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Sijilmassa (pronounced see-jill-moss-uh), a national historic site recognized by Morocco’s Ministry of Culture, was the fabled and ancient Berber capital of the Tafilalet Kingdom located at the northern edge of the Sahara desert that once rivaled Marrakech. Founded in A.D. 757 on the banks overlooking the Oued Ziz, a river in the oasis region of the Sahara desert, Sijilmassa grew wealthy and powerful during the Middle Ages as a gold-trade-route city strategically located at the exit-point of the western Trans-Saharan caravan trade route -- which extended from the Niger River in the Sudan to Tangier in northern Morocco. From the 10th to the 12th centuries Sijilmassa was the center of the Gold trade between Morocco and the Sudan, and its legendary glory owes much to this position. Even after its fall as a great commercial center and caravan endpoint, the region of Sijilmassa remained instrumental in the minting of gold brought from the Sudan.