Tazerwalt

Tazerwalt (Arabic: تزروالت, Tachelhit: ⵜⴰⵥⵔⵡⴰⵍⵜ; also spelled Tazeroualt) is a historical region located in the south of Morocco, from which an independent state arose in the 17th century.

[1] Governed from its capital of Iligh in the Anti-Atlas mountains, the state of Tazerwalt at its height extended from the Atlantic Ocean to the Touat region in modern-day Algeria, controlling commerce across much of the Sahara.

Controlling both overland trade routes and major ports such as Agadir, Sidi Ali Bou Dmia extracted the resources needed to raise a sizable army (mainly of slaves), which he then used to further expand borders eastward.

By the mid-17th century, Sidi Ali Bou Dmia controlled a wide swath of the Sahara and Morocco south of the Atlas Mountains, including important centers of trans-Saharan commerce such as the Draa valley, Sijilmasa, Touat, and Taghaza.

Sidi Ali Bou Dmia's hegemony, however, was threatened by the rise of the Alaouite dynasty in Tafilalt, who in the late 1650s captured Sijilmasa and eroded much of Tazerwalt's economic power.