Kasba Tadla
| Kasba Tadla قصبة تادلة ⵇⵚⴱⵜ ⵜⴰⴷⵍⴰ |
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| Basic data | |||||
| State : |
 Morocco
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| Region : | Béni Mellal-Khénifra | ||||
| Province : | Béni Mellal | ||||
| Coordinates | 32 ° 36 ′ N , 6 ° 16 ′ W | ||||
| Residents : | 47,343 (2014) | ||||
| Area : | 19.5 km² | ||||
| Population density : | 2,428 inhabitants per km² | ||||
| Height : | 485 m | ||||
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Kasba Tadla (also Qasbat Tadlah, Kasbat-Tadla ; Arabic قصبة تادلة, DMG Qaṣba Tādilā , Central Atlas Tamazight ⵇⵚⴱⵜ ⵜⴰⴷⵍⴰ Qeṣbt Tadla ) is a city with around 50,000 inhabitants in the Béni Mellal-Khénifra region on the western edge of the Middle Atlas in Morocco . The name comes from the 1687 under the Alawites -Sultan Moulay Ismail built Kasbah , the ruins between old and new town on the river Oum er-Rbia remain.
location
The city of Kasba Tadla is located on an old trade route and today's national road 8 (route impériale) about halfway between Marrakech (approx. 225 km driving distance) in the south-west and Fès (approx. 270 km) in the northeast at an altitude of approx. 485 m . The place is a traffic junction and together with Beni Mellal one of the two old main places of the fertile Tadla plain . In the east, on a clear day, you can see the 2000 m high peaks of the Middle Atlas. The distance to the southwestern provincial capital Beni Mellal is approx. 35 km. The next larger city to the northeast, Khénifra, is approx. 95 km away. A direct road runs to the northwest via Boujad (26 km), Oued Zem (48 km) and Rommani to Rabat (approx. 210 km). The climate is temperate; Rain (approx. 520 mm / year) falls almost exclusively in the winter half-year.
population
| year | 1994 | 2004 | 2014 |
| Residents | 36,570 | 40,898 | 47,343 |
In the early 1970s, the population was estimated at around 10,000 people. The continuing increase in population is mainly due to the immigration of Berber families from the mountainous regions of the High and Middle Atlas.
economy
The Oum er-Rbia is the longest, year-round water-bearing river in Morocco. Irrigation channels derived from the river have irrigated fertile farmland in the Tadla Plain since the 1930s. Most of the crops grown in the vicinity of the city. Traders, craftsmen and service companies of all kinds have settled in the city. Tourism only plays a subordinate role.
history
In the 10th and 11th centuries, the Tadla region belonged to the sphere of influence of the Berber tribe of the Banu Ifran with the main town of Salé . In the years 1057/58 the Almoravids under Ibn Yasin conquered the province of the Banu Ifran. The Tadla population, who lived in tents, practiced agriculture and semi-nomadic cattle breeding. For centuries the area became the battlefield of rival dynasties. In the years 1131/32 the Almohad Sultan Abd al-Mu'min Tadla plundered . The same thing happened in 1267/68 through Abu Yusuf Yaqub , the third sultan of the Merinids . The rule of the Saadians was ended in 1640/41 by Zanata- Berbers, who belonged to the Dila brotherhood . In the Tadla, a state ruled by marabouts emerged until the Alawid Sultan Mulai ar-Raschid perceived the Dila order as a threat and in 1668/69 destroyed their headquarters ( Zawiya ), which was near Kasba Tadla . The chief marabout and his companions had to flee to the Ottoman- controlled Tlemcen (today in northwestern Algeria). With Ottoman support, the Dila-Marabout Ahmad al-Dalai returned from exile in 1677 and had the Zawiya rebuilt, which was immediately supported against the Sultan by most of the tribes from the Tadla region and the Middle Atlas. The successor of ar-Raschid, Sultan Mulai Ismail , put down a revolt of the Zenata in 1677, a victory over the order he could only with difficulty achieve. The Sanhajah fighters of Ahmad initially defeated the Sultan's expedition. Only in April 1678 was Ahmad expelled from the Tadla region and fled to the Middle Atlas, where he remained influential until his death in 1680.
A decade later, further unrest forced Mulai Ismail to undertake new military expeditions to the Tadla region. In order to secure his sultan's power permanently, he had a number of fortified settlements ( kasbahs ) built along the main route or existing facilities expanded. Kasba Tadla was founded in 1687, and similar castles were built near Khenifra and in Dila. As in Khenifra, Mulai Ismail initiated the construction of a stone bridge over the Oum er-Rbia in Kasba Tadla. The soldiers from the Sultan's army left behind to guard were non-resident Black African mercenaries ( Gnawa ) who were not to be feared that they would defecate to the local population. When the provinces were divided up in 1699/70, Mulai Ahmad, one of the sultan's sons, was awarded Tadla; he resided in the local kasbah.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, attacks by Berber tribes had to be fended off several times. There were several punitive expeditions led by the Sultan. On the way back from a campaign in the High Atlas , Sultan Mulai al-Hassan I died near Kasba Tadla in June 1894. In order to be able to hand over the successor to Abd al-Aziz , who was still a minor , the death was kept secret for several days.
The leader of the anti-colonial resistance in Western Sahara and Mauritania around 1900 was Sheikh Mā al-ʿAinin. His liberation struggle began in the city of Smara, which he founded, and was financially supported by Abd al-Aziz. After several loss-making skirmishes, Mā al-ʿAinin fled north, where his warriors were defeated by the French General Moinier near Kasba Tadla in the spring of 1910 . In the years 1913-14 the French occupied the western edge of the Atlas from Kasba Tadla via Khenifra to Azrou against the fierce resistance of the Sanhajah . In a decree (Ẓāhir) of September 1914, the French granted them local self-government in order to favor the Sanhajah, who had refused to submit to submission to the Makhzen (sultan's rule) since the 17th century . Nevertheless, until 1933 some Berbers resisted the French presence in the area.
At the end of the 19th century, Kasba Tadla consisted of little more than the dilapidated walls of the fortress. During the time of the French protectorate (1912-1956) the place was revived and the kasbah was expanded into a larger military camp.
Cityscape
The city lies between gently rolling hills on the north bank of the Oum er-Rbia, which flows in a deeply cut valley from east to west and forms two 90-degree bends before flowing past the former kasbah. The fortress stands on a hill about 100 m from the river bank. The 300 m long outer walls, crowned by battlements , were made of rammed earth and covered with smooth lime plaster. On the outside they were reinforced by rectangular projecting flank towers . Behind the enclosing wall there is a second wall a short distance away, which surrounds the core area with the former governor 's palace (Dar el-Makhzen) and other residential buildings.
Two mosques within the kasbah are dated to the 18th century, of which the minarets are still preserved. One of the minarets on a square base is uniformly decorated with a delicate brick diamond pattern. The other preserved brick minaret can be recognized by its unusual wooden poles protruding far from the facade, which in Morocco can only be seen on the minaret of the Friday mosque in Tiznit . The woods refer to adobe buildings south of the Sahara , where the outer walls of old palaces and mosques are studded with such woods, especially in Mali . It is possible that the black African slaves and mercenaries brought with them animistic notions of souls of the dead, which the poles - as at the Great Mosque of Tiznit - should serve as resting places. The entire interior has fallen into disrepair; however, a large old warehouse with a barrel roof was preserved. In the second half of the 20th century, cheap accommodation was built between the ruins from hollow blocks , but like the earlier buildings, these are hardly inhabited.
About 300 m west of the kasbah a ten-arch stone bridge ( Pont Portugais ) crosses the Oum er-Rbia. The name goes back to the fact that during the construction under Mulai Ismail around 1700 European prisoners were used as workers.
The small market center of the old town is a few 100 m southeast. The winding streets extend to the river bank. The new town areas outside of the city are planned much more generously. The central bus station is located north of the Kasbah on the thoroughfare, surrounded by a modern business center. New simple residential areas with rectangular street plans begin west on the river and stretch far north.
literature
- Arnold Betten: Morocco. Antiquity, Berber Traditions and Islam - History, Art and Culture in the Maghreb. DuMont, Ostfildern 2012, ISBN 978-3-7701-3935-4 , pp. 251f.
- Mohammad Hajji: Tādlā. In: Encyclopaedia of Islam . New Edition , Vol. 10, 2000, pp. 75a-77a
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kasba Tadla - Map with altitude information
- ↑ Kasba Tadla - climate tables
- ^ Kasba Tadla - population development
- ^ Dale F. Eickelman: Moroccan Islam. Tradition and Society in a Pilgrimage Center. (Modern Middle East Series, No. 1) University of Texas Press, Austin / London 1976, p. 34
- ^ Jamil M. Abun-Nasr: A history of the Maghrib in the Islamic period. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1987, pp. 231f
- ↑ Jamil M. Abun-Nasr, pp. 370, 372
- ^ Arnold Betten: Morocco. Antiquity, Berber Traditions and Islam - History, Art and Culture in the Maghreb. DuMont, Ostfildern 2012, pp. 251f