Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Life improved again in the 16th century, when the Saadians made Marrakesh the crux
of lucrative sugar-trade routes, established a trading centre for Christians and a protected
mellah
(Jewish quarter) in 1558. Ahmed al-Mansour ed-Dahbi (the Victorious and
Golden) paved the Badi Palace with gold and took opulence to the grave in the gilded
Saadian Tombs.
Alawite leader Moulay Ismail preferred Meknès to Marrakesh, and moved his
headquarters there - though not before looting the Badi Palace. Marrakesh entered its
Wild West period, with big guns vying for control. Those who prevailed built extravagant
riads
,
though much of the population lived hand to mouth in crowded
funduqs
(rooming
houses). In 1912 the French protectorate granted Pasha Glaoui the run of southern Mo-
rocco, while French and Spanish colonists built themselves a ville nouvelle.
Without a clear role post-Independence, Marrakesh resumed its fall-back career as a
caravanserai - and became the nation's breakaway success. Roving hippies built the city's
mystique in the 1960s and '70s, and visits by the Rolling Stones, Beatles and Led Zep-
pelin gave the city star power. In the 1990s private medina mansions were converted into
B&Bs, just in time for low-cost airlines to deliver weekenders to brass-studded riad doors.
Marrakesh was amid a major tourism boom in 2008 when the global financial crisis
started to wreak havoc in European markets, which account for over 80% of the city's vis-
itors. Hot on the heels of this fiscal collapse, an Islamist militant disguised as a guitar-car-
rying hippie walked into Café Argana on the Djemaa el-Fna and planted two bombs that
killed 17 people in April 2011.
Confidence in the Red City plummeted: tourists cancelled bookings and investment
tumbled. But while economic growth hit the skids, dropping from 4.9% in 2011 to 2.9%
in 2012, Morocco's circumspect handling of Arab Spring tensions saw a gradual return to
growth in 2013. What's more, the city's dynamic entrepreneurs are determined to put
Marrakesh back on track with audacious plans for Africa's largest contemporary art mu-
seum scheduled for completion in 2016.
Sights
Medina
Most monuments are inside the medina ramparts (a 19km circuit). If you wander off
course exploring souqs and palaces, ask someone to point you towards Djemaa el-Fna
