Sijilmasa (also
Sijilmassa,
Sidjilmasa,
Sidjilmassa and
Sigilmassa) was a
medieval Moroccan city and trade
entrepôt at the northern edge of the
Sahara Desert in
Morocco. The ruins of the town lie for five miles along the
River Ziz in the
Tafilalt oasis near the town of
Rissani. The town's history was marked by several successive invasions by
Berber dynasties. Up until the 14th century, as the northern terminus for the western
trans-Sahara trade route, it was one of the most important trade centres in the
Maghreb during the Middle Ages.