Little remains of the once-great city of Sijilmassa – just two decorated gateways and a handful of semi-collapsed structures. But go back to the 8th century and it was a major staging post for trans-Saharan trade, when caravans of up to 20,000 camels would depart for the salt mines of what is now modern-day Mali, then continue to Niger and Ghana, where a pound of Saharan salt was traded for an ounce of African gold.
Its foundation is lost in myth but it was the capital of the first virtually independent Islamic principality in the south. By the 12th century, Sudanese gold refined in Sijilmassa had made it to Europe, where it was minted into European coins. The identical quality between European and Moroccan coins attests to the importance of trade between these regions. But as Imazighen (Berbers) say, where there’s gold, there’s trouble. Internal feuding led to the collapse of the city in the 14th century, and although it was rebuilt by Alaouite Sultan Moulay Ismail in the 18th century, it was finally destroyed by Aït Atta nomadic warriors in 1818.