... the remains of a ghostly unfinished mosque and the mausoleum of Mohammed V
In Morocco, borders of Africa, gateway to Europe, the "imperial cities" are those which, over the successive dynasties have been the capital of the country: Rabat, Meknes, Fez, Marrakech .... Casablanca has not been, but is worth a detour.
Our visits were on November 2010, in a circuit completed at the pace of a race, the look of a fantasia, almost in apnea.
Rabat, today the political and administrative capital of Morocco, airy, pleasant, pierced by wide avenues, seems clean and more orderly than elsewhere.
It is already the capital of Morocco at the end of the 12th century.
Salé, its immediate and almost twin neighbor, so close that they are sometimes confused, is a stronghold of famous privateers in the 18th century, but a Phoenician trading post long before.
Founded in 1150, Rabat is a citadel that Sultan Abu Yusuf Yacoub el Mansour (1184-1199) of the Almohad dynasty, also caliph of the West, ally of Saladin in Egypt, consolidates by huge ramparts.
He calls it "fortress of the Conquest", "Ribat al Fath" from which comes its name, Rabat.
For the caliph, Rabat is the starting point of the expeditions towards Al-Andalusia, to oppose the Christians who, there, from the iberian north want to reconquer it.
Puritan and austere, he wants to bring down the previous dynasty of the Almoravids, softened by the sweets of a century of life in Andalusia that they conquered a century ago, in 1080. Turned away by Christians, refugees in the Balearic Islands, Yacoub el Mansour also fights them in the Maghreb.
He was nicknamed "el Mansour" (victorious by god) after he defeated the Christians at Alarcos (not a defeat, a disaster it is said in Spain) south of Toledo, gathered under the banner of Alfonso VIII of Castile (the father of Blanche and therefore grandfather of St. Louis - the world is small -).
In this battle, his booty, tents, horses, chainmail, swords,... is so extraordinary that he is astonished ; it amounts to tens of thousands of units.
But it is also the last great military feat (comic book-like representation above) of Muslims in Spain, before the final Reconquista in 1492.
His most illustrious contemporary is the very famous philosopher, doctor, jurist, mathematician, theologian Averroes, (Abu Walid Mohammad Ibn Rushd of his full Arabic name) born in Cordoba in 1126, too enlightened, which he then banished and who died in Marrakech in 1198.
The Hassan Tower and this row of columns are what remains of Yacoub el Mansour's grandiose dream : nothing less than the largest mosque in the world.
It was to compete in dimensions with the Koutoubia of Marrakech, the Giralda of Seville (but no mention of that of Cordoba, the Mezquita, yet much earlier and also immense, nor that of Kairouan in Tunisia).
Work stopped when he died in 1199. Six centuries later, the great earthquake of Lisbon at the end of 1755 froze the site in its current configuration, with its minaret of 44m high, which was to reach 60 or 80 meters (depending on the sources...).
Some of these columns come from the Roman site of Volubilis.
In another way, King Hassan II took up the ambition in Casablanca.
The alignments of truncated pillars whose perspective escapes to the ocean are an invitation to dream, to flight.
Superb site, envied by the columns of Buren in Paris; small, petty and without momentum or any other perspective than the interior walls of the Royal Palace.
On the other hand, under a very heavy sky of a koranic All Saints Day stands the mausoleum Mohammed V, grandfather of the current king, a masterpiece of traditional Moroccan art, whose entrance is adorned with guards on horseback.
Luxury and refinement, noble materials with the sarcophagus of white onyx, under the immense dome of mahogany and cedar of Lebanon.
and going to Casablanca, Meknes, Fez, Marrakesh, Volubilis,...
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A pithy summary of Morocco's history
North-south geographical crossroads at the African continental limit towards the Ocean : Morocco.
Historically, the Maghreb has been inhabited by Berbers (also called the Moors). Nothing to do with the Arabs, future invaders from the East and Arabia.
Permanent but nomadic, they rub shoulders with several waves of invaders over time, often adopting their religion, but retaining a fierce autonomy in the mosaic of still bellicose tribes. A link in the entire history of the Maghreb.
Who are the invaders?
In antiquity,
12th century BC: the Phoenicians, merchant sailors go at least to the port of Essaouira (formerly Mogador).
5th century BC: the Carthaginians are there, strong power in North Africa.
End of the 4th century BC: creation in the north of Morocco of the kingdom of Mauretania (and not "Mauritania") by the Berbers.
From the 2nd BC to the 4th AD: the Romans consolidate Mauretania Tingitane (Tangier).
The dromedaries then introduced (only the horse was used until then) increased the autonomy of the Berber tribes.
Remarkable cultural, architectural and economic development during the reign of Juba II (husband of the daughter of Cleopatra and Mark Antony).
And foundation of the Roman city of Volubilis.
Around 439, capture of Carthage in Tunisia by the Vandals, who, by driving the Romans from the West make it the capital of their kingdom, far from mauretania Tingitan.
533-534: with a powerful army under the command of his already famous general Belisarius (left), the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian 1st the Byzantine (right) defeats the Vandals and pushes them out of North Africa.
However, the Berbers, accustomed to a certain autonomy, resisted, rebelled.
Arrival of Islam ; for a global vision of the Arab-Andalusian civilization
622: year 1 of the Hegira. Of Arabia began the conquest in 640 towards the west ; it reached the Atlantic coast around 705 with the submission of Berber tribes.
From then on, Morocco became the bridgehead of the conquest to the north and the Iberian Peninsula, via the Strait of Gibraltar.
But the huge Arab empire is mishanding itself. Strong resistance appears.
February 5, 789: Idriss ibn Abdallah, descendant of the prophet - he is the grandson of his daughter - founds, under the name of Idriss 1st the dynasty of the Idrissids and the city of Fez; he gathers together the Berbers of northern Morocco.
It is the 2nd Muslim kingdom after Andalusia to emancipate itself from the Caliphate of Baghdad. Dynasty that then erupts in successions.
1061: Nomadic Berbers from Western Sahara take possession of Morocco and found the almoravid dynasty who appropriated the Muslim religion; creating the city of Marrakech, they then conquer Andalusia.
Around 1125: another dynasty of Berbers this time Mauretanians, the Almohads,intransigent Muslims and Puritans take power, from Spain to Libya. Their most famous sultan is Yacoub el Mansour. But the Christians are trying to reconquer. The Empire is vast and distended.
1269 to 1421: the Merinid dynasty succeeds him, and remakes the unity of the Maghreb, New dissensions; the Portuguese seize some coastal sites.
1472 to 1492: the Wattassid dynasty that took over comes up against the apogee of the Christian Reconquest.
After the Reconquista
1578: The Saadians, another Arab dynasty engages in holy war against the Christians, defeats the Portuguese, takes to the south Timbuktu in 1591 and Mali ; it enriches itself by controlling salt mines, gold, and strengthening the slave trade of black Africa.
Around 1660: the Alawite dynasty (descendants of Ali, son-in-law of the prophet) whose members lead a poor, meditative and virtuous life takes power.
1672 to 1727: from the same Alawite dynasty, a contemporary of Louis XIV, King Moulay Ismail reorganizes Morocco, fighting against the rebellious Berber tribes, the Ottoman Turks, the Christians. He was nicknamed "the Bloodthirsty".
The modern era
With the plague at the beginning of the 19th century and the decline of the economy, Morocco withdrew into itself and is exposed to European expansion ambitions.
1912: French protectorate. Lyautey assumes the role of Resident General (Governor). With great respect for Islam, he vouched for the country's traditional values, including local notables in his reorganization. Still honored by Moroccans, his situation is special in the history of the French colonial period.
1925: Predicting the natural "detachment" of Morocco, he is immediately excluded by the French government.
March 2, 1956: independence of Morocco, without too much pain on either side, unlike Algeria for example; this may be explained by the attitude of Lyautey governor.
The Residents who succeeded him, less sagacious, less intelligent, try to oppose Berbers and Arabs with the complicity of the rich Glaoui Berber pasha allied with France, provoking in reaction the commitment of the UNITED STATES alongside Mohammed V for independence.
The current King Mohammed VI, his father Hassan II are the direct representatives and descendants of the Alawite dynasty, hence their title of "Commander of the Believers", which gives them a certain religious legitimacy throughout the Muslim world even today.
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