Ksbah Tadla

Kasba Tadla (or Qasbat Tadlah) is a medium sized town, at an altitude of about 725 meters, on the western edge of the Middle Atlas in the region of ‘Tadla-Azilal’. The city was built along an ancient trade route and lies next to the ‘Oum er-Rbia’ river (which is the longest year-round water flow true Morocco). In the 10th and 11th centuries, the ‘Tadla’ region was controlled by the Berber tribe of ‘Banu Ifran’.

For centuries, this region was a battleground between different tribes, brotherhoods, and dynasties. In the 17th century, ‘Moulay Ismail’ ordered to the construct a stone bridge over the ‘Oum er-Rbia’ river. In 1687, Kasba Tadla was built under the Alawites Sultan ‘Moulay Ismail Kasbah’. The fortress stands on a hill about 100 meters from the river bank, and contains walls which were made of rammed earth and covered with a smooth lime plaster. The medina also contains two old mosques form the 17th century, of which the minarets are still preserved in the 18th century. One of the minaret, on a square base, is uniformly decorated with a delicate brick diamond pattern. The other preserved brick minaret is recognizable by its unusual wooden poles.

During the 18th and 19th centuries it was several times to ward off the attacks of Berber tribes. At the end of the 19th century, Kasba Tadla was consisted of little more than the dilapidated walls of the fortress. During the French Protectorate (1912-1956), the town was revived and expanded to a larger military camp. The ruins of the old Kasbah, are preserved between old and new town on the river ‘Oum er-Rbia’. In 2010, the outer walls of the Kasbah were artificially restored with earth brown coloured cement plaster.

The city is now a transport hub and along with Beni Mellal, one of the two ancient capitals of fertile ‘Tadla- level’. From the river derived irrigation canals, the Tadla- level is a fertile farmland since the 1930s. In the vicinity of the city especially grain is grown.

Ksbah Tadla is part of the tourism region ‘Atlas and Valleys‘ of Morocco.