Meknes History

Meknes History

Founded in the 10th century by the Zénète Meknassa tribe from the eastern Rif Mountains, Meknes has been called "the turntable of Morocco" for its pivotal position between the Rif and Middle Atlas mountains and between the Atlantic Ocean and the Sahara. The Romans chose nearby Volubilis as their Moroccan headquarters for its strategic central position, and this was probably Sultan Moulay Ismail's reasoning when he decided to govern from Meknes in 1673. As Sultan of Morocco between 1672 and 1727, this ambitious and tyrannical sultan built extensively, and as a result Meknes is often called the Versailles of North Africa.

Moulay Ismail encased the city within some 40 km (25 mi) of lime-and-earth walls. Surrounded and threatened by 45 regional Berber tribes, Moulay Ismail was obsessed with defense to a degree virtually unparalleled in world history. Meknes was developed to withstand a hypothetical 20-year siege, with protected granaries, a reservoir, and three concentric systems of ramparts surrounding the 9th-century medina, the 13th-century Imperial City, and the Royal Palace. In addition, Ismail was known to have maintained 500 concubines and a standing army, the Abid regiment, of 150,000 crack troops (the infamous Black Guard) originally purchased from the Sudan. Handed Arab and Berber women as wives, Ismail's army lived in a special camp where male offspring were impressed into service at an early age, officially 15. Two hundred palace eunuchs, a 12,000-horse cavalry, and a labor force of 60,000 slaves (largely prisoners of war, condemned criminals, and random captives) completed Moulay Ismail's extraordinary personal staff. Somewhat surprisingly, Ismail is remembered and revered for his unique achievements rather than reviled for his equally unique excesses: under his leadership Morocco was united under government control for the first time in five centuries and experienced its last golden age to date. After Ismail's death, Meknes crumbled during the late 18th and early 19th centuries -- as if sapped of strength after Ismail's reign of terror -- and even Ismail's son tore down a palace or two before moving Morocco's capital to Marrakesh.