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Fes or Fez (Arabic فـاس [Fās], French Fès) is the
third largest city in
Morocco, after
Casablanca
and Rabat, with a population of 946,815 (2004 census). It is one of the four
so-called "imperial cities" (the others are
Marrakesh,
Meknes and Rabat). Fes is separated into three parts, Fes-al-Bali (the old,
walled city), Fes-Djedid (new Fes, home of the Mellah), and the Ville Nouvelle
(the French-created, newest section of Fes). The Medina of Fes-al-Bali, the
larger of the two medinas of Fes, is believed to be the largest contiguous
carfree area in the world.
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The city was founded by Idris I in 789.
In 810 the Kairouyine mosque, one of the oldest and largest in Africa, was
built by Idris II, and the associated university was founded in 859. The
city was populated by Muslims from elsewhere in North Africa, the Middle
East, Moriscos, as well as many Jews, who had their own quarter, or Mellah,
in the city. It is believed that Fes was the largest city in the world from
1170 to 1180
Fes became the scientific and religious center,
where both Muslims and Christians from Europe came to study. Many Muslim
refugees came to Fes after the reconquest of Spain in 1492. Fez became part
of the Moroccan Empire in 1548.
Fes became the center of the Alaouite Dynasty in
1649, and it was a major trading post of the Barbary Coast of North Africa.
Until the 19th century it was the only source of Fez hats, before they began
to be manufactured in France and Turkey; originally, the dye for the hats
came from a berry that was grown outside the city, known as the Turkish
kizziljiek or Greek akenia (Cornus mascula). Fes was also the end of a
north-south gold trading route from Timbuktu.
Fes was the capital of Morocco intermittently in
the past, lastly until 1912, when most of Morocco came under French control
and Rabat became the capital (which it remained when Morocco became
independent in 1956). While many of the original inhabitants of Fes have
emigrated, the Jewish quarter emptied of its jewish population and the
economy suffering, Fes Bali continues to be the most traditional of the
imperial cities while the Ville Nouvelle is a bustling commercial center
with a popular American Language Center and filmmaker Jamal Morelli's studio
- and the popularity of the city increased with the King of
Morocco
taking the Fassi computer engineer Salma Bennani as his wife.
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