AphroChic Magazine: Issue No. 1

Travel
Abu Bakr ibn Umar, leader of the
Almoravids, and his top lieutenant
Yusuf ibn Tashfin were continuing
a fight begun by Abu Bakr’s brother
Yahya ibn Umar and their teacher, the
Maliki jurist and preacher Abdullah
ibn Yasin. Both had fallen in battle,
leaving it to Abu Bakr and Yusef to
continue to expand their dominion,
and with it their vision of Islam.
Unrivaled in combat, the Almoravids
were unbeaten on the field and
were, at that moment, suffering the
consequences of their success. They
had conquered and occupied Aghmat,
a wealthy and sophisticated city, but
the courtly life of a crowded city was
proving impossible for an army of
hardened desert nomads.
Abu Bakr and Yusef had gone into
the desert seeking a solution - a place
where the Almoravids could build
the type of military encampment
their ranks were used to, defensible
and efficient, with lots of open space.
When they found what they had been
looking for, work on the new encampment
began.
From that time on, the city of
Marrakech has stood for more than
900 years. It has been the capital of
an empire that stretched from present-day
Senegal up through much of
Spain and across most of North Africa.
It has been a center of learning and
philosophy, a hotbed of sedition, and
the seat of rulers, rebels, and tyrants
alike. It has been besieged, sacked,
restored, colonized, and liberated.
Today, from the Koutoubia
mosque to the Almoravid koubba
(bathhouse), through the maze-like
passages of the souks, to the open
plaza of the Medina, Marrakech - like
all ancient places - carries the weight
of its history. In every moment there
is an almost tangible sense of all that
has come before.
But Marrakech is not simply a
place of the past. Its arts, architecture
and culture continue to touch the
world, influencing everything from
the fashion of Yves Saint-Laurent to
modern interior design. Few places
on earth bridge the gap between the
old world and the new so well. This is
Marrakech, a city in pictures. AC
aphrochic