Tagmadert

Tagmadert (also Tagumadert, Tagmad(d)art, Tigumedet) is a city in the Draa River valley in Morocco. The name seems to have referred to both a district and a town.

Detail of map by Nicolas Sanson (1600-1667). Estats et royaumes de Fez et Maroc, Dahra et Segelmesse tirés de Sanuto, de Marmol.

The town Tagmadert was founded in 1550 by Mohammed ash-Sheikh. It was probably destroyed during the reign of Moulay Slimane (1792–1822), possibly like Sijilmassa in 1818 by Aït Atta Berber tribes. The present village of Amezrou may have been built on its ruins. A sequia (irrigation canal) called Tagmadert still exists today in that place.

References

• Saadian funerary stele (A.D.1580) (cf. the steles of the Saadian tombs in Marrakesh) with Arabic inscription: 'This is the tomb of (..) Fatima (..) the wife of Caid Abdallah of Tamdart'. Tamdart refers to Tagmadert of the Draa valley. Also inscribed on the stele are the Quranic verses 26 and 27 of Sura 55.
• Charles de Foucauld, Reconnaissance au Maroc, Journal de route du voyage entrepris par Charles de Foucauld au Maroc en 1883-1884. 4 vols. Paris: Challamel, 1888., p.292 (available online at http://gallica.bnf.fr/VoyagesEnAfrique/ ) "Au district du Ternata succède, immédiatement au-dessous de lui, celui du Fezouata, appelé aussi Tagmadart." There is a description of Tagmadert by the 17th century traveller Marmol.

See also

• Draa River valley
• Saadi dynasty
• Abu Abdallah al-Qaim
• Mohammed ash-Sheikh