# Kingdom of Tazeroualt

The Kingdom of Tazeroualt or Zaouia of Illigh, locally Tageldit / ⵜⴰⴳⴻⵍⴷⵉⵜ (literally "the kingdom"), is a principality based on a Sufi brotherhood of Sous, in Morocco, founded by Abou Hassoun Semlali at the beginning of the 17th century.

## Description

Appearing during a period marked by the weakness of the central Saadian power, the zaouia will very quickly become an essential and powerful player in southern Morocco and Sous. The remains of the House of Illigh bear witness to its important past as a caravan port in the 19th century. It is a rich and powerful construction, in a desert landscape, and an obligatory place of passage between Morocco and Sub-Saharan Africa. Many European observers attest to the existence of this principality in Tazeroualt, a region which includes a small arid basin surrounded by high watered plateaus, located 110 km south of Agadir. Tazeroualt was known as the principality of Boudmiaa, with Iligh as its capital in the 19th century, before the Alawi dynasty overcame it.
The zaouia of Illigh, unlike the other zaouias which enjoyed strong political influence when the Alawites came to power, was not destroyed by the latter, despite an attempt by Sultan Rachid in 1670; it continued to have local political and economic influence within the Lakhsass tribe, maintaining strained relations with the Alawite Makhzen, until the second half of the 19th century. The Tazeroualt was finally subdued at the beginning of the 20th century.

### Location

The zaouïa of Illigh was located in Tazeroualt, in Sous.

## History

Following the accession to the throne of Moulay Zidane at the beginning of the 17th century, the weakened Saadian Makhzen enjoyed only limited power. Several forces then appeared, including the zaouia of Tazeroualt and the Alaouites, the future ruling dynasty:
* The zaouia of Dila, exercising its control over central Morocco ;
* The plains of the northwest, controlled by the marabout El-Ayachi and his allies ;
* The mouth of the Bou Regreg, erected as an independent state by the Moriscos ;
* Tetouan, a city-state governed by the Naqsis family ;
* Tafilalt, under the control of the Alawites ;
* Southern Morocco, under the control of the zaouia of Illigh.
Abou Hassoun, great-grandson of the great mystic Sidi Ahmed Ou Moussa and founder of the zaouia, established his capital in Illigh, succeeded in obtaining maritime enclaves in Agadir and ensured commercial success (after the ousting of Abou Mahalli) thanks to the reduction of customs duties on foreign traders (in this case French and English). The territory under its control, the "kingdom of Tazeroualt", then represented the obligatory passage of the trans-Saharan gold traffic on the Gao-Timbuktu-Taroudant axis.
This dazzling economic boom was accompanied by the maintenance of a balance with the Dilaïtes, in competition with the latter on the maintenance of an influence on the mouth of the Bou Regreg and a temporary support for the sheriff Mohammed of Tafilalt. In the second half of the 17th century the zaouia of Tazeroualt lost ground to the Alawites, who would end up extending their power over all of Morocco. However, the zaouia would retain a local influence until the 19th century, when Sultan Hassan I managed to subdue Illigh in 1882.