Gens de Marrakech. Géo-démographie de la ville Rouge

Abstract

A captivating and mythical city, widely celebrated in art and literature, Marrakech casts a powerful spell upon visitors from across the world and upon its own inhabitants. No-one more than the Marrakchis themselves understands the magic of Jemâa El-Fna square, now classified as a “masterpiece of the human oral and immaterial heritage”. It is the Marrachkis who provide the best custom to the neighbouring souks and who most often enjoy a stroll in the Menara gardens. They are also the main characters of this book, whose aim is to look beyond this enchanted façade and go “behind closed doors” to explore their way of life, their living environment and their working conditions. Applying a demographic and geographic approach, the authors - who all know and love the city  - study the social behaviour of its inhabitants against a rapidly evolving urban backdrop, marked architecturally by its history and by the intense mixing of urban and rural populations. The contrast between the European city born of the protectorate and the ancestral Muslim city has become all the more striking in recent years with growing attraction among Europeans for the riads of the medina, many of which have been transformed into guest houses and second homes.

Based on the results of recent Moroccan censuses, major national surveys and personal observations in the field, and illustrated by a series of maps, this study offers an in-depth analysis of the districts of Marrakech and their populations, painting a detailed picture of this complex mosaic and its evolution over time.