Aghmat (

Tashelhit , now more usually known as Tashelhit , is a Berber language spoken in southwestern Morocco. The endonym is , and in recent English publications the name of the language is often rendered ''Tashelhit'', ''Tashelhiyt'' or ''Tashlhiyt''. In Morocc ...

: ''Aɣmat'', ''Āghmāt''; pronounced locally ''Ughmat, Uɣmat'') was an important commercial medieval

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–19 ...

town 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 A ...

. It is today an archaeological site known as "Joumâa Aghmat". The city is located approximately 30 km south-east of Marrakech on the Ourika road. The initial "a" of the name may be unvocalized, and the name may sometimes be spelled "Ghmat", "Ghmate" or even the French-style "Rhmate" (as it appears in the ''

Michelin Guide The Michelin Guides ( ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The acquisition or loss of ...

''). According to a

legend, Aghmat was populated by Christian Berbers when it was conquered in 683 by the

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

forces of

Uqba ibn Nafi ʿUqba ibn Nāfiʿ ibn ʿAbd al-Qays al-Fihrī al-Qurashī ( ar, عقبة بن نافع بن عبد القيس الفهري القرشي, ʿUqba ibn Nāfiʿ ibn ʿAbd al-Qays al-Fihrī), also simply known as Uqba ibn Nafi, was an Arab general ser ...

, a general of the

Umayyad Caliphate The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by th ...

in Syria. However, this story first surfaces almost 700 years after that date, and many historians give it no credibility. It is directly contradicted by one of the earliest Persian historians, al-Baladhuri. who states that

Musa bin Nusair Musa ibn Nusayr ( ar, موسى بن نصير ''Mūsá bin Nuṣayr''; 640 – c. 716) served as a Umayyad governor and an Arab general under the Umayyad caliph Al-Walid I. He ruled over the Muslim provinces of North Africa (Ifriqiya), and direc ...

conquered the

Sous The Sous region (also spelt Sus, Suss, Souss or Sousse) ( ar, سوس, sūs, shi, ⵙⵓⵙ, sus) is an area in mid-southern Morocco. Geologically, it is the alluvial basin of the Sous River (''Asif n Sus''), separated from the Sahara desert b ...

and erected the mosque at Aghmāt.

Early history

After the death of Idris II in 828, Morocco was divided among his sons. Aghmat became capital of the Souss region under the Idrisid prince Abd Allah. Ibn Abi Zar, '' Rawd al-Qirtas'', annotated Spanish translation by A. Huici Miranda, Valencia, 1964 When the

Almoravids The Almoravid dynasty ( ar, المرابطون, translit=Al-Murābiṭūn, lit=those from the ribats) was an imperial Berber Muslim dynasty centered in the territory of present-day Morocco. It established an empire in the 11th century that s ...

invaded from the Sahara Desert under Abd Allah ibn Yasin, Aghmāt was defended by Laqūt, leader of the Maghrawa tribe. Laqūt was defeated and the

Almoravid The Almoravid dynasty ( ar, المرابطون, translit=Al-Murābiṭūn, lit=those from the ribats) was an imperial Berber Muslim dynasty centered in the territory of present-day Morocco. It established an empire in the 11th century tha ...

army entered the city on 23 Rabi II 450 (27 June 1058). Ibn Idhari, ''

Al-bayan al-mughrib ''Kitāb al-bayān al-mughrib fī ākhbār mulūk al-andalus wa'l-maghrib'' (''Book of the Amazing Story of the History of the Kings of al-Andalus and Maghreb'') by Ibn Idhāri (var. Ibn Athari) of Marrakech in the Maghreb (now Morocco) ...

'' Part III, annotated Spanish translation by A. Huici Miranda, Valencia, 1963 One of the wealthiest of Aghmāt's citizens was Laqūt's widow,

Zaynab an-Nafzawiyyat Zaynab an-Nafzāwiyyah ( ar, زينب النفزاوية) (fl. 1075), was a Berber woman of influence in the early days of the Almoravid Berber empire which gained control of Morocco, Algeria, and parts of Spain. She was married to Yusuf ibn Ta ...

, who married the

leader Abu-Bakr Ibn-Umar and placed her considerable wealth at his disposal. After Abu-Bakr returned to the Sahara Desert in 1071, Zaynab married his successor Yusuf ibn Tashfin. By 1068/1069, the population of the city had grown considerably, and Abu-Bakr decided to construct a new capital. He founded Marrakech in 1070, after which Aghmāt declined. The Almoravids continued to use it as a convenient backwater in which to exile people. These included Al Mutamid, former king of

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Penins ...

and Córdoba and noted poet. His tomb remains a place of pilgrimage to this day. Aghmat was also the place of exile where

Abdallah ibn Buluggin Abdallah ibn Buluggin (), full name:ʿAbd Allāh ben Buluggīn ben Bādīs ben Ḥabūs ben Zīrī (1056–after 1090), also known as "Al-Muzaffar" (the conqueror), was the grandson of Badis ben Habus and the last Zirid ruler of the Taifa of Gra ...

, the former king of

Granada Granada (,, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the c ...

, wrote his memoirs. In the years 1126, 1127 and again in 1130, the city saw a number of battles between the

sultan Ali ibn Yusuf and the Almohad army led by

Ibn Tumart Abu Abd Allah Amghar Ibn Tumart ( Berber: ''Amghar ibn Tumert'', ar, أبو عبد الله امغار ابن تومرت, ca. 1080–1130 or 1128) was a Muslim Berber religious scholar, teacher and political leader, from the Sous in southern M ...

and Abd al-Mu'min. Following a general rout of Almoravid forces throughout Morocco and Algeria, Abd al-Mu'min entered Aghmāt without a fight on the middle day of

Muharram Muḥarram ( ar, ٱلْمُحَرَّم) (fully known as Muharram ul Haram) is the first month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the four sacred months of the year when warfare is forbidden. It is held to be the second holiest month after ...

541 (27 June 1146). Beaumier, writing in 1860, stated the town still had a population of 5500, of whom 1000 were Jews.

Earlier economy

Al Bakri Abū ʿUbayd ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muḥammad ibn Ayyūb ibn ʿAmr al-Bakrī ( ar, أبو عبيد عبد الله بن عبد العزيز بن محمد بن أيوب بن عمرو البكري), or simply al-Bakrī (c. 1040–1 ...

, writing in the 11th century on the eve of the

rise to power, described Aghmāt as a flourishing city where 100 cattle and 1000 sheep were slaughtered for sale in the Sunday

souk A bazaar () or souk (; also transliterated as souq) is a marketplace consisting of multiple small stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, North Africa and India. However, temporary open markets elsewhere, such as in the W ...

(market). The inhabitants elected their own leader. Strictly speaking there were two Aghmāts: the commercial and political center was known as "Aghmāt Wurīka", and 8 miles distant from that was "Aghmāt Aylan" which was closed to outsiders. The town was served by the seaport of Qūz on the Atlantic coast three days journey west.

Modern history

On 18 November 1950, during the French occupation of Morocco, a group of Moroccan nationalists associated with the Istiqlal party held a demonstration at the tomb of Al-Mutamid. This was brutally suppressed by police acting under orders from Boujane, the

caïd Qaid ( ar , قائد ', "commander"; pl. '), also spelled kaid or caïd, is a word meaning "commander" or "leader." It was a title in the Norman kingdom of Sicily, applied to palatine officials and members of the ''curia'', usually to those w ...

of the local Mesfioua tribe. Subsequent actions became one of the major irritants between Boujane's superior, the powerful

Pasha Pasha, Pacha or Paşa ( ota, پاشا; tr, paşa; sq, Pashë; ar, باشا), in older works sometimes anglicized as bashaw, was a higher rank in the Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, generals, dignita ...

of Marrakech T'hami El Glaoui, and the King of Morocco Mohammed V, which eventually led to the king's brief overthrow.Abdessadeq El Glaoui, ''Le Ralliement. Le Glaoui, Mon Père'' () The archaeological ruins visible today consist of part of the city walls, hammam, parts of some houses and qanats (irrigation canals), and some hundred metres or so of the city ramparts. The tomb of Al-Mutamid is marked by a contemporary

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be cons ...

. It was erected in 1970 and has a

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, f ...

in the Almoravid style.

References

{{reflist

External links

* Moroccan Government web page for the sitebr>A modern pilgrimage to the tomb of Al-Mutamid
Al Haouz Province Archaeological sites in Morocco Former populated places in Morocco Former capitals of Morocco