The Qarawiyyin mosque and university, established in the tenth century by the Fatimids and enlarged by the Alamoravid Sultan Ali ibn Yusuf, became a center of Islamic science and one of the earliest universities ever established. The historical monuments of Fez include the shrine of Idris I, the tomb complex of Idris II, the Qarawiyyin mosque, the Andalusian mosque, the Madrasa of the Attarin, Bou Inaniya Madrasa, and the monumental gates and city ramparts. These groups often disputed among themselves and with the governments in power, which often made the city of Fez an independent political entity. Fez traditionally housed an array of social and ethnic forces -Berbers, Arabs, Jews, shurafa, murabits, artisans, merchants, notables, and the poor. The third city, modern Fez (Nouvelle Ville), was built in European style to the southwest of Fas al-Jadid, and its suburbs stretch out into the surrounding farmland. The modern city of Fez had two predecessors: Fas al-Bali, the old Arab city (madina) in the river valley and Fas al-Jadid, the administrative complex built by the Marinids, which encompassed the royal palace, a military complex, the Jewish quarter (mellah), and a commercial district located on hills outside the ramparts to the west. It must be noted that the transshipment and trade city of Casablanca was developed by Fassi entrepreneurs who moved there with the shift of economic emphasis. The post – World War II shift from traditional products, leather, textiles, and handicrafts to the mining of phosphates and the export of agricultural produce lessened Fez's economic importance.

1258 –1465) took power, Fez became their capital and remained the center of Moroccan political life even when Mulay Isma ʿil made Meknes his capital and then under the French protectorate. The two rival sides of the city were united under the Almoravid dynasty, which, however, made Marrakech its capital. Families from Kairouan ( Tunisia) settled the left bank around 825. The Berber and Arab population of Fez received a vital population infusion in the early ninth century when refugees from Andalusia (now Spain) arrived in 818 and settled the right bank.

Twenty years later, Idris's son, Idris II, founded another town, al-Aliya, on the left bank of the river. The plenitude of water from the Fez River as well as numerous nearby springs, rich resources, and productive surrounding plains has encouraged settlement.įez was founded in 789 (172 a.h.) on the right bank of the Fez River by Idris ibn Abdallah, who died before his town could be developed. Fez's prominence is partially due to its location at the juncture of two geographical axes -an East –West route from the Atlantic coast toward Algeria and points east and the North –South route from the Mediterranean to the Sahara. It declined under the French protectorate of 1912, when Rabat became the administrative capital after World War II, French economic interests were shifted to Casablanca. Fez (Arabic, Fas ), one of four Moroccan imperial cities, was a historical capital and the economic and cultural center.

Imperial fez