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Photo: Hmidanix · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Medieval Moroccan city, previously the center of Tafilalt (also known from it as Sijilmasa during this period)
Sijilmasa was a medieval Moroccan city and trade entrepôt at the northern edge of the Sahara in Morocco. The ruins of the town extend for five miles along the River Ziz in the Tafilalt oasis near the town of Rissani. Its founding is associated with the creation of the Tafilalt oasis, and much of its economic success during the medieval period has been attributed to the agricultural capabilities granted by the oasis' massive canal. The town's history was marked by several successive invasions by Berber dynasties. Up until the 14th century, as the northern terminus for the western trans-Sahara trade route, it was one of the most important trade centres in the Maghreb during the Middle Ages.