The ingenious design of Morocco’s 500-year-old “banks”

“The Amazigh tribes built these ancient structures in the mountains around us,” says key keeper Hassan Luz, opening a palm-wood door to reveal the labyrinthine vaults of one of Morocco’s oldest igoudars—warehouses built by the region’s indigenous tribes over the centuries. back to protect your most valuable possessions.

Artfully built from jagged stone, adobe and palm trees of the Anti-Atlas Mountains, some 600 igoudars (the plural form of agadir, the Amazigh word for “wall” or “complex”) dot the windswept landscapes of the Souss-Massa region of southern Morocco.

They tell the story of how these sun-scorched uplands were first settled around the 15th century, when the Amazigh, or “free people” – the indigenous tribes of North Africa – began to abandon their nomadic ways, embrace farming and establish permanent outposts in the desert.

Widely known to historians as one of the oldest banking systems in the world, Igudar over time became a center of Amazigh influence in the region, serving as a space of governance, trade and discussion, and public warehouses. Today they offer a glimpse of Morocco’s indigenous heritage among the country’s most beautiful, wild and least explored landscapes.

Sacred Vaults

The Amazigh tribes first built the igudar to store their community’s treasures; not just the grains, nuts, oils and dates gathered from the fertile valleys of southern Morocco; but also woven carpets, silver jewelry and legal documents belonging to local families. Their position, strategically located among the rocky outcrops of the Anti-Atlas Mountains, was carefully chosen to provide protection from the dangers of the surrounding desert: bandit depredations, drought, and warring tribes.

Tribal Life Center

Igudar quickly became the center of Amazigh life, and also served as a mosque, debating hall, and refuge during times of conflict. Over the years, underground water tanks, apiaries and forges were incorporated into fortified structures as the once nomadic Amazigh tribes increasingly invested in local igudars as impregnable strongholds for their survival.

“Those who passed through the region stopped in Igoudara,” explains Yasmine Lakmali, a Berber woman from the regional center of Tafraout. “Camel caravans arriving in the valleys after weeks of crossing the Sahara would stop for respite and trade before arriving on the Atlantic coast, taking with them food, jewelry and tribal textiles.”

Collaboration in the face of adversity

“Due to constant threats, the tribes organized the Igudar and ran them as a community, similar to modern cooperatives,” says Mohamed El-Housmi, a local student studying Berber architecture. “For example, each tribe will contribute its surplus goods – be it food, clothing or other necessities – which will then be redistributed according to the needs of each family.”

Any deposit made into the Igudar storehouses was also accompanied by obligatory donations of grain, the amount of which was redistributed at the end of the harvest to ensure that no one in the tribe went hungry. “These buildings represent incredible collaboration and resourcefulness in the face of extreme adversity,” adds Mohamed.

Guardians appointed as defenders

“The Elders – or infla – special guards would be appointed from the tribes, called ‘Aminov guard your agadir day and night,” says Hassan Laws, the current guardian of the 400-year-old agadir of the village of Ikunca. The role of amin (Arabic for “faithful, honest or trustworthy”) carried significant responsibility. maintaining castles, settling disputes, and enforcing tribal laws (which required severe punishment for theft or fraud), and therefore used their private quarters and the adjacent mosque to provide round-the-clock protection to Agadir.

Ancient technology for agriculture

Agriculture has always flourished in southern Morocco, protected from the harsh Saharan climate by the surrounding mountains and supported by ancient irrigation systems called segias which channel water through valleys of wheat, date trees and berry bushes. “Foods, especially grains, were used by early tribes as barter currency: they wanted to protect them,” explains Luz.

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To preserve crops in the unforgiving desert climate, igudars use air ducts to direct heat upward, regulating the temperature outside, and passages between silos allow cats to roam freely, keeping mice and rats away from grain storage areas.

Tradition preserved

Many of the Moroccan igoudars have fallen into disuse and are now preserved as historical monuments and reminders of fading traditions, but in some areas these buildings are still of great importance. In Ait Kina, an oasis village on the edge of one of the southernmost valleys of the Anti-Atlas, the local agadir remains the cornerstone of the community: a place to store crops, jewelry and family texts under the watchful eye of Lahsen Butiran, the owner of the agadir. owner of the keys Amin. Weddings, religious events and social gatherings still take place inside Agadir’s rammed earth walls, and the complex’s vaults still house the belongings of many residents.

Records of the past

Leading us up a staircase of palm trunks to the second floor of vaults, Butiran opens the door to reveal piles of legal texts, religious documents and ancient medical recipes written on palm wood and parchment. He explains how each village appointed a notary who accepted bills for everything that was kept in Agadir’s vaults. These charters, written in Arabic and dating back hundreds of years, detail the possessions of each villager for generations and are considered sacred to the community, carefully preserved and preserved as records of the past.

Indigenous architecture

“These buildings reflect the deep connection our elders have with the landscape,” says local Berber educator Yassmina El Houssmi. Palm trunks felled from nearby oases form the staircases and ceilings, while adobe clay mined from the dry river banks forms the walls. In the more rocky Anti-Atlas, the igudar is built from stone slabs of the surrounding rocks, folded into a composition of dry stone. “Each building represents a remarkable architectural and environmental achievement,” says Yassmina. “Their carbon footprint is zero, all materials are biodegradable and locally sourced, and Agadir naturally regulates temperature, allowing it to last for hundreds of years.”

Looking to the future

Despite a number of recent earthquakes and depopulation in the countryside, the community spirit that first gave birth to these buildings remains, as painstaking restoration by villagers restores many of them to their original glory. “The Moroccan government began working with artists and engineers to restore these precious buildings,” says Mohamed. “The training programs will ensure that the ancient methods of using natural materials and traditional building methods are not forgotten, and we can ensure that these Igudars, which contain the heritage of the indigenous peoples of the region, will continue to enjoy these spectacular landscapes for many years to come.”

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