page_title: History of Marrakesh
section_title: Saadian capital
hierarchical_section_title: History of Marrakesh / Saadian capital
caption_attribution_description: Medersa Ben Youssef
context_page_description: The history of Marrakesh, a city in southern Morocco, stretches back nearly a thousand years. The country of Morocco itself is named after it.
  Founded c. 1070 by the Almoravids as the capital of their empire, Marrakesh went on to also serve as the imperial capital of the Almohad Caliphate from 1147. The Marinids, who captured Marrakesh in 1269, relocated the capital to Fez, leaving Marrakesh as a regional capital of the south. During this period, it often broke off in rebellion into a semi-autonomous state. Marrakesh was captured by the Saadian sharifs in 1525, and resumed its status as imperial capital for a unified Morocco after they captured Fez in 1549. Marrakesh reached its epic grandeur under the Saadians, who greatly embellished the city. The Alawite sharifs captured Marrakesh in 1669. Although it served frequently as the residence of the Alawite sultans, Marrakesh was not their definitive capital, as Alawite sultans moved their courts frequently between various cities.
  In the course of its history, Marrakesh achieved periods of great splendor, interrupted by repeated political struggles, military disorders, famine, plagues and a couple of sacks.
context_section_description: The Saadians were a widely respected sharifian family of the Draa valley.  The head of the family, Abu Abdallah al-Qaim, was invited c. 1509-10 by the Sufi brotherhoods of the Sous valley to lead their jihad against the Portuguese intruders. Al-Qaim led a celebrated campaign against the advanced posts of Portuguese Agadir and was soon recognized as leader in Taroudannt in 1511, receiving the allegiance of the tribes of the Sous. At the invitation of the Haha Berbers of the western High Altas, in 1514, al-Qaim moved to Afughal (near Tamanar), the shrine of the late sharif al-Jazuli and spiritual headquarters of the Shadhili branch of the Sufi marabout movement. That same year, al-Qaim's jihad received the blessings (and a white banner) from the Wattasid emir of Fez.
  From Afughal, al-Qaim and his sons directed operations against Portuguese-held Safi and Azemmour. Initially poorly armed, the Saadian sharifs' military organization and strength improved with time. It was they who saved Marrakesh from the Portuguese attack of 1515. In 1518, the Sharifians finally defeated and killed the formidable client Yahya ibn Tafuft, soon followed by two of the Portuguese commanders.  Via marabout networks among coastal tribes, from the Sous to Rabat, the Sharifians organized permanent, if loose, sieges around the Portuguese fortresses, cutting off their supplies and hampering their military operations.  By the 1520s, the Portuguese had lost their sway over the outlying districts and were reduced to their fortresses.
  Marrakesh, like many other Moroccan cities, suffered greatly during this period, and it is reported that much of the city was depopulated as a result of the famines of 1514 and 1515, provoked by the military disorders in the countryside, the drought of 1517 and a series of failed harvests in 1520, 1521 and 1522.  The state of Marrakesh around this time was described by the eyewitness traveller Leo Africanus in his Descrittione dell’ Africa.  He notes how "a great part of this city, lies so desolate and void of inhabitants, that a man cannot without great difficulty pass, by reason of the ruins of many houses lying in the way...scarcely is the third part of this city inhabited", and how the grand palaces, gardens, schools and libraries of Marrakesh were "utterly void and desolate", given over to wildlife.  Nonetheless, the Saadian Sharifs deployed the organized networks of Sufi brotherhoods of the south to provide widespread food relief, and as a result attracted hungry migrants from the north.  This effort elevated the reputation of the Saadians accordingly.
  Al-Qaim died in 1517, and his son Ahmad al-Araj took over the Saadian leadership. He moved to Marrakesh at the invitation of the Hintata ruler Muhammad ibn Nasir, to better direct operations.  Tiring of his host (and father-in-law), al-Araj seized the Kasbah and killed the Hintata emir in 1524. Al-Araj made Marrakesh the new Saadian capital, assigning Taroudannt and the Sous to his younger brother, Muhammad al-Sheikh.  It was al-Araj who arranged for the translation of the remains of his father al-Qaim and the imam al-Jazuli from Afughal to Marrakesh.
  The new Wattasid sultan Ahmad al-Wattasi of Fez was not pleased by the turn of events, and in 1526 led a large army south to conquer Marrakesh. But the effort failed and the Wattasid attacks were repulsed. After an inconclusive battle, they agreed to the 1527 Treaty of Tadla, whereby Morocco was partitioned roughly along the Oum Er-Rbia River between the Wattasids of Fez in the north and the Saadians of Marrakesh in the south.  This arrangement did not last long - the truce broke down in 1530 and again in 1536 and another major battle was fought near Tadla, this time the Saadians coming off the better of it.  However, mediation by the Sufi brotherhoods and religious jurists of Fez restored the partition and turned attention back on the Portuguese enclaves.
  Relations between the Saadian brothers began to splinter shortly after, and in 1540-41 they led two separate sieges - Ahmad al-Araj against Azemmour, Muhammad al-Sheikh ag
caption: The Ben Youssef Madrasa, erected by Saadians in the 1560s. Its walls are decorated with Islamic geometric patterns in stucco and zellige tilework.
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