This ambitious volume is not merely a political history; it is an archaeological, genealogical, and socio-economic excavation of the vast, arid territories that have long constituted Morocco’s deep south. By setting its terminus at 1670 (a pivotal year marking the height of the Alaouite dynasty’s early consolidation), the book offers a critical re-evaluation of a region often left in the margins of classical Islamic and European historiography. One of the book’s primary strengths is its deliberate avoidance of the anachronistic nation-state model. Written for a French-speaking academic audience, the text confronts the legacy of colonial cartography, which often drew lines between “useful” (coastal) Morocco and the “uncertain” Saharan hinterlands.
The most notable gap—acknowledged by the author in the preface—is the lack of direct Saharan oral sources from before 1670. The text relies heavily on Arabic chronicles (Ibn Khaldun, Al-Bakri, Al-Idrisi) and European consular reports from Essaouira and Agadir. Consequently, the voices of the ordinary Sahrawi pastoralist or the enslaved salt-miner of Taghaza are heard only indirectly through elite filters. Le Maroc saharien des origines à 1670 is a vital corrective. In an era where the sovereignty of the Moroccan Sahara is a heated geopolitical issue (specifically regarding the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara), this book provides a deep, academic anchor to the Moroccan claim of historical continuity . Le Maroc saharien des origines a 1670 -French Edition-
★★★★☆ (Essential for specialists; challenging for casual readers) This ambitious volume is not merely a political
