800–500 BC
The Maghreb gets even more multiculti as Phoenicians and East Africans join the Berbers,
making the local population make-up as complex as a ras al hanout spice blend.
4th–1st century BC
Romans arrive to annex Mauretania and 250 years later, they’re still trying, with limited
success and some Punic Wars to show for their troubles.
49 BC
North African King Juba I supports renegade General Pompey’s ill-fated power play against
Julius Caesar. Rome is outraged – but senators pick up where Pompey left off, and
assassinate Caesar.
25 BC–AD 23
Rome gets a toehold in Mauretania with farms, cities and art, thanks to Juba II. He expands
Volubilis into a metropolis of 20,000 residents, including a sizeable Jewish Berber community.
200–429
Vandals and Visigoths take turns forcing one another out of Spain and onto the shores of
Morocco, until local Rif warriors convince them to bother the Algerians instead.
533
Justinian rousts the last Vandals from Morocco, but his grand plans to extend the Holy
Roman Empire are soon reduced to a modest presence in Essaouira, Tangier and Salé.
662–682
Arabs invade the Maghreb under Umayyad Uqba bin Nafi, introducing Islam to the area.
Berber warriors eventually boot out the Umayyads, but decide to keep the Quran.
711
Northern Morocco and most of Spain come under Umayyad control, and Berbers are
strategically settled throughout Andalusia.
788–829
Islam takes root in Morocco under Idriss I and Idriss II, who make Fez the epitome of Islamic
art, architecture and scholarship and the capital of their Idrissid empire.
8th century
Through shared convictions and prudent alliances, Arab caliphates control an area that
extends across the Mediterranean and well into Europe, just 320km shy of Paris.
1062
With the savvy Zeinab as his wife and chief counsel, Berber leader Yusuf bin Tachfin founds
Marrakesh as a launching pad for Almoravid conquests of North Africa and Europe.
1069
The Almoravids take Fez by force and promptly begin remodelling the place, installing mills