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Located on the west-central of Morocco, Marrakech is one of the four imperial cities in the kingdom. It’s also “Al Hamra” or the ‘red city’, referring to the red wall around the old section of the city called “Medina”, and which has preserved its aspects from the Al Moravid Empire’s time.

Back in history, Marrakech was merely crossroads and a resting place for caravans and troops, until Abou Bakr, leader of Al Moravids, felt that the city deserved to be more than that. In 1062, his cousin, Yossouf Ibn Tashafin, constructed in it the first mosque and some houses, and planted the city’s famous palm groves.

Marrakech was built step by step under many dynasties, by Ali Ibn Yossouf under the Al Moravids dynasty, then by Abd El Moumen under the Al Mohads dynasty in the 12th century, and then it was extended by Abou Yaakoub Youssouf and Yaakoub Al Mansour

The sultans who followed these dynasties destructed all the previously constructed palaces, and preserved only the popular Minaret of the Koutoubia Mosque and the gate of the town.

Marrakech remained the capital of Morocco during the Al Mohad dynasty, and for a short period of time during the Merenids dynasty before the latter moved to Fez as their new capital, in 1269.

Under the Saadian Empire, Marrakech became the capital again in the XVIth century, under the reign of Ahmad El Arj. It’s in this period that the city regained its lost glory, and became the economic and cultural leading city of Morocco.
The Saadian tombs were built in that period, redeveloped in 1917, and preserved to this date.

After the Saadians, the Alaouite captured the city and moved to Fez and made of it their capital in 1669. Mohamed III restored large parts of the city in the 18th century. In 1912, the city was captured by El Hiba, and then put under the French protection with the arrival of the French protectorate. The French started then building a ‘modern’ style city outside the walls of the old city.

By the coming of the independence of Morocco in 1956, Rabat was the capital of the new kingdom, and Marrakech remained a provincial capital.