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Sijilmasa (; also transliterated Sijilmassa, Sidjilmasa, Sidjilmassa and Sigilmassa) 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 Ziz River in the Tafilalt oasis near the town of Rissani. The town's history was marked by several successive invasions by Berbers dynasty. 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.
The Arab geographer Ibn Hawqal visited Spain and the Maghreb between 947 and 951 A.D. According to the account in his Kitab Surat al-Ard, completed around 988 AD, Sijilmasa grew in economic power due to shifting trade routes. At one time trade between Egypt and the Ghana Empire took a direct route across the desert, but because of the harsh conditions, this route was abandoned. Instead caravans passed through the Maghreb to Sijilmasa, then headed south across the Sahara. Sijilmasa's economic wealth is evidenced by Ibn Hawqal's story about a bill issued to a trader in Awdaghust for forty-two thousand dinars from another merchant based out of Sijilmasa. Ibn Hawqal explains that he has never heard of such a large sum of money in all of his travels. Not only was Ibn Hawqal impressed with the volume of trade with the Maghrib and Egypt, Al-Masudi noted gold from Sudan was minted here. (1973). 9780841904316, Methuen & Co Ltd. ISBN 9780841904316
On account of its wealth, the city was able to assert its independence under the Midrarid dynasty, freeing itself from the Abbasid Caliphate as early as 771. Shifting alliances with the Caliphate of Córdoba and the Fatimids of Ifriqiya destabilized the city during the 10th century, beginning with Abd Allah al-Mahdi Billah's visit to the city, the man who was later known as the founder of the Fatimid dynasty. 'Abd Allah, accompanied by his son al-Qa'im, arrived in the Maghreb in 905. 'Abd Allah and his son made their way to Sijilmasa, fleeing persecution by the Abbasids, who not only belonged to the Isma'ili Shi'ite interpretations, but also threatened the status quo of Abbasid caliphate. According to legend, 'Abd Allah and his son fulfilled a prophecy that the madhi would come from Mesopotamia to Sijilmasa. They hid among the population of Sijilmasa for four years under the countenance of the Midrar rulers, specifically one Prince Yasa'.[File:Idrisids-eng.PNG|thumb|305px|Map]]Al-Qasim, the son of 'Abd Allah, had miraculous powers and caused a spring to gush forth outside of the city. A Jewish resident of the city witnessed this, and spread the word throughout Sijilmasa that 'Abd Allah was going to attempt to take over the city. At or around the same time, Prince Yasa', the Midrarid ruler, received a letter from the Abbasids in Baghdad, warning him to close his frontiers and be wary of 'Abd Allah. Yasa' was forced to imprison the men he had previously patronized. 'Abd Allah's servant escaped to Kairouan, which at the time was a stronghold for Isma'ilis. The leader of the Isma'ilis in Ifriqiya was Abu 'Abdallah; he quickly mustered an army to rescue his compatriot. On his way to Sijilmasa, he subdued Tahert, the nearby Ibadi Kharijite stronghold under the Rustamid dynasty. The army arrived in the Tafilalt in the latter half of 909, and laid siege to the city. After Yasa' was killed in that year or the next, the Midrar dynasty began a long process of fragmentation that eventually resulted in a hostile takeover by the Maghrawa Berbers, former clients of the Cordoban caliphate.This story is related in Al-Bakri's account in Levtzion, "Corpus"
Amid the fall of the Almohad dynasty to the Zenata Berber confederation under the Marinids, Sijilmasa once again played host to the latest Berber dynasty.
The Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta stayed in Sijilmasa on his journey to visit the Mali Empire in 1352–1353. He wrote: "I reached the city of Sijilmasa, a very beautiful city. It has abundant Date palm of good quality. The city of al-Basra is like it in the abundance of dates, but those of Sijilmasa are superior." Ibn Battuta also mentions Sijilmasa when describing the Chinese town of Quanzhou: "In this city, as in all cities in China, men have orchards and fields and their houses in the middle, as they are in Siljimasa in our country. This is why their towns are so big."
Leo Africanus, who travelled to Morocco in the early 16th century, goes to the Tafilalt oasis and finds Sijilmasa destroyed. He remarks on the "most stately and high walls", which were apparently still standing. He continues to describe the city as "gallantly builte," writing there were many stately temples and colleges in the city and water wheels that drew water out of the river Ziz. Leo Africanus says that since the city was destroyed, former residents had moved into outlying villages and castles. He stayed in this area for seven months, saying that it was temperate and pleasant. According to Leo Africanus, the city was destroyed when its last prince was assassinated by the citizens of Sijilmasa, after which the populace spread across the countryside.Leo Africanus, A Geographical History of Africa, 260–271 Ibn Khaldun says in his Muqaddimah that the city fell due to a lack of resources.Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddimah, 248 Lightfoot and Miller cite several facts from their findings on site: they say that oral tradition preserved by those in the Tafilalt says that the "Black Sultan", a malevolent dictator, was overthrown by the populace.
The city was rebuilt in the 18th century under the orders of Sultan Moulay Ismail. It was conquered and destroyed by the nomadic tribes of Ait Atta in 1818.
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