Bibliothèque de L'IMIST/CNRST

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Moroccan history draws on a vast range of sources, and apart from Arabic texts there is a deal of material in European archives and periodicals, to say nothing of published histories and travels. Nevertheless we have here a book which is readable and not over-documented, enabling those not closely acquainted with Morocco or her institutions to form some conception of the complex civilization of the country. Pre-Moslem history in this part of North Africa still remains very obscure, and for the early period of Islamization the best use has been made of the information available, but, owing to the very nature of the early Arabic sources, the reader is left unsatisfied by its paucity and unreliability. Professor Terrasse takes us carefully through the perplexing tangle of petty kingdoms, down to the surer ground of Almoravid history, revealing in the process the important role played by the families sprung from the Prophet, whose influence permeates society in all Islamic countries in religion and politics to a degree perhaps not always realized in the West. What is particularly valuable is the exposition of the social structure of the country, the interaction of Arab with Berber, of townspeople with Bedouin, and their setting in the characteristic geographical and climatic conditions of Morocco; without an understanding of these circumstances, Moroccan history is a bewildering jumble. Such peculiarly Moroccan institutions as the Makhzan and Bilad Siba are explained, as also such terms as the tribal leff, a word used also amongst the Arabian tribes. The close and ever-present connexions with Spain and Portugal, first under Islam, then during the expansion of these countries under the new economic conditions about the time of the discovery of the New World, will not easily be found in such accessible form elsewhere. Morocco's general economic relations with Europe after that time are of course better known, but even nowadays little is remembered of Britain's long connection with the country. -- from JSTOR (May 30, 2012.).