Sijilmasa (Arabic: سجلماسة; also transliterated Sijilmassa, Sidjilmasa, Sidjilmassa and Sigilmassa) was a medieval Moroccan city and trade entrepôt at the northern edge of the Sahara in Morocco.

They elected a leader, 'Isa bin Mazid al-Aswad (the Black), to handle their affairs during the earliest first few years after the town's establishment.

Abu al-Qasim Samgu bin Wasul al-Miknasi, chief of a branch of the Miknasa tribe, became the leader of the town.

[citation needed] The Arab geographer Ibn Hawqal visited Spain and the Maghreb between 947 and 951 A.D.[5] According to the account in his Kitab Surat al-Ard, completed around 988 AD, Sijilmasa grew in economic power due to shifting trade routes.

[7][8] 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.

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.

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.

After 60 years of Maghrawa rule, the elders of Sijilmasa appealed to the Sanhaja Berber confederation, which was just beginning its transformation into the Almoravid dynasty.

The Almoravid imposed an extremely strict interpretation of Islam, smashing music instruments and closing down wine shops throughout the city.

However, the strict philosophy imposed by the Almoravids at the beginning of their reign of Sijilmasa was overshadowed by the extremely violent practices of the Almohads.

[citation needed] The Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta stayed in Sijilmasa on his journey to visit the Mali Empire in 1352–1353.

[18] 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.

Today, the ruins of Sijilmasa, located one km north of the town of Rissani, are recognized by the World Monuments Fund as an endangered site.