Morocco Timeline -- Part 1: Prehistory to Arrival of Europeans
A Chronology of Key Events in Morocco
By Alistair Boddy-Evans, About.com
| c.3000 BCE | Proto-Berbers settle in North Africa. |
| 12th century BCE | Explorers and traders from Tyre and Sidon settle along Moroccan coast (on the route to Spain), trading goods for wool, hides, fish, and gold. |
| 500 BCE | North African coast is settled by Phoenicians as far as Lixus (Larache). |
| 475-450 BCE | Hanno of Carthage establishes seven colonies along the Moroccan Atlantic coast all the way to Mogador (Essaouira) -- the most distant Phoenician settlement yet discovered. |
| 390 BCE | Mauritania consolidates as a federated group of tribes. |
| 3rd century BCE | Numidians divided into three kingdoms, the most westerly being the Mauri (who gave their name to ancient Mauritania) in what is now Morocco. |
| 220 BCE | King Baga becomes ruler of the Mauri. |
| 146 BCE | Carthage destroyed by the Romans. |
| c.110 BCE | Bocchus I becomes king of the Mauri. His daughter is married to Jugurtha, king of Numidia (which lies to the east of Mauritania). When Jugurtha declares war on the Romans, Bocchus I initially attempts to make treaty with the Romans. |
| 107-106 BCE | King Bocchus I allies with Jugurtha against the Romans. |
| 105 BCE | King Bocchus I is persuades by the Roman quaestor Sulla to betray Jugurtha. In return Bocchus was allowed to keep parts of western Numidia promised to him by Jugurtha. |
| c.90 BCE | King Bocchus I dies. He is succeeded by his son Bocchus II (and for a short while the kingdom is split with a younger son, Bogud). |
| 49-46 BCE | Bocchus II and Bogud support Julius Caesar in his conflict with Pompey the Great. When Julius Caesar wins at the battle of Thapsus, Bocchus II is given control of part of Numidia previously ruled by Juba I. |
| c.36 BCE | Bocchus II seizes the lands ruled by his brother Bogud whilst he is away in Spain on campaign. Bocchus II's position as sole ruler of Mauritania is confirmed by Octavius (future Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus) on the condition that the region passes to Rome on his death. |
| 33 BCE | Mauritania annexed by Octavius (Caesar Augustus) after the death of King Bocchus II. |
| 29 BCE | Juba II, son of Juba I, restored as king of Numidia. Augustus arranges his marriage to Cleopatra Selene II. |
| c.25 BCE | Augustus arranges marriage of Juba II to Cleopatra Selene II. He is also made king of Mauritania (as part of the dowry). Ceasaria (now Cherchell, Algeria) is made the capital of the territory. Juba II makes Volubilis (approximately 60 km from Fez) a second capital shortly after. |
| c.24 CE | King Juba II dies and is succeeded by his son Ptolomy. |
| 40 | Ptolemy of Mauritania, son of Juba II, is killed by his second cousin, the Roman Emperor Caligula, during a visit to Rome. |
| The Berbers, under the leadership of Aedemon (who had been a household slave of Ptolomy of Mauritania), rebel. | |
| 24 January 41 | Caligula is murdered, his paternal uncle Claudius becomes the new Roman Emperor. |
| 42 | Roman General Gaius Suetonius Paulinus crosses the Atlas Mountains during his campaign against the rebelling Berbers led by Aedemon and partially destroys Tingi (Tangier). |
| 44 | End ot Aedemon's revolt. Mauritania is now part of the Roman Empire, split at the Mulucha River (now Moulouya River) to form Mauretania Tingitana (now Morocco) and Mauretania Caesariensis (roughly now Algeria). |
| 253-254 | Tribal revolts in the Rif mountains of Mauritania. |
| 260 | Rif Berbers again revolt against Roman rule. |
| 280 | Romans withdraw from Mauretania Tingitana following rebellion by Baquates tribe. |
| c.350 | Christianity spreads to Mauritania. |
| 429 | 80,000 Vandals, under King Gaiseric, cross from Spain to North Africa, occupying the coast from Tangier to Carthage. |
| 435 | Agreement gives Numidia and Mauritania Sitifensis to the Vandals, briefly pausing their march east. |
| c.550 | Byzantine Emperor Justinian's forces halted by Mauri tribes during his invasion of North Africa. |
| 682-685 | Arab invasion of North Africa, under command of Uqbah ibn Nafi, reaches ancient Mauritania and the Atlantic coast. |
| 710 | Moroccan Berbers submit to Arabs. |
| 711 | Muslim army, under the command of Tariq ibn Ziad, crosses into Spain. |
| c.720 | Umayyad caliph, 'Umar II sends 10 tabi'un (disciples of the Prophet Muhammad's companions) to to instruct the Berbers in Islam. |
| c.730 | Musa ibn Nusayr conquers Tingi (Tangier) and begins wholesale conversion of Berbers. |
| c.740 | Arab armies spread Islam through region. |
| Berber rebellion, led by Maysara, breaks out around Tingi (Tangier) against Arab rule. Within two years they control the region well into what is now Algeria. Arab caliphs are replaced by separate Muslim states with their own dynasties. To the south, the only Berber dynasty to rule, the Miknasah, creates the small principality of Banu Midrar in Sijilmassah (now southern Morocco). | |
| 757 | Miknasah chief, Abu al-Qasim ibn Wasul aka Midrar, founds the town of Sijilmassah. It soon becomes a center for trans-Saharan trade. |
| 788 | Idris ibn 'Abd Allah, a sharif (descendant of the Prophet Muhammad), and survivor of the battle of Fakhkh, who had been living in Tangier is encouraged to move to Walila in 788 by the Awraba chief Ishaq ibn 'Abd al-Hamid and rule the region. |
| 789 | Idris I (Idris ibn 'Abd Allah) founds the independent Idrisid caliphate of Fez. |
| 790-820 | Banu Midrar reaches its zenith under the rule of Yasa' ibn Midrar. |
| 791 | Idris I is assassinated by agents of the Abbasids. He is succeeded by a son, also Idris, born a few months later. Idris II is raised by the Berber Awarba tribe at Volubilis. |
| 809 | Idris II moves his capital from Walila to Fez and begins the reunification of the region. |
| 828 | Idris II dies. |
| c.860 | Idrisid dynasty in decline. |
| 910 | Fatimid state created by 'Ubayd Allah Sa'id in what is now Tunisia. |
| c.917 | Fatimids begin conquest of ancient Mauritania. |
| Fatimids conquer Banu Midrar in the south of what is now Morocco. | |
| 921 | Fatimids (of Ifriqiya, now Tunisia) attempt to depose the Idrisid dynasty. This is contested by the Umayyads of Spain. |
| 926 | Idrisid caliphate subjugated by Umayyad emirate of Cordoba (Spain). |
| 927 | Umayyads occupy Melilla. |
| 931 | Umayyads occupy Ceuta. |
| 934 | Fatamid rule in region ended by rebellion at Fez. |
| 1035 | Sanhaja confederation of tribes forms in Mauritania under the leadership of 'Abd Allah ibn Yasin. |
| 1053 | Sanhaja Berber Almoravid is founded by Yusuf Ibn Tashfin. Much of west Africa and Morocco is conquered over the next decade. |
| 1056 | Sijilmassah captured by the Almoravids. |
| 1059 | 'Abd Allah ibn Yasin killed in an attack on the Barghawatah tribe on the Moroccan coast. Rule is transferred to the chief of the Lamtunah tribe, Abu Bakr ibn 'Umar. |
| 1069 | Marrakech founded by Almoravid leader Yousuf ibn Tashufin. |
| 1082 | Almoravid rule extends as far east as Algiers. |
| 1086 | After the collapse of the Umayyads in Spain, the Almoravids send an army to protect Spanish Muslims. |
| 1106 | Death of Yusuf Ibn Tashfin. |
| 1117 | A Masmudah Berber, Muhammad ibn Tumart, from the High Atlas region of Morocco, begins the revolutionary Almohads movement (al-Muwahhidun), and preaches the downfall of the Almoravids. |
| 1130 | Following Ibn Tumart's death, the Almohad movement is led by his second in command 'Abd al-Mu'min. |
| 1133 | 'Abd al-Mu'min invades northern Morocco. |
| 1146 | 'Abd al-Mu'min captures Fez. |
| 1147 | Almohad dynasty effectively succeed the Almoravids after 'Abd al-Mu'min takes Marrakech. |
| 1152-1160 | Almohads conquer much of the Maghrib. |
| 1184-1203 | What is now Algeria and Tunisia falls to the rule of Banu Ghaniyah (the last of the Almoravids from Spain). |
| 1205-1207 | The Almohad caliph al-Nasir (Muhammad ibn Abi Yusuf Ya'qub) regains the lands to the east taken by the Banu Ghaniyah and places them under the control of the Hafsids. |
| 1229 | The Hafsids declare their independence from the Almohads. |
| 1240s | The Banu Marin advance through what is now Algeria to capture northern Morocco. |
| 1248 | Fez is taken by the Banu Marin. |
| 1269 | Marinid dynasty have completely taken the territory of the Almohads. |
| 14th century | Morocco begins to take shape as an independent entity, with an associated cult belief in Idris I. |
| 1415 | Portuguese take Ceuta, first European colony in Africa. |
Timeline of Morocco
• Morocco Timeline -- Part 2: Arrival of Europeans to the Green March
• Morocco Timeline -- Part 3: The Green March to Present Day
History of Morocco
• A Very Short History of Morocco
Africa and the Causes of World War I
• Entente Cordiale
• First Moroccan Crisis
• Algeciras Conference
• Second Moroccan Crisis
• Treaty of Fez
