Taroudant

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Taroudant, defensive wall

Taroudant (Arabic: تارودانت‎) (Called the "Grandmother of Marrakech",^{[citation needed]}) is a Moroccan city located in the Sous Valley in the southern part of the country. It is situated east from Agadir on the road to Ouarzazate and south from Marrakech. It can be easily visited as a day trip from Agadir en route to the Sahara Desert. It has the feel of a small market town on some caravan route. It is also known for its local crafts like jewelry and carpets.

It is called the "Grandmother of Marrakech" because it is a scaled down, slowed down town that resembles Marrakech with its surrounding ramparts. Unlike Marrakech, Taroudant contains almost the whole city within its walls.

Under the Saadi Dynasty Taroudant knew its golden age, especially under the reign of Mohammed ash-Sheikh, who constructed the city walls and built the great mosque and its beautiful minaret in 1528. A sad event in the history of Taroudant was the massacre of its population by Moulay Ismail in 1687.