TAFILÁLT, or Tafilet (i.e. “The Country of the Filáli,” as its inhabitants are called, because descended from the Arabian tribe of Hilál, settled here in the 11th century), the most important oasis of the Moroccan Sahara, ten days’ journey south of Fez, across the Atlas. It is celebrated for its large and luscious dates, to the successful cultivation of which, soon after the arrival of an ancestor of the reigning dynasty of Morocco (hence called the Filáli Sharifs, i.e. descendants of Mahomet) circ. A.D. 1250, this dynasty owes its rise to power. Since 1648 it has been the custom of Moorish sultans to despatch superfluous sons and daughters to Tafilált, and as the males are all sharifs, the fanaticism against Europeans is comprehensible. Instead of living in towns its bellicose inhabitants occupy isolated fortified buildings, and are constantly at war. In Ifli, the central portion, formerly existed the town of Sagilmasa, founded by Miknása Berbers in 757 B.C. It was on the direct caravan route from the Niger to Tangier, and attained a considerable degree of prosperity. It was destroyed at the end of the 11th century, but its ruins still extend five miles along the river bank.
The first European to visit Tafilált was Rene Caillie (1828), the next Gerhard Rohlfs (1864). A later visit to the oasis by W. B. Harris is described in his book Tafilet (London, 1895).