Tafilalt

Tafilalt, Tafilelt, or Tafilet, oasis in the Sahara, SE Morocco, c.530 sq mi (1,370 sq km). It has date groves and small trading settlements. After c.760 it was an independent kingdom for nearly two centuries, growing rich on the caravan trade with lands south of the Sahara. Sijilmasa (now in ruins) was the chief trade center and the capital of the kingdom. Since the Middle Ages the region has been noted for its dates and leather. It was the original seat of the ruling dynasty of Morocco, which came to power in the late 17th cent.

Oasis, southeastern Morocco. The country's largest Saharan oasis, it covers some 530 sq mi (1,370 sq km). It comprises six fortified villages and palm groves stretching for some 30 mi (50 km) along the Wadi Ziz. Its old capital was the prosperous Berber (Amazigh) stronghold of Sijilmassa, founded in AD 757 on the Saharan caravan route and finally destroyed in the 19th century. The oasis is noted for its groves of date palms.

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Tafilalt or Tafilet (تفيلالة) is a region and the most important oasis of the Moroccan Sahara; it is also considered one of the largest oasis in the world, the oasis is entirely located along the Ziz River. The oasis is ten days' journey south of Fez, across the Atlas Mountains. It is celebrated for its large and luscious dates, to the successful cultivation of which, soon after the arrival of an ancestor (Al Hassan Addakhil) of the reigning dynasty of Morocco (the Alaouite Dynasty) around 1250, this dynasty owes its rise to power.

Since 1648 it has been the custom of Moroccan sultans to despatch superfluous sons and daughters to Tafilalt. The inhabitants occupy fortified villages (Ksar). In Ifli, the central portion, formerly existed the town of Sijilmasa, founded by Miknasa Berbers in 757. It was on the direct caravan route from the Niger to Tangier, and attained a considerable degree of prosperity. It was destroyed, but its ruins still extend five miles along the river bank.

The name Tafilalt is a Berber name meaning "the Country of the Hilali", as its inhabitants are called, because they were descended from the Arabian tribe of Banu Hilal, who settled here .

Medieval Traveler Ibn Batuta visited Sijilmasa (near Tafilalt) in the fourteenth century on his journey from Fez to "the country of the blacks".

The first European to visit Tafilalt in the modern era was René Caillié (1828), the next Gerhard Rohlfs (1864). A later visit to the oasis by WB Harris is described in his book Tafilet (London, 1895).

""The oasis is ten days' (historic, by animal) or one day's (modern, by motor vehicle) journey south of Fez, across the Atlas.""

References

External links

• Tafilalt region web site