Marrakesh

Marrakesh, west of the Atlas Mountains, was founded around 1070 as the Almoravid capital. Ahmad al-Araj of the Saadi family secured the city by 1525, and it became the capital of a dynasty that went on to rule nearly all of Morocco.

Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur embellished Marrakesh and sent an army against the Songhai Empire. After his death in 1603, his sons divided the realm in a struggle for succession; the Alaouite ruler Moulay al-Rashid conquered Marrakesh in 1668.