wooden stick due to the fact that morocco never advanced there stationary until 1999. am i right?

[_thetruth]

Originally posted by moroccanchica

Ti hun, did u have the plastic ruler or wooden stick as a threat to learn from ur noble local teacher? Im guessing the wooden stick due to the fact that morocco never advanced there stationary until 1999. am i right?

Allah ya ghferli I used to mock Islam because i was brainwatched by some sick christians and Jews untill the age of 10 and was called Satan and had my share of Falaqa it was a wooden stick by an Arabic teacher who used to punish his son first and then me because I used to pass on my satanic teachings to him