page_title: History of Marrakesh
section_title: Hafidiya
hierarchical_section_title: History of Marrakesh / Alawite city / Hafidiya
caption_attribution_description: "Un Français Assassiné a Maroc: Le docteur Mauchamp, médecin du dispensaire de Marakech, lapidé par les indigènes" ("A Frenchman assassinated in Morocco: Dr. Emile Mauchamp, dispensary doctor in Marrakesh, stoned by the natives"), illustration published in Le Petit Journal, Paris, No. 855, 7 April, 1907
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: After the death in May 1900 of the grand vizier Ahmed ibn Musa ("Ba Ahmed"), the empire's true regent, the young Alawite sultan Abd al-Aziz tried to handle matters himself.  But the teenage sultan, who preferred to surround himself with European advisors, was unduly susceptible to their influence and soon alienated the population.  The country careened into the throes of anarchy, tribal revolts and plots of feudal lords, not to mention European intrigues.  Unrest mounted with the devastating famine in 1905–1907, and the humiliating concessions at the 1906 Algeciras Conference.  The Marrakesh khalifa Abd al-Hafid was urged by the powerful southern qaids of the High Atlas to lead a revolt against his brother Abd al-Aziz (then based in Rabat, Fez being divided). The unrest had been accompanied by a spasm of violent xenophobia, which saw the lynching of several European residents in Tangier, Casablanca and Marrakesh. Dr. Émile Mauchamp, a French doctor suspected of spying for his country, was murdered in Marrakech by a mob in March 1907.  This gave France the pretext for more direct intervention. French troops occupied Oujda in March 1907, and, in August 1907, bombarded and occupied Casablanca. The French intervention pushed the revolt forward, and Marrakeshis acclaimed Abd al-Hafid as the new sultan on 16 August 1907.  Alarmed, Abd al-Aziz sought out the assistance from the French in Casablanca, but that only sealed his fate. The ulama (religious jurists) of Fez and other cities promptly declared Abd al-Aziz unfit to rule and deposed him permanently by January 1908.  In June, Abd al-Hafid personally went to Fez to receive the city.  Abd al-Aziz finally reacted, gathered his army and marched on Marrakesh in the summer of 1908.  But discontent was rife, and much of his army deserted along the way, with the result that Abd al-Aziz was easily and decisively defeated by the Hafidites in a battle at Bou Ajiba outside Marrakesh on 19 August 1908. Abd al-Aziz fled and abdicated two days later.
  In reward for their assistance, sultan Abd al-Hafid appointed Madani al-Glawi as his grand vizier, and his brother Thami al-Glawi as the pasha (governor) of Marrakesh.  Despite his victory, Abd al-Hafid's position was hardly enviable, given the French military and financial noose. Imperial Germany and Ottoman Turkey, interested in increasing their influence, had offered their support to Abd al-Hafid to get rid of the French, but direct French pressure made Abd al-Hafid even more dependent.  Foiled, the Germans switched their attentions to the southern Morocco, and cultivated their influence there, striking several informal agreements with various southern lords.  Notable among these was the Saharan marabout Ma al-'Aynayn, who had led the anti-French resistance in Mauritania in the early 1900s. He had moved north and was part of the coalition that brought Abd al-Hafid to power in 1909.  Encouraged by the Germans, the very next year, al-Aynayn proclaimed his intent to drive the French out of Morocco but he was defeated by French general Moinier at Tadla (northeast of Marrakesh) in June 1910 and was forced to retreat to Tiznit, in the Souss valley, where he died shortly after.
  Facing financial difficulties and foreign debt problems, Abd al-Hafid and El Glaoui imposed new heavy taxes, which set the country simmering.  In return for a new French loan, Abd al-Hafid was forced to capitulate to the Franco-Moroccan accords in March, 1911, which enlarged the tax and property privileges of French expatriates, ratified French administration of the occupied Oujda and Chaouia regions, and even indemnified them for their military expenses.  The accords were received with widespread dismay in Morocco.  An uprising in Fez had to be put down with the assistance of French troops and Abd al-Hafid was forced to dismiss the El Glaoui brothers from their posts in June 1911.  The entry of French troops alarmed other European powers. Spanish troops quickly expanded their territorial enclave in the north, while Germany dispatched a gunboat to Agadir (see Agadir Crisis
caption: Murder of Dr. Émile Mauchamp in Marrakesh, as envisioned in French paper Le Petit Journal, 1907
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