Moroccan

The Moroccan are the Arabic-speaking, largely Arabized people of the far western Maghreb, of cities such as Fez and Marrakesh; their vernacular Darija grew from eighth-century Arabization. Idris I founded the first Moroccan state at Volubilis in 788 and planted Fez in 789; his son Idris II made it his capital in 809, and the Qarawiyyin mosque of 857 became the oldest seat of learning in the Islamic west.

The Almoravids united Fez's two towns in 1070 and ruled from Marrakesh; the Almohads made twelfth-century Fez one of the largest cities on earth. The Marinids took Fez in 1248, built Fes Jdid in 1276 and conquered Tlemcen in 1337. After Portuguese coastal wars, the Saadians took Marrakesh in 1524 and overran Songhai in 1590, setting up the pashalik of Timbuktu.

Alaouite sharifs unified Morocco from 1666; Sultan Ismail, ruling with a slave army, retook Tangier in 1684 and Larache in 1689; Muhammad III in 1777 made it the first state recognizing the United States.