The Sous region (also spelt Sus, Suss, Souss or Sousse) ( ar, سوس, sūs, shi, ⵙⵓⵙ, sus) is an area in mid-southern
Morocco. Geologically, it is the
alluvial basin of the
Sous River
The Sous River, Sus River or Souss River ( Berber: Asif en Sus, Arabic: واد سوس) is a river in mid-southern Morocco located in the Sous region. It originates in the High Atlas and flows west passing Aoulouz, Taroudannt, Oulad Teima, Inezga ...
(''Asif n Sus''), separated from the
Sahara
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desert by the
Anti-Atlas
The Anti-Atlas ( ar, الأطلس الصغير, shi, Aṭlas Mẓẓiyn), also known as Lesser Atlas or Little Atlas is a mountain range in Morocco, a part of the Atlas Mountains in the northwest of Africa. The Anti-Atlas extends from the Atlanti ...
Mountains. The natural vegetation in the Sous region is
savanna dominated by the
argan (''Argania spinosa''), a local
endemic tree found nowhere else; part of the area is now a
UNESCO Biosphere Reserve to protect this unique habitat.
The region of Sous is generally fertile and has a high agricultural production.
History
Medieval Arabic geographers generally divided the Sous region into two distinct sub-regions: ''al-Sūs al-Aqṣā'', or "farther Sus", and ''al-Sūs al-Adnā'', or "nearer Sus".
Sus al-Aqsa consisted of the southern/western part, and Sus al-Adna consisted of the northern/eastern part; however, there were never any precise boundaries between the two.
The capital of the Sous was at
Igli.
There was also a
ribat at
Massa
Massa may refer to:
Places
*Massa, Tuscany, the administrative seat of the Italian province of Massa-Carrara.
*Massa (river), river in Switzerland
* Massa (Tanzanian ward), administrative ward in the Mpwapwa district of the Dodoma Region of Ta ...
near the Atlantic coast.
makes conflicting claims about the religious makeup of the Sous region at his time.
In one passage, he says that its inhabitants were
Shi'is, but in another he says that the region was divided between
Sunni
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
s of the
Maliki school and Shi'is, who he calls "Mūsawiyyun".
Tensions were high between these groups, he wrote, and there was a lot of warfare between them.
Around 683,
Uqba ibn Nafi conquered the Sous region, but after his death in 688 his conquests in Morocco slipped out of Muslim control.
The Sous was reconquered around 20 years later by
Musa ibn Nusayr, who began the spread of Islam among the local population.
Bibliography
*Boogert, Nico van den. ''The Berber Literary Tradition of the Sous: with an edition and translation of 'The Ocean of Tears' by Muḥammad Awzal (d. 1749)'', Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, 1997.
*Montagne, Robert. ''Les Berbères et le Makhzen dans le sud du Maroc; essai sur la transformation politique des Berbères sédentaires (groupe Chleuh)''. Rabat: Dar Al-Aman, 2013 .
UNESCO Arganeraie Biosphere Reserve
References
External links
{{coord, 30, 18, N, 9, 20, W, region:MA_dim:100000, display=title
Natural regions
Geography of Morocco