Basra, nicknamed Basra al-Hamra (''Basra the Red''), is an archaeological site in
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
. It was originally a summer capital of the
Idrisid
The Idrisid dynasty or Idrisids ( ar, الأدارسة ') were an Arab Muslim dynasty from 788 to 974, ruling most of present-day Morocco and parts of present-day western Algeria. Named after the founder, Idris I, the Idrisids were an Alid and ...
dynasty from the 8th to 10th centuries.
It is situated on the road from Souq al-Arba to
Ouezzane
Ouazzane (also Ouezzane) ( Berber: ⵡⴰⵣⵣⴰⵏ, ar, وزان) is a town in northern Morocco, with a population of 59,606 recorded in the 2014 Moroccan census.
The city is well known in Morocco and throughout the Islamic world as a spirit ...
, about 40 km from the Atlantic coast and 20 km south of
Ksar el-Kebir
El-Ksar el Kebir (Arabic: القصر الكبير; ber, ⵍⵇⵚⵔ ⵍⴽⴱⵉⵔ, lqṣr lkbir) is a city in northwestern Morocco, about 160 km north of Rabat, 32 km east of Larache and 110 km south of Tangier. It recorded a ...
.
It was named after the city of
Basra
Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...
in
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
.
The geographer and traveller
Ibn Hawqal
Muḥammad Abū’l-Qāsim Ibn Ḥawqal (), also known as Abū al-Qāsim b. ʻAlī Ibn Ḥawqal al-Naṣībī, born in Nisibis, Upper Mesopotamia; was a 10th-century Arab Muslim writer, geographer, and chronicler who travelled during the ye ...
in the 9th century described it as a flourishing commercial centre. The main productions were cotton and cereals. The red earth fortifications which gave it its nickname were destroyed in 979 but the city lingered on. By the time of
Leo Africanus
Joannes Leo Africanus (born al-Hasan Muhammad al-Wazzan, ar, الحسن محمد الوزان ; c. 1494 – c. 1554) was an Andalusian diplomat and author who is best known for his 1526 book '' Cosmographia et geographia de Affrica'', later ...
it was in ruins.
References
Sources
*D. Eustache, "Al-Basra, capital idrisside et son port". ''Hespéris'' XLII, 1955, 217–238. An important study.
*Ahmed Siraj, ''L'Image de la Tingitane. L'historiographie arabe medievale et l'Antiquite nord-africaine''. École Française de Rome, 1995. . pp 558–565 discusses various problems connected with the archaeology and historiography.
External links
Moroccan government web page for the site
Archaeological sites in Morocco
Idrisid dynasty
Buildings and structures in Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima
{{TangerTetouanAlHoceima-geo-stub