Marrakesh

# Marrakesh

## Abstract

Marrakesh or Marrakech (/ m ə ˈ r æ k ɛ ʃ / or / ˌ m ær ə ˈ k ɛ ʃ /; Arabic: مراكش, romanized: murrākuš, pronounced) is the fourth-largest city in Morocco. It is one of the four imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakesh–Safi region. The city lies west of the foothills of the Atlas Mountains.

The city was founded circa 1070 by Abu Bakr ibn Umar as the capital of the Almoravid dynasty. The Almoravids established the first major structures in the city and shaped its layout for centuries to come. The red walls of the city, built by Ali ibn Yusuf in 1122–1123, and various buildings constructed in red sandstone afterwards, have given the city the nickname of the "Red City" or "Ochre City". Marrakesh grew rapidly and established itself as a cultural, religious, and trading center for the Maghreb. After a period of decline, Marrakesh regained its status in the early 16th century as the capital of the Saadian dynasty. Beginning in the 17th century, the city became popular among Sufi pilgrims for its seven patron saints who are buried here. In 1912, the French Protectorate in Morocco was established and T'hami El Glaoui became Pasha of Marrakesh and generally held this position until the independence of Morocco and the reestablishment of the monarchy in 1956.

Marrakesh comprises an old fortified city packed with vendors and their stalls. This medina quarter is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and contains the Jemaa el-Fnaa square, a large number of souks (markets), the Kutubiyya Mosque, and many other historic and cultural sites. The city serves as a major economic center and tourist destination. Real estate and hotel development in Marrakesh have grown dramatically in the 21st century. Marrakesh is particularly popular with the French, and numerous French celebrities own property in the city.

Marrakesh is served by Ménara International Airport and by Marrakesh railway station, which connects the city to Casablanca and northern Morocco. Marrakesh has several universities and schools, including Cadi Ayyad University. A number of Moroccan football clubs are here, including Najm de Marrakech, KAC Marrakech, Mouloudia de Marrakech and Chez Ali Club de Marrakech. The Marrakesh Street Circuit hosts the World Touring Car Championship, Auto GP and FIA Formula Two Championship races.

## Etymology

The exact meaning of the name is debated. One possible origin of the name Marrakesh is from the Berber (Amazigh) words amur (n) akush, which means "Land of God". According to historian Susan Searight, however, the town's name was first documented in an 11th-century manuscript in the Qarawiyyin library in Fez, where its meaning was given as "country of the sons of Kush". The word mur is used now in Berber mostly in the feminine form tamurt. The same word "mur" appears in Mauretania, the North African kingdom from antiquity, although the link remains controversial as this name possibly originates from μαύρος mavros, the ancient Greek word for "dark". The common English spelling is "Marrakesh", although "Marrakech" (the French spelling) is also widely used. The name is spelled Mṛṛakc in the Berber Latin alphabet, Marraquexe in Portuguese, Marrakech in Spanish. A typical pronunciation in Moroccan Arabic is merrākesh with stress on the second syllable, while vowels in the other syllables are pronounced with a schwa.

From medieval times until around the beginning of the 20th century, the entire country of Morocco was known as the "Kingdom of Marrakesh", as the kingdom's historic capital city was often Marrakesh. The name for Morocco is still "Marrakesh" to this day in Persian and Urdu as well as many other South Asian languages. Various European names for Morocco (Marruecos, Marrocos, Maroc, Marokko, etc.) are directly derived from the name Murrākush. Conversely, the city itself was in earlier times simply called Marocco City (or similar) by travelers from abroad. The name of the city and the country diverged after the Treaty of Fez divided Morocco into a French protectorate in Morocco and Spanish protectorate in Morocco, and the old interchangeable usage lasted widely until about the interregnum of Mohammed Ben Aarafa (1953–1955). The latter episode set in motion the country's return to independence, when Morocco officially became المملكة المغربية (al-Mamlaka al-Maġribiyya, "The Maghreb Kingdom"), its name no longer referring to the city of Marrakesh. Marrakesh is known by a variety of nicknames, including the "Red City" (Arabic: المدينة الحمراء, romanized: Al-madīnat al-ḥamrā'), the "Ochre City" and "the Daughter of the Desert", and has been the focus of poetic analogies such as one comparing the city to "a drum that beats an African identity into the complex soul of Morocco."

## History

The Marrakesh area was inhabited by Berber farmers from Neolithic times, and numerous stone implements have been unearthed in the area. Marrakesh was founded by Abu Bakr ibn Umar, chieftain and second cousin of the Almoravid king Yusuf ibn Tashfin (c. 1061–1106). Historical sources cite a variety of dates for this event ranging between 1062 (454 in the Hijri calendar), according to Ibn Abi Zar and Ibn Khaldun, and 1078 (470 AH), according to Muhammad al-Idrisi. The date most commonly used by modern historians is 1070, although 1062 is still cited by some writers.

The Almoravids, a Berber dynasty seeking to reform Islamic society, ruled an emirate stretching from the edge of Senegal to the centre of Spain and from the Atlantic coast to Algiers. They used Marrakesh as their capital and established its first structures, including mosques and a fortified residence, the Ksar al-Hajjar, near the present-day Kutubiyya Mosque. These Almoravid foundations also influenced the layout and urban organization of the city for centuries to come. For example, the present-day Jemaa el-Fnaa originated from a public square in front of the Almoravid palace gates, the Rahbat al-Ksar, and the major souks (markets) of the city developed roughly in the area between this square and the city's main mosque, where they remain today. The city developed the community into a trading centre for the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa. It grew rapidly and established itself as a cultural and religious centre, supplanting Aghmat, which had long been the capital of Haouz. Andalusi craftsmen from Cordoba and Seville built and decorated numerous monuments, importing the Cordoban Umayyad style characterised by carved domes and cusped arches. This Andalusian influence merged with designs from the Sahara and West Africa, creating a unique style of architecture which was fully adapted to the Marrakesh environment. Yusuf ibn Tashfin built houses, minted coins, and brought gold and silver to the city in caravans. His son and successor, Ali Ibn Yusuf, built the Ben Youssef Mosque, the city's main mosque, between 1120 and 1132. He also fortified the city with city walls for the first time in 1126–1127 and expanded its water supply by creating the underground water system known as the khettara.

In 1125, the preacher Ibn Tumart settled in Tin Mal in the mountains to the south of Marrakesh, founding the Almohad movement. This new faction, composed mainly of Masmuda tribesmen, followed a doctrine of radical reform with Ibn Tumart as the mahdi, a messianic figure. He preached against the Almoravids and influenced a revolt which succeeded in bringing about the fall of nearby Aghmat, but stopped short of bringing down Marrakesh following an unsuccessful siege in 1130. Ibn Tumart died shortly after in the same year, but his successor Abd al-Mu'min took over the political leadership of the movement and captured Marrakesh in 1147 after a siege of several months. The Almohads purged the Almoravid population over three days and established the city as their new capital. They went on to take over much of the Almoravids' former territory in Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. In 1147, shortly after the city's conquest, Abd al-Mu'min founded the Kutubiyya Mosque (or Koutoubia Mosque), next to the former Almoravid palace, to serve as the city's new main mosque. The Almoravid mosques were either demolished or abandoned as the Almohads enacted their religious reforms. Abd al-Mu'min was also responsible for establishing the Menara Gardens in 1157, while his successor Abu Ya'qub Yusuf (r. 1163–1184) began the Agdal Gardens. Ya'qub al-Mansur (r. 1184–1199), possibly on the orders of his father Abu Ya'qub Yusuf, was responsible for building the Kasbah, a citadel and palace district on the south side of the city. The Kasbah housed the center of government and the residence of the caliph, a title borne by the Almohad rulers to rival the eastern Abbasid Caliphate. In part because of these various additions, the Almohads also improved the water supply system and created water reservoirs to irrigate their gardens. Thanks to its economic, political, and cultural importance, Marrakesh hosted many writers, artists, and intellectuals, many of them from Al-Andalus, including the famous philosopher Averroes of Cordoba.

The death of Yusuf II in 1224 began a period of instability. Marrakesh became the stronghold of the Almohad tribal sheikhs and the ahl ad-dar (descendants of Ibn Tumart), who sought to claw power back from the ruling Almohad family. Marrakesh was taken, lost and retaken by force multiple times by a stream of caliphs and pretenders, such as during the brutal seizure of Marrakesh by the Sevillan caliph Abd al-Wahid II al-Ma'mun in 1226, which was followed by a massacre of the Almohad tribal sheikhs and their families and a public denunciation of Ibn Tumart's doctrines by the caliph from the pulpit of the Kasbah Mosque. After al-Ma'mun's death in 1232, his widow attempted to forcibly install her son, acquiring the support of the Almohad army chiefs and Spanish mercenaries with the promise to hand Marrakesh over to them for the sack. Hearing of the terms, the people of Marrakesh sought to make an agreement with the military captains and saved the city from destruction with a sizable payoff of 500,000 dinars. In 1269, Marrakesh was conquered by nomadic Zenata tribes who overran the last of the Almohads. The city then fell into a state of decline, which soon led to the loss of its status as capital to rival city Fez.

In the early 16th century, Marrakesh again became the capital of Morocco, after a period when it was the seat of the Hintata emirs. It quickly reestablished its status, especially during the reigns of the Saadian sultans Abdallah al-Ghalib and Ahmad al-Mansur. Thanks to the wealth amassed by the Sultans, Marrakesh was embellished with sumptuous palaces while its ruined monuments were restored. El Badi Palace, begun by Ahmad al-Mansur in 1578, was made with costly materials including marble from Italy. The palace was intended primarily for hosting lavish receptions for ambassadors from Spain, England, and the Ottoman Empire, showcasing Saadian Morocco as a nation whose power and influence reached as far as the borders of Niger and Mali. Under the Saadian dynasty, Marrakesh experienced a golden age, and regained its former position as a point of contact for caravan routes from the Maghreb, the Mediterranean and sub-Saharan Africa.

For centuries Marrakesh has been known as the location of the tombs of Morocco's seven patron saints (sebaatou rizjel). When sufism was at the height of its popularity during the late 17th-century reign of Moulay Ismail, the festival of these saints was founded by Abu Ali al-Hassan al-Yusi at the request of the sultan. The tombs of several renowned figures were moved to Marrakesh to attract pilgrims, and the pilgrimage associated with the seven saints is now a firmly established institution. Pilgrims visit the tombs of the saints in a specific order, as follows: Sidi Yusuf Ali Sanhaji (1196–97), a leper; Qadi Iyyad or qadi of Ceuta (1083–1149), a theologian and author of Ash-Shifa (treatises on the virtues of Muhammad); Sidi Bel Abbas (1130–1204), known as the patron saint of the city and most revered in the region; Sidi Muhammad al-Jazuli (1465), a well known Sufi who founded the Jazuli brotherhood; Abdelaziz al-Tebaa (1508), a student of al-Jazuli; Abdallah al-Ghazwani (1528), known as Moulay al-Ksour; and Sidi Abu al-Qasim Al-Suhayli, (1185), also known as Imam al-Suhayli. Until 1867, European Christians were not authorized to enter the city unless they acquired special permission from the sultan; east European Jews were permitted.

During the early 20th century, Marrakesh underwent several years of unrest. After the premature death in 1900 of the grand vizier Ba Ahmed, who had been designated regent until the designated sultan Abd al-Aziz became of age, the country was plagued by anarchy, tribal revolts, the plotting of feudal lords, and European intrigues. In 1907, Marrakesh caliph Moulay Abd al-Hafid was proclaimed sultan by the powerful tribes of the High Atlas and by Ulama scholars who denied the legitimacy of his brother, Abd al-Aziz. It was also in 1907 that Dr. Mauchamp, a French doctor, was murdered in Marrakesh, suspected of spying for his country. France used the event as a pretext for sending its troops from the eastern Moroccan town of Oujda to the major metropolitan center of Casablanca in the west. The French colonial army encountered strong resistance from Ahmed al-Hiba, a son of Sheikh Ma al-'Aynayn, who arrived from the Sahara accompanied by his nomadic Reguibat tribal warriors. On 30 March 1912, the French Protectorate in Morocco was established. After the Battle of Sidi Bou Othman, which saw the victory of the French Mangin column over the al-Hiba forces in September 1912, the French seized Marrakesh. The conquest was facilitated by the rallying of the Imzwarn tribes and their leaders from the powerful Glaoui family, leading to a massacre of Marrakesh citizens in the resulting turmoil.

T'hami El Glaoui, known as "Lord of the Atlas", became Pasha of Marrakesh, a post he held virtually throughout the 44-year duration of the Protectorate (1912–1956). Glaoui dominated the city and became famous for his collaboration with the general residence authorities, culminating in a plot to dethrone Mohammed Ben Youssef (Mohammed V) and replace him with the Sultan's cousin, Ben Arafa. Glaoui, already known for his amorous adventures and lavish lifestyle, became a symbol of Morocco's colonial order. He could not, however, subdue the rise of nationalist sentiment, nor the hostility of a growing proportion of the inhabitants. Nor could he resist pressure from France, who agreed to terminate its Moroccan Protectorate in 1956 due to the launch of the Algerian War (1954–1962) immediately following the end of the war in Indochina (1946–1954), in which Moroccans had been conscripted to fight in Vietnam on behalf of the French Army. After two successive exiles to Corsica and Madagascar, Mohammed Ben Youssef was allowed to return to Morocco in November 1955, bringing an end to the despotic rule of Glaoui over Marrakesh and the surrounding region. A protocol giving independence to Morocco was then signed on 2 March 1956 between French Foreign Minister Christian Pineau and M’Barek Ben Bakkai.

Since the independence of Morocco, Marrakesh has thrived as a tourist destination. In the 1960s and early 1970s, the city became a trendy " hippie mecca". It attracted numerous western rock stars and musicians, artists, film directors and actors, models, and fashion divas, leading tourism revenues to double in Morocco between 1965 and 1970. Yves Saint Laurent, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Jean-Paul Getty all spent significant time in the city; Laurent bought a property here and renovated the Majorelle Gardens. Expatriates, especially those from France, have invested heavily in Marrakesh since the 1960s and developed many of the riads and palaces. Old buildings were renovated in the Old Medina, new residences and commuter villages were built in the suburbs, and new hotels began to spring up.

United Nations agencies became active in Marrakesh beginning in the 1970s, and the city's international political presence has subsequently grown. In 1985, UNESCO declared the old town area of Marrakesh a UNESCO World Heritage Site, raising international awareness of the cultural heritage of the city. In the 1980s, Patrick Guerand-Hermes purchased the 30 acres (12 ha) Ain el Quassimou, built by the family of Leo Tolstoy. On 15 April 1994, the Marrakesh Agreement was signed here to establish the World Trade Organisation, and in March 1997 Marrakesh served as the site of the World Water Council 's first World Water Forum, which was attended by over 500 international participants.

In the 21st century, property and real estate development in the city has boomed, with a dramatic increase in new hotels and shopping centres, fuelled by the policies of Mohammed VI of Morocco, who aims to increase the number of tourists annually visiting Morocco to 20 million by 2020. In 2010, a major gas explosion occurred in the city. On 28 April 2011, a bomb attack took place in the Jemaa el-Fnaa square, killing 15 people, mainly foreigners. The blast destroyed the nearby Argana Cafe. Police sources arrested three suspects and claimed the chief suspect was loyal to Al-Qaeda, although Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb denied involvement. In November 2016 the city hosted the 2016 United Nations Climate Change Conference. In September 2023, the city was affected by a deadly earthquake. From October 9 to October 15, 2023, the city hosted the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group.

## Geography

The city is located in the Tensift River valley, with the Tensift River passing along the northern edge of the city. The Ourika River valley is about 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of Marrakesh. The city has expanded north from the old centre with suburbs such as Daoudiat, Diour El Massakine, Sidi Abbad, Sakar and Amerchich, to the southeast with Sidi Youssef Ben Ali, to the west with Massira and Targa, and southwest to M'hamid beyond the airport. On the P2017 road leading south out of the city are large villages such as Douar Lahna, Touggana, Lagouassem, and Lahebichate, leading eventually through desert to the town of Tahnaout at the edge of the High Atlas, the highest mountainous barrier in North Africa. The average elevation of the snow-covered High Atlas lies above 3,000 metres (9,800 ft). It is mainly composed of Jurassic limestone. The mountain range runs along the Atlantic coast, then rises to the east of Agadir and extends northeast into Algeria before disappearing into Tunisia.

With 130,000 hectares of greenery and over 180,000 palm trees in its Palmeraie, Marrakesh is an oasis of rich plant variety. Throughout the seasons, orange, fig, pomegranate and olive trees display their color and fruits in Agdal Garden, Menara Garden and other gardens in the city. The city's gardens feature numerous native plants alongside other species that have been imported over the course of the centuries, including giant bamboos, yuccas, papyrus, palm trees, banana trees, cypress, philodendrons, rose bushes, bougainvilleas, pines and various kinds of cactus plants.

### Climate

Marrakesh features a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification BSh) with long, hot dry summers and brief, mild to cool winters. Average temperatures range from 12 °C (54 °F) in the winter to 26–30 °C (79–86 °F) in the summer. The relatively wet winter and dry summer precipitation pattern of Marrakesh mirrors precipitation patterns found in Mediterranean climates. However, the city receives less rain than is typically found in a Mediterranean climate, resulting in a semi-arid climate classification.

Between 1961 and 1990 the city averaged 281.3 millimetres (11.1 in) of precipitation annually. Barrows says of the climate, "The region of Marrakesh is frequently described as desert in character, but, to one familiar with the southwestern parts of the United States, the locality does not suggest the desert, rather an area of seasonal rainfall, where moisture moves underground rather than by surface streams, and where low brush takes the place of the forests of more heavily watered regions. The location of Marrakesh on the north side of the Atlas, rather than the south, prevents it from being described as a desert city, and it remains the northern focus of the Saharan lines of communication, and its history, its types of dwellers, and its commerce and arts, are all related to the great south Atlas spaces that reach further into the Sahara desert."

#### Climate change

A 2019 paper published in PLOS One estimated that under Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5, a "moderate" scenario of climate change where global warming reaches ~ 2.5–3 °C (4.5–5.4 °F) by 2100, the climate of Marrakesh in the year 2050 would most closely resemble the current climate of Bir Lehlou in Western Sahara. The annual temperature would increase by 2.9 °C (5.2 °F), and the temperature of the coldest month by 1.6 °C (2.9 °F), while the temperature of the warmest month would increase by 7 °C (13 °F). According to Climate Action Tracker, the current warming trajectory appears consistent with 2.7 °C (4.9 °F), which closely matches RCP 4.5.

### Water

Marrakesh's water supply relies partly on groundwater resources, which have lowered gradually over the last 40 years, attaining an acute decline in the early 2000s. Since 2002, groundwater levels have dropped by an average of 0.9 m per year in 80% of Marrakesh and its surrounding area. The most affected area experienced a drop of 37 m (more than 2 m per year).

## Demographics

According to the 2014 census, the population of Marrakesh was 928,850 against 843,575 in 2004. The number of households in 2014 was 217,245 against 173,603 in 2004.

## Economy

Marrakesh is a vital component of the economy and culture of Morocco. Improvements to the highways from Marrakesh to Casablanca, Agadir and the local airport have led to a dramatic increase in tourism in the city, which now attracts over two million tourists annually. Because of the importance of tourism to Morocco's economy, King Mohammed VI vowed in 2012 to double the number of tourists, attracting 20 million a year to Morocco by 2020. The city is popular with the French, and many French celebrities have bought property in the city, including fashion moguls Yves St Laurent and Jean-Paul Gaultier. In the 1990s very few foreigners lived in the city, and real estate developments have dramatically increased in the last 15 years; by 2005 over 3,000 foreigners had purchased properties in the city, lured by its culture and the relatively cheap house prices. It has been cited in French weekly magazine Le Point as the second St Tropez: "No longer simply a destination for a scattering of adventurous elites, bohemians or backpackers seeking Arabian Nights fantasies, Marrakech is becoming a desirable stopover for the European jet set." However, despite the tourism boom, the majority of the city's inhabitants are still poor, and as of 2010, some 20,000 households still have no access to water or electricity. Many enterprises in the city are facing colossal debt problems.

After the Great Recession and the 2007–2008 financial crisis, in 2011, investments in real estate progressed substantially both in the area of tourist accommodation and social housing. The main developments have been in facilities for tourists including hotels and leisure centres such as golf courses and health spas, with investments of 10.9 billion dirham (US$1.28 billion) in 2011. The hotel infrastructure in recent years has experienced rapid growth. In 2012, alone, 19 new hotels were scheduled to open, a development boom often compared to Dubai. Royal Ranches Marrakech, one of Gulf Finance House 's flagship projects in Morocco, is a 380 hectares (940 acres) resort under development in the suburbs and one of the world's first five star Equestrian Resorts. The resort is expected to make a significant contribution to the local and national economy, creating many jobs and attracting thousands of visitors annually; as of April 2012 it was about 45% complete. The Avenue Mohammed VI, formerly Avenue de France, is a major city thoroughfare. It has seen rapid development of residential complexes and many luxury hotels. Avenue Mohammed VI contains what is claimed to be Africa's largest nightclub: Pacha Marrakech, a trendy club that plays house and electro house music. It also has two large cinema complexes, Le Colisée à Gueliz and Cinéma Rif, and a new shopping precinct, Al Mazar.

Trade and crafts are extremely important to the local tourism-fueled economy. There are 18 souks in Marrakesh, employing over 40,000 people in pottery, copperware, leather and other crafts. The souks contain a massive range of items from plastic sandals to Palestinian-style scarves imported from India or China. Local boutiques are adept at making western-style clothes using Moroccan materials. The Birmingham Post comments: "The souk offers an incredible shopping experience with a myriad of narrow winding streets that lead through a series of smaller markets clustered by trade. Through the squawking chaos of the poultry market, the gory fascination of the open-air butchers' shops and the uncountable number of small and specialist traders, just wandering around the streets can pass an entire day." Marrakesh has several supermarkets including Marjane Acima, Asswak Salam and Carrefour, and three major shopping centres, Al Mazar Mall, Plaza Marrakech and Marjane Square; a branch of Carrefour opened in Al Mazar Mall in 2010. Industrial production in the city is centred in the neighbourhood of Sidi Ghanem Al Massar, containing large factories, workshops, storage depots and showrooms. Ciments Morocco, a subsidiary of a major Italian cement firm, has a factory in Marrakech. The AeroExpo Marrakech International Exhibition of aeronautical industries and services is held here, as is the Riad Art Expo.

Marrakesh is one of North Africa's largest centers of wildlife trade, despite the illegality of most of this trade. Much of this trade can be found in the medina and adjacent squares. Tortoises are particularly popular for sale as pets, and Barbary macaques and snakes can also be seen. The majority of these animals suffer from poor welfare conditions in these stalls.

## Politics

Marrakesh, the regional capital, constitutes a prefecture-level administrative unit of Morocco, Marrakech Prefecture, forming part of the region of Marrakech-Safi. Marrakesh is a major centre for law and jurisdiction in Morocco and most of the major courts of the region are here. These include the regional Court of Appeal, the Commercial Court, the Administrative Court, the Court of First Instance, the Court of Appeal of Commerce, and the Administrative Court of Appeal. Numerous organizations of the region are based here, including the regional government administrative offices, the Regional Council of Tourism office, and regional public maintenance organisations such as the Governed Autonomous Water Supply and Electricity and Maroc Telecom.

On 12 June 2009, Fatima-Zahra Mansouri, a then 33-year-old lawyer and daughter of a former assistant to the local authority chief in Marrakesh, was elected the first female mayor of the city, defeating outgoing Mayor Omar Jazouli by 54 votes to 35 in a municipal council vote. Mansouri became the second woman in the history of Morocco to obtain a mayoral position, after Asma Chaabi, mayor of Essaouira and was elected to serve as Marrakech's mayor for a second term in September 2021.

Since the legislative elections in November 2011, the ruling political party in Marrakesh has, for the first time, been the Justice and Development Party or PDJ which also rules at the national level. The party, which advocates Islamism and Islamic democracy, won five seats; the National Rally of Independents (RNI) took one seat, while the PAM won three. In the partial legislative elections for the Guéliz Ennakhil constituency in October 2012, the PDJ under the leadership of Ahmed El Moutassadik was again declared the winner with 10,452 votes. The PAM, largely consisting of friends of King Mohammed VI, came in second place with 9,794 votes.

## Landmarks

### Jemaa el-Fnaa

The Jemaa el-Fnaa is one of the best-known squares in Africa and is the centre of city activity and trade. It has been described as a "world-famous square", "a metaphorical urban icon, a bridge between the past and the present, the place where (spectacularized) Moroccan tradition encounters modernity." It has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage site since 1985. The square's name has several possible meanings; the most plausible etymology endorsed by historians is that it meant "ruined mosque" or "mosque of annihilation", referring to the construction of a mosque within the square in the late 16th century that was left unfinished and fell into ruin. The square was originally an open space for markets located on the east side of the Ksar el-Hajjar, the main fortress and palace of the Almoravid dynasty who founded Marrakesh.

Historically this square was used for public executions by rulers who sought to maintain their power by frightening the public. The square attracted dwellers from the surrounding desert and mountains to trade here, and stalls were raised in the square from early in its history. It drew tradesmen, snake charmers, dancing boys of the Chleuh Atlas tribe, and musicians playing pipes, tambourines and African drums. Today the square attracts people from diverse backgrounds and tourists from all around the world. Snake charmers, acrobats, magicians, mystics, musicians, monkey trainers, herb sellers, story-tellers, dentists, pickpockets, and entertainers in medieval garb still populate the square.

### Souks

Marrakesh has the largest traditional market in Morocco and the image of the city is closely associated with its souks. Historically, the souks of Marrakesh were divided into retail areas for particular goods such as leather, carpets, metalwork and pottery. These divisions still roughly exist, though with significant overlap. Many of the souks sell items like carpets and rugs, traditional Muslim attire, leather bags, and lanterns. Haggling is still a very important part of trade in the souks.

The Medina is also famous for its street food. Mechoui Alley is particularly famous for selling slow-roasted lamb dishes. The Ensemble Artisanal, located near the Koutoubia Mosque, is a government-run complex of small arts and crafts which offers a range of leather goods, textiles and carpets. Young apprentices are taught a range of crafts in the workshop at the back of this complex.

### City walls and gates

The ramparts of Marrakesh, which stretch for some 19 kilometres (12 mi) around the medina of the city, were built by the Almoravids in the 12th century as protective fortifications. The walls are made of a distinct orange-red clay and chalk, giving the city its nickname as the "red city"; they stand up to 19 feet (5.8 m) high and have 20 gates and 200 towers along them.

Of the city's gates, one of the best-known is Bab Agnaou, built in the late 12th century by the Almohad caliph Ya'qub al-Mansur as the main public entrance to the new Kasbah. The gate's carved floral ornamentation is framed by three panels marked with an inscription from the Quran in Maghrebi script using foliated Kufic letters. The medina has at least eight main historic gates: Bab Doukkala, Bab el-Khemis, Bab ad-Debbagh, Bab Aylan, Bab Aghmat, Bab er-Robb, Bab el-Makhzen and Bab el-'Arissa. These date back to the 12th century during the Almoravid period and many of them have been modified since.

### Gardens

The city is home to a number of gardens, both historical and modern. The largest and oldest gardens in the city are the Menara Gardens to the west and the Agdal Gardens to the south. The Menara Gardens were established in 1157 by the Almohad ruler Abd al-Mu'min. They are centered around a large water reservoir surrounded by orchards and olive groves. A 19th-century pavilion stands at the edge of the reservoir. The Agdal Gardens were established during the reign of Abu Ya'qub Yusuf (r. 1163–1184) and extend over a larger area today, containing several water basins and palace structures. The Agdal Gardens cover about 340 hectares (1.3 sq mi) and are surrounded by a circuit of pisé walls, while the Menara Gardens cover around 96 hectares (0.37 sq mi). The water reservoirs for both gardens were supplied with water through an old hydraulic system known as khettara s, which conveyed water from the foothills of the nearby Atlas Mountains.

The Majorelle Garden, on Avenue Yacoub el Mansour, was at one time the home of the landscape painter Jacques Majorelle. Famed designer Yves Saint Laurent bought and restored the property, which features a stele erected in his memory, and the Museum of Islamic Art, which is housed in a dark blue building. The garden, open to the public since 1947, has a large collection of plants from five continents including cacti, palms and bamboo.

The Koutoubia Mosque is also flanked by another set of gardens, the Koutoubia Gardens. They feature orange and palm trees, and are frequented by storks. The Mamounia Gardens, more than 100 years old and named after Prince Moulay Mamoun, have olive and orange trees as well as a variety of floral displays. In 2016, artist André Heller opened the acclaimed garden ANIMA near Ourika, which combines a large collection of plants, palms, bamboo and cacti as well as works by Keith Haring, Auguste Rodin, Hans Werner Geerdts and other artists.

### Palaces and Riads

The historic wealth of the city is manifested in palaces, mansions and other lavish residences. The best-known palaces today are the El Badi Palace and the Bahia Palace, as well as the main Royal Palace which is still in use as one of the official residences of the King of Morocco. Riads (Moroccan mansions, historically designating a type of garden) are common in Marrakesh. Based on the design of the Roman villa, they are characterized by an open central garden courtyard surrounded by high walls. This construction provided the occupants with privacy and lowered the temperature within the building. Numerous riads and historic residences exist through the old city, with the oldest documented examples dating back to the Saadian period (16th-17th centuries), while many others date from the 19th and 20th centuries.

### Mosques

The Koutoubia Mosque is one of the largest and most famous mosques in the city, located southwest of Jemaa el-Fnaa. The mosque was founded in 1147 by the Almohad caliph Abd al-Mu'min. A second version of the mosque was entirely rebuilt by Abd al-Mu'min around 1158, with Ya'qub al-Mansur possibly finalizing construction of the minaret around 1195. This second mosque is the structure that stands today. It is considered a major example of Almohad architecture and of Moroccan mosque architecture generally. Its minaret tower, the tallest in the city at 77 metres (253 ft) in height, is considered an important landmark and symbol of Marrakesh. It likely influenced other buildings such as the Giralda of Seville and the Hassan Tower of Rabat.

Ben Youssef Mosque is named after the Almoravid sultan Ali ibn Yusuf, who built the original mosque in the 12th century to serve as the city's main Friday mosque. After being abandoned during the Almohad period and falling into ruin, it was rebuilt in the 1560s by Abdallah al-Ghalib and then completely rebuilt again Moulay Sliman at the beginning of the 19th century. The 16th-century Ben Youssef Madrasa is located next to it. Also next to it is the Almoravid Qubba, a rare architectural remnant of the Almoravid period which was excavated and restored in the 20th century. It is a domed kiosk that demonstrates a sophisticated style and is an important indication of the art and architecture of the period.

The Kasbah Mosque overlooks Place Moulay Yazid in the Kasbah district of Marrakesh, close to the El Badi Palace. It was built by the Almohad caliph Yaqub al-Mansour in the late 12th century to serve as the main mosque of the kasbah (citadel) where he and his high officials resided. It contended with the Koutoubia Mosque for prestige and the decoration of its minaret was highly influential in subsequent Moroccan architecture. The mosque was repaired by the Saadi sultan Moulay Abdallah al-Ghalib following a devastating explosion at a nearby gunpowder reserve in the second half of the 16th century. Notably, the Saadian Tombs were built just outside its southern wall in this period.

Among the other notable mosques of the city is the 14th-century Ben Salah Mosque, located east of the medina centre. It is one of the only major Marinid-era monuments in the city. The Mouassine Mosque (also known as the Al Ashraf Mosque) was built by the Saadian sultan Abdallah al-Ghalib between 1562–63 and 1572–73. It was part of a larger architectural complex which included a library, hammam (public bathhouse), and a madrasa (school). The complex also included a large ornate street fountain known as the Mouassine Fountain, which still exists today. The Bab Doukkala Mosque, built around the same time further west, has a similar layout and style as the Mouassine Mosque. Both the Mouassine and Bab Doukkala mosques appear to have been originally designed to anchor the development of new neighbourhoods after the relocation of the Jewish district from this area to the new mellah near the Kasbah.

### Tombs

One of the most famous funerary monuments in the city is the Saadian Tombs, which were built in the 16th century as a royal necropolis for the Saadian Dynasty. It is located next to the south wall of the Kasbah Mosque. The necropolis contains the tombs of many Saadian rulers including Muhammad al-Shaykh, Abdallah al-Ghalib, and Ahmad al-Mansur, as well as various family members and later sultans. It consists of two main structures, each with several rooms, standing within a garden enclosure. The most important graves are marked by horizontal tombstones of finely carved marble, while others are merely covered in colorful zellij tiles. Al-Mansur's mausoleum chamber is especially rich in decoration, with a roof of carved and painted cedar wood supported on twelve columns of carrara marble, and with walls decorated with geometric patterns in zellij tilework and vegetal motifs in carved stucco. The chamber next to it, originally a prayer room equipped with a mihrab, was later repurposed as a mausoleum for members of the Alawi dynasty.

The city also holds the tombs of many Sufi figures. Of these, there are seven patron saints of the city, which are visited every year by pilgrims during the seven-day ziyara pilgrimage. During this time, pilgrims visit the tombs in the following order: Sidi Yusuf ibn Ali Sanhaji, Sidi al-Qadi Iyyad al-Yahsubi, Sidi Bel Abbas, Sidi Mohamed ibn Sulayman al-Jazouli, Sidi Abdellaziz Tabba'a, Sidi Abdellah al-Ghazwani, and lastly, Sidi Abderrahman al-Suhayli. Many of these mausoleums also serve as the focus of their own zawiyas (Sufi religious complexes with mosques), including: the Zawiya and mosque of Sidi Bel Abbes (the most important of them), the Zawiya of al-Jazuli, the Zawiya of Sidi Abdellaziz, the Zawiya of Sidi Yusuf ibn Ali, and the Zawiya of Sidi al-Ghazwani (also known as Moulay el-Ksour).

### Mellah

The Mellah of Marrakesh is the old Jewish Quarter (Mellah) of the city, and is located in the kasbah area of the city's medina, east of Place des Ferblantiers. It was created in 1558 by the Saadians at the site where the sultan's stables were. At the time, the Jewish community consisted of a large portion of the city's tailors, metalworkers, bankers, jewelers, and sugar traders. During the 16th century, the Mellah had its own fountains, gardens, synagogues and souks. Until the arrival of the French in 1912, Jews could not own property outside of the Mellah; all growth was consequently contained within the limits of the neighborhood, resulting in narrow streets, small shops and higher residential buildings. The Mellah, today reconfigured as a mainly residential zone renamed Hay Essalam, currently occupies an area smaller than its historic limits and has an almost entirely Muslim population. The Slat al-Azama Synagogue (or Lazama Synagogue), built around a central courtyard, is in the Mellah. The Jewish cemetery here is the largest of its kind in Morocco. Characterized by white-washed tombs and sandy graves, the cemetery is within the Medina on land adjacent to the Mellah. According to the World Jewish Congress there were only 250 Moroccan Jews remaining in Marrakesh.

### Hotels

As one of the principal tourist cities in Africa, Marrakesh has over 400 hotels. Mamounia Hotel is a five-star hotel in the Art Deco -Moroccan fusion style, built in 1925 by Henri Prost and A. Marchis. It is considered the most eminent hotel of the city and has been described as the "grand dame of Marrakesh hotels." The hotel has hosted numerous internationally renowned people including Winston Churchill, Prince Charles and Mick Jagger. Churchill used to relax within the gardens of the hotel and paint there. The 231-room hotel, which contains a casino, was refurbished in 1986 and again in 2007 by French designer Jacques Garcia. Other hotels include Eden Andalou Hotel, Hotel Marrakech, Sofitel Marrakech, Palm Plaza Hotel & Spa, Royal Mirage Hotel, Piscina del Hotel, and Palmeraie Palace at the Palmeraie Rotana Resort. In March 2012, Accor opened its first Pullman-branded hotel in Marrakech, Pullman Marrakech Palmeraie Resort & Spa. Set in a 17 hectares (42 acres) olive grove at La Palmeraie, the hotel has 252 rooms, 16 suites, six restaurants and a 535 square metres (5,760 sq ft) conference room.

## Culture

### Museums

The Marrakech Museum, housed in the Dar Menebhi Palace in the old city centre, was built at the beginning of the 20th century by Mehdi Menebhi. The palace was carefully restored by the Omar Benjelloun Foundation and converted into a museum in 1997. The museum holds exhibits of both modern and traditional Moroccan art together with fine examples of historical books, coins and pottery produced by Moroccan Jewish, Berber and Arab peoples.

The Dar Si Said Museum is to the north of the Bahia Palace. It was the mansion of Si Said, brother to Grand Vizier Ba Ahmad, and was constructed in the same era as Ahmad's own Bahia Palace. In the 1930s, during the French Protectorate period, it was converted into a museum of Moroccan art and woodcraft. After recent renovations, the museum reopened in 2018 as the National Museum of Weaving and Carpets.

The former home and villa of Jacques Majorelle, a blue-coloured building within the Majorelle Gardens, was converted into the Berber Museum (Musée Pierre Bergé des Arts Berbères) in 2011, after previously serving as a museum of Islamic art. It exhibits a variety of objects of Amazigh (Berber) culture from across different regions of Morocco.

The House of Photography of Marrakech, opened by Patrick Menac’h and Hamid Mergani in 2009, holds exhibits of vintage Moroccan photography from the 1870s to 1950s. The Mouassine Museum, by the same owners, consists of a historic 16th–17th-century house in the Mouassine neighbourhood which has been opened as a museum and cultural venue.

Elsewhere in the medina, the Dar El Bacha hosts the Musée des Confluences, which opened in 2017. The museum holds temporary exhibits highlighting different facets of Moroccan culture as well as various art objects from different cultures across the world. Various other small and often privately owned museums also exist, such as the Musée Boucharouite and the Perfume Museum (Musée du Parfum). Dar Bellarj, an arts center located in a former mansion next to the Ben Youssef Mosque, also occasionally hosts art exhibits. The Tiskiwin Museum is housed in another restored medina mansion and features a collection of artifacts from across the former the trans-Saharan trade routes. A number of art galleries and museums are also found outside the medina, in Gueliz and its surrounding districts in the new city.

### Music, theatre and dance

Two types of music are traditionally associated with Marrakesh. Berber music is influenced by Andalusian classical music and typified by its oud accompaniment. By contrast, Gnaoua music is loud and funky with a sound reminiscent of the Blues. It is performed on handmade instruments such as castanets, ribabs (three-stringed banjos) and deffs (handheld drums). Gnaoua music's rhythm and crescendo take the audience into a mood of trance; the style is said to have emerged in Marrakesh and Essaouira as a ritual of deliverance from slavery. More recently, several Marrakesh female music groups have also risen to popularity.

The Théâtre Royal de Marrakesh, the Institut Français and Dar Chérifa are major performing arts institutions in the city. The Théâtre Royal, built by Tunisian architect Charles Boccara, puts on theatrical performances of comedy, opera, and dance in French and Arabic. A greater number of theatrical troupes perform outdoors and entertain tourists on the main square and the streets, especially at night.

### Crafts

The arts and crafts of Marrakesh have had a wide and enduring impact on Moroccan handicrafts to the present day. Riad décor is widely used in carpets and textiles, ceramics, woodwork, metal work and zelij. Carpets and textiles are weaved, sewn or embroidered, sometimes used for upholstering. Moroccan women who practice craftsmanship are known as Maalems (expert craftspeople) and make such fine products as Berber carpets and shawls made of sabra (another name for rayon, also sometimes called cactus silk). Ceramics are in monochrome Berber-style only, a limited tradition depicting bold forms and decorations.

Wood crafts are generally made of cedar, including the riad doors and palace ceilings. Orange wood is used for making ladles known as harira (lentil soup ladles). Thuya craft products are made of caramel coloured thuya, a conifer indigenous to Morocco. Since this species is almost extinct, these trees are being replanted and promoted by the artists' cooperative Femmes de Marrakech.

Metalwork made in Marrakesh includes brass lamps, iron lanterns, candle holders made from recycled sardine tins, and engraved brass teapots and tea trays used in the traditional serving of tea. Contemporary art includes sculpture and figurative paintings. Blue veiled Tuareg figurines and calligraphy paintings are also popular.

### Festivals

Festivals, both national and Islamic, are celebrated in Marrakesh and throughout the country, and some of them are observed as national holidays. Cultural festivals of note held in Marrakesh include the National Folklore Festival, the Marrakech Festival of Popular Arts (in which a variety of famous Moroccan musicians and artists participate), international folklore festival Marrakech Folklore Days and the Berber Festival. The International Film Festival of Marrakech, which aspires to be the North African version of the Cannes Film Festival, was established in 2001. The festival, which showcases over 100 films from around the world annually, has attracted Hollywood stars such as Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Susan Sarandon, Jeremy Irons, Roman Polanski and many European, Arab and Indian film stars. The Marrakech Bienniale was established in 2004 by Vanessa Branson as a cultural festival in various disciplines, including visual arts, cinema, video, literature, performing arts, and architecture.

### Food

Surrounded by lemon, orange, and olive groves, the city's culinary characteristics are rich and heavily spiced but not hot, using various preparations of Ras el hanout (which means "Head of the shop"), a blend of dozens of spices which include ash berries, chilli, cinnamon, grains of paradise, monk's pepper, nutmeg, and turmeric. A specialty of the city and the symbol of its cuisine is tanjia marrakshia, affectionately referred to as bint ar-rimad (بنت الرماد "daughter of the ash"), a local meal prepared with beef meat, spices, and smen and slow-cooked in a ceramic pot in traditional oven in hot ashes. Tajines can be prepared with chicken, lamb, beef or fish, adding fruit, olives and preserved lemon, vegetables and spices, including cumin, peppers, saffron, turmeric, and ras el hanout. The meal is prepared in a tajine pot and slow-cooked with steam. Another version of tajine includes vegetables and chickpeas seasoned with flower petals. Tajines may also be basted with "smen" Moroccan ghee that has a flavour similar to blue cheese.

Shrimp, chicken and lemon-filled briouats are another traditional specialty of Marrakesh. Rice is cooked with saffron, raisins, spices, and almonds, while couscous may have added vegetables. A pastilla is a filo -wrapped pie stuffed with minced chicken or pigeon that has been prepared with almonds, cinnamon, spices and sugar. Harira soup in Marrakesh typically includes lamb with a blend of chickpeas, lentils, vermicelli, and tomato paste, seasoned with coriander, spices and parsley. Kefta (mince meat), liver in crépinette, merguez and tripe stew are commonly sold at the stalls of Jemaa el-Fnaa.

The desserts of Marrakesh include chebakia (sesame spice cookies usually prepared and served during Ramadan), tartlets of filo dough with dried fruit, or cheesecake with dates.

The Moroccan tea culture is practiced in Marrakesh; green tea with mint is served with sugar from a curved teapot spout into small glasses. Another popular non-alcoholic drink is orange juice. Under the Almoravids, alcohol consumption was common; historically, hundreds of Jews produced and sold alcohol in the city. In the present day, alcohol is sold in some hotel bars and restaurants.

## Education

Marrakesh has several universities and schools, including Cadi Ayyad University (also known as the University of Marrakech), and its component, the École nationale des sciences appliquées de Marrakech (ENSA Marrakech), which was created in 2000 by the Ministry of Higher Education and specializes in engineering and scientific research, and the La faculté des sciences et techniques-gueliz which known to be number one in Morocco in its kind of faculties. Cadi Ayyad University was established in 1978 and operates 13 institutions in the Marrakech Tensift Elhaouz and Abda Doukkala regions of Morocco in four main cities, including Kalaa of Sraghna, Essaouira and Safi in addition to Marrakech. Sup de Co Marrakech, also known as the École Supérieure de Commerce de Marrakech, is a private four-year college that was founded in 1987 by Ahmed Bennis. The school is affiliated with the École Supérieure de Commerce of Toulouse, France; since 1995 the school has built partnership programs with numerous American universities including the University of Delaware, University of St. Thomas, Oklahoma State University, National-Louis University, and Temple University.

### Ben Youssef Madrasa

The Ben Youssef Madrasa, north of the Medina, was an Islamic college in Marrakesh named after the Almoravid sultan Ali ibn Yusuf (1106–1142) who expanded the city and its influence considerably. It is the largest madrasa in all of Morocco and was one of the largest theological colleges in North Africa, at one time housing as many as 900 students.

This education complex specialized in Quranic law and was linked to similar institutions in Fez, Taza, Salé, and Meknes. The Madrasa was constructed by the Saadian Sultan Abdallah al-Ghalib (1557–1574) in 1564 as the largest and most prestigious madrasa in Morocco. The construction ordered by Abdallah al-Ghalib was completed in 1565, as attested by the inscription in the prayer room. Its 130 student dormitory cells cluster around a courtyard richly carved in cedar, marble and stucco. In accordance with Islam, the carvings contain no representation of humans or animals, consisting entirely of inscriptions and geometric patterns. One of the school's best known teachers was Mohammed al-Ifrani (1670–1745). After a temporary closure beginning in 1960, the building was refurbished and reopened to the public as a historical site in 1982.

## Sports

Football clubs based in Marrakesh include Najm de Marrakech, KAC Marrakech, Mouloudia de Marrakech and Chez Ali Club de Marrakech. The city contains the Circuit International Automobile Moulay El Hassan a race track which hosts the World Touring Car Championship and from 2017 FIA Formula E. The Marrakech Marathon is also held here. Roughly 5000 runners turn out for the event annually. Also, here takes place Grand Prix Hassan II tennis tournament (on clay) part of ATP World Tour series. Marrakech could host matches at the 2030 FIFA World Cup.

Golf is a popular sport in Marrakech. The city has three golf courses just outside the city limits and played almost through the year. The three main courses are the Golf de Amelikis on the road to Ourazazate, the Palmeraie Golf Palace near the Palmeraie, and the Royal Golf Club, the oldest of the three courses.

Jnan Amar Polo Club is located in Tameslouht, near Marrakech.

## Transport

### Bus

BRT Marrakesh, a bus rapid transit system using trolleybuses was opened in 2017.

### Rail

The Marrakesh railway station is linked by several trains running daily to other major cities in Morocco such as Casablanca, Tangiers, Fez, Meknes and Rabat. The Casablanca–Tangier high-speed rail line opened in November 2018.

In 2015, a tramway was proposed.

### Road

The main road network within and around Marrakesh is well paved. The major highway connecting Marrakesh with Casablanca to the north is the A7, a toll expressway, 210 km (130 mi) in length. The road from Marrakesh to Settat, a 146 km (91 mi) stretch, was inaugurated by King Mohammed VI in April 2007, completing the 558 km (347 mi) highway to Tangiers. Highway A7 connects also Marrakesh to Agadir, 233 km (145 mi) to the south-west.

### Air

The Marrakesh-Menara Airport (RAK) is 3 km (1.9 mi) southwest of the city centre. It is an international facility that receives several European flights as well as flights from Casablanca and several Arab nations. The airport is at an elevation of 471 metres (1,545 ft) at 31°36′25″N 008°02′11″W / 31.60694°N 8.03639°W. It has two formal passenger terminals; these are more or less combined into one large terminal. A third terminal is being built. The existing T1 and T2 terminals offer a space of 42,000 m (450,000 sq ft) and have a capacity of 4.5 million passengers per year. The blacktopped runway is 4.5 km (2.8 mi) long and 45 m (148 ft) wide. The airport has parking space for 14 Boeing 737 and four Boeing 747 aircraft. The separate freight terminal has 340 m (3,700 sq ft) of covered space.

## Healthcare

Marrakesh has long been an important centre for healthcare in Morocco, and the regional rural and urban populations alike are reliant upon hospitals in the city. The psychiatric hospital installed by the Merinid Caliph Ya'qub al-Mansur in the 16th century was described by the historian 'Abd al-Wahfd al- Marrakushi as one of the greatest in the world at the time. A strong Andalusian influence was evident in the hospital, and many of the physicians to the Caliphs came from places such as Seville, Zaragoza and Denia in eastern Spain.

A severe strain has been placed upon the healthcare facilities of the city in the last decade as the city population has grown dramatically. Ibn Tofail University Hospital is one of the major hospitals of the city. In February 2001, the Moroccan government signed a loan agreement worth eight million U.S. dollars with The OPEC Fund for International Development to help improve medical services in and around Marrakesh, which led to expansions of the Ibn Tofail and Ibn Nafess hospitals. Seven new buildings were constructed, with a total floor area of 43,000 square metres (460,000 sq ft). New radiotherapy and medical equipment was provided and 29,000 square metres (310,000 sq ft) of existing hospital space was rehabilitated.

In 2009, king Mohammed VI inaugurated a regional psychiatric hospital in Marrakesh, built by the Mohammed V Foundation for Solidarity, costing 22 million dirhams (approximately 2.7 million U.S. dollars). The hospital has 194 beds, covering an area of 3 hectares (7.4 acres). Mohammed VI has also announced plans for the construction of a 450 million dirham military hospital in Marrakesh.

## International relations

Marrakesh is twinned with:

- Granada, Spain

- Marseille, France

- Granby, Canada

- Ningbo, China

- Scottsdale, United States

- Sousse, Tunisia

- Timbuktu, Mali

## Notable people

- Mohammed al-Ifrani, 17th/18th-century historian and biographer

- Amine Amamou, footballer

- Ibn al-Banna' al-Marrakushi, 13th-century mathematician and astronomer

- Ibn Idhari, 13th-century historian

- Abdelwahid al-Marrakushi, 13th-century historian

- Abdelali Mhamdi, professional goalkeeper.

- Ahmed Bahja - Former footballer

- Hasna Benhassi - Former middle-distance runner

- Tahar El Khalej - Former footballer

- Abdellah Jlaidi - footballer

- Adil Ramzi - Former footballer

- Salaheddine Saidi - footballer

- Tahar Tamsamani - Former boxer


Arslan Ash

# Arslan Ash

## Abstract

Arslan Siddique (Urdu: ارسلان صدیقی; born 20 August 1995), better known as Arslan Ash, is a Pakistani professional esports player. He is a five-time EVO champion, having emerged victorious in EVO Las Vegas 2019, 2023, 2024 as well as EVO Japan 2019 and 2023. He also won the Tekken World Tour Finals 2023.

## Personal life

Arslan was born in Lahore, Pakistan, on 20 August 1995.

## Career

Arslan's first major tournament win was in 2010, when he won the Tekken 6 Grand Masters Championship.

Arslan won the EVO Japan 2019 championship and Evolution Championship Series 2019, making him the sole individual to achieve success in both tournaments at the time. Additionally, he also won the WePlay Ultimate Fighting League title for Tekken 7. He was awarded the Best E-Player of 2019 by respondents of a Twitter poll organized by ESPN.

He is the CEO 2021 champion. He won the Combo Breaker 2022 Tekken 7 tournament by defeating all ten of his opponents.

He secured third position in the Evolution Championship Series 2022 Tekken 7 competition.

He won the Tekken 7 competition at EVO Japan 2023 after beating South Korea’s Meo-IL.

In 2023, he represented Pakistan in the Tekken 7 Nations Cup, where his team emerged as the champions, defeating South Korea in the final and claiming the trophy as well as $500,000 in prize money.

Arslan won his fourth EVO title in Tekken 7 on 6 August 2023. He defeated Japanese player Akihiro "Ao" Abe in the grand final, 3-0. This is Ash's second time as the unified EVO champion, having won both EVO Las Vegas and EVO Japan in the same year. He is the only player to have won four EVO titles in Tekken 7.

By winning both the EVO titles and Tekken World Tour Finals in the same season, he became the first ever "Triple Crown" champion in competitive Tekken history.

Arslan became an EVO champion for the fifth time by winning the title in Tekken 8 on 21 July 2024.


Dino Dolmagić

# Dino Dolmagić

## Abstract

Dino Dolmagić (Serbian Cyrillic: Дино Долмагић; born 26 February 1994) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Javor Ivanjica.


Census of Floridablanca

# Census of Floridablanca

## Abstract

The census of Floridablanca is considered the first Spanish census of population prepared on modern statistics techniques. It was a census document produced in Spain under the direction of the count of Floridablanca, minister of Charles III, between 1785 and 1787.


Beetlejuice (franchise)

# Beetlejuice (franchise)

## Abstract

Beetlejuice is an American dark fantasy comedy horror media franchise that originated with the film Beetlejuice (1988). The overall plot centers around a deceased couple who try to haunt the new inhabitants of their former home and call for help from a devious bio-exorcist ghost named Betelgeuse (after the star, due to being part of the constellation named after the Greek god Orion, who is famous for his hunting prowess and desire to kill every animal on earth; the name is pronounced and often spelled "Beetlejuice"), who is summoned by saying his name three times. One of the new inhabitants is a young girl, Lydia, who is dealing with her neglectful father and her new step-mother.

The original film was met with critical and commercial success and numerous accolades. The franchise expanded with the release of an animated television series, a stage musical, several video games, and an eventual sequel film.

## Films

### Beetlejuice (1988)

Beetlejuice is directed by Tim Burton, and written by Michael McDowell, Warren Skaaren, and Larry Wilson. Starring Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Jeffrey Jones, Catherine O'Hara, Winona Ryder, and Michael Keaton as the titular character, produced by The Geffen Film Company, and distributed by Warner Bros., the plot revolves around a recently deceased couple; as ghosts, they are not allowed to leave their house. They contact Beetlejuice, an obnoxious and devious " bio - exorcist " from the Netherworld, to scare the home's new inhabitants away.

### Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is directed by Tim Burton from a screenplay by the writing team of Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on a story by Seth Grahame-Smith. Starring Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Jenna Ortega, Monica Bellucci, and Willem Dafoe, the film was released by Warner Bros. Pictures on September 6, 2024.

## Television

### Beetlejuice (1989–1991)

Due to the film's financial success, a Beetlejuice animated television series was created for ABC. The series ran for four seasons (the final season airing on Fox), from September 9, 1989, to December 6, 1991. Burton served as the show's developer and executive producer.

### "Ghost with the Most" (2020)

On October 6, 2020, Beetlejuice guest-starred in the Teen Titans Go! episode "Ghost with the Most", which aired as part of the show's sixth season. In this appearance, he was voiced by Alex Brightman, reprising his role from the Beetlejuice Broadway musical.

## Video games

- Adventures of Beetlejuice: Skeletons in the Closet is a video game released for MS-DOS in 1990. It is based on the animated series.

- Beetlejuice is a video game developed by Rare and released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1991.

- Beetlejuice: Horrific Hijinx from the Neitherworld! is a video game created by Rare and published by LJN for the Nintendo Game Boy. It is based on the animated series.

- A Beetlejuice -themed fun pack for the toys-to-life video game Lego Dimensions was released in September 2017. The pack includes a Betelgeuse minifigure and constructable Saturn's Sandworm, and adds a Beetlejuice -themed open-world area and battle arena to the game. In the Beetlejuice -themed open-world area, Betelgeuse is voiced by Christopher Swindle, Adam Maitland is voiced by Jeff Shine, Barbara Maitland and Delia Dietz are voiced by Krizia Bajos, and Harry the Head-Shrunken Hunter is voiced by Tom Kane. Betelgeuse also features prominently in an episode of Teen Titans Go! included as part of the game. In the Teen Titans Go! episode, when the Titans travel to the Lego world, Raven summons Betelgeuse by saying his name three times and gets to go to the Beetlejuice world. Betelgeuse says if Raven wants to win the Lego building competition, she should resort to cheating and use magic, but tricks her into making a giant gargoyle that the Titans have to fight.

- Beetlejuice is represented in the platform fighter MultiVersus as part of its second season, with Christopher Swindle reprising his role.

## Print

Print content associated with the franchise includes a six-issue comic book series published by Harvey Comics in 1991 and 1992, featuring adventures of Beetlejuice and Lydia along the lines of those in the animated series; a Marvel Comics guide containing "stories, comic strips, fact files, and puzzles", and a series of juvenile novels published by Aladdin Paperbacks in 1992.

## Stage musical

In 2016, work began on a Broadway stage musical adaptation of the film directed by Alex Timbers, produced by Warner Bros., with music and lyrics by Eddie Perfect and book by Scott Brown and Anthony King. The musical was debuted by readings starring Christopher Fitzgerald, Kris Kukul (musical director), and Connor Gallagher (choreographer). It premiered at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C. for a limited run from October 14 to November 18, 2018, with Alex Brightman in the title role.

The production was scheduled to play its final performance at the Winter Garden on June 6, 2020. The producers were unable to find another theater to house the show due to the COVID Broadway shutdown in March 2020. The show reopened at the Marquis Theatre on April 8, 2022, and closed on January 8, 2023, at a financial loss, having been unable to recoup its $21 million investment. Subsequent productions opened across the world, including a North American national tour.

## Main cast and characters

This section includes characters who will appear or have appeared in more than two films in the series.

- An empty, dark grey cell indicates the character was not in the film, or that the character's official presence has not yet been confirmed.

- indicates an appearance through archival footage or audio.

- indicates a cameo role.

- indicates an appearance in onscreen photographs.

- indicates a voice-only role.

- indicates a younger version of the character.

## Release and reception


Boost Mobile (United States)

# Boost Mobile (United States)

## Abstract

DISH Wireless L.L.C., doing business as Boost Mobile, is a United States wireless service provider owned by EchoStar. It operates using the Boost, AT&T and T-Mobile networks to deliver wireless services. As of Q3 2023, Boost Mobile, along with its sister brands Gen Mobile and Ting Mobile had 7.50 million customers.

It was founded as a joint venture between Peter Adderton, Craig Cooper, Kirt McMaster, and Nextel Communications. It was purchased by Nextel in 2003 and, as a result of the merger between Sprint Corporation and Nextel, then became owned by Sprint in 2004. It was then acquired by Dish Network on July 1, 2020, following the merger between Sprint and T-Mobile. Subsequently, it became a subsidiary of EchoStar after Dish merged with EchoStar.

## History

### Joint Venture and Nextel ownership

After Peter Adderton founded Boost Mobile Australia and New Zealand in 2000, Peter Adderton, Craig Cooper, and Kirt McMaster brought the Boost Mobile brand to the United States in 2001 as a joint venture with Nextel Communications. Using Nextel's iDEN network, Boost Mobile offered an unlimited push-to-talk service, marketed as only costing a dollar a day, at a time when cellphone plans offering unlimited talk were still rare. The service was initially exclusive to markets in areas of California and Nevada and was marketed towards urban minorities, often using urban slang in advertisements. Eventually, Nextel became the sole owner of Boost's United States operations in 2003. Nextel began to expand the brand elsewhere in the United States in late 2004 after its acquisition by Sprint Corporation. Boost Mobile then became a subsidiary of the merged company, Sprint Nextel Corporation.

### Sprint ownership

Boost Mobile still continued to use the previous Nextel iDEN infrastructure for its service, but in 2006, began to offer a new Unlimited by Boost Mobile service in select markets using Sprint's CDMA network, offering unlimited talk, text, and internet. While the plans resulted in significant growth for Boost Mobile, Boost did not begin shifting to CDMA entirely.

To compete with unlimited offerings from competitors in the wireless industry, Boost Mobile announced on January 15, 2009, that it would launch a Monthly Unlimited Plan. The plan was accompanied by re-focusing the brand towards a broader demographic than before. The new unlimited plan resulted in a net gain of more than 674,000 customers in about three months. Despite this lift, Nextel overall suffered a gross subscriber loss of 1.25 million contract subscriptions. The unexpected surge in popularity for the service caused significant strain on the Nextel iDEN network — as many customers reported long and sometimes week-long delays in receiving text messages. A Boost Mobile spokesman said that they did not anticipate the level of popularity for the new service and that efforts to improve the network had been implemented to help mitigate the problem.

At the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show, Boost Mobile announced it would begin to offer a new unlimited plan using Sprint's CDMA network. Sprint also acquired fellow prepaid wireless provider Virgin Mobile USA in 2010 — both Boost and Virgin Mobile were re-organized into a new group within Sprint, encompassing the two brands and other no-contract phone services offered by the company.

### 2020–present

In January 2020, Sprint discontinued the Virgin Mobile USA brand and transferred its customers to Boost Mobile. On April 1, 2020, Sprint merged with T-Mobile, which also announced plans to sell Boost Mobile to Dish Network. The sale was completed on July 1. All new Boost Mobile customers used the T-Mobile network, with the remaining Sprint customers to be moved to the T-Mobile network over time.

On July 19, 2021, Dish Network announced it was purchasing $5 billion of wholesale wireless over the next 10 years from AT&T. In exchange, Dish shares some of its 5G spectrum with AT&T.

#### 2023 ransomware attack

In February 2023, Boost Mobile's parent company Dish Network suffered a major ransomware attack which resulted in internal outages, loss of service and data theft at its subsidiary companies. Boost Mobile customers reported that they were unable to contact customer service, cancel their subscription, or make payments. The outage affected customers across the U.S.

Service outages lasted for more than a month, with customers reporting wait times for customer service stretching to more than 14 hours. Full service was not restored until May 2023.

#### EchoStar acquisition and brand reboot

On December 31, 2023, EchoStar completed its acquisition of Dish Network, including its wireless division. EchoStar President and CEO Hamid Akhavan promised, in May 2024, that there would be a reboot of the Boost brand in the second half of 2024. On July 17, 2024, EchoStar merged its prepaid Boost Mobile and postpaid Boost Infinite into a rebranded Boost Mobile. The change saw the introduction of a redesigned website, new plan offerings, and a price lock guarantee.

## Network

Dish Network embarked on a project to build a nationwide 5G wireless network as part of the company's strategy to expand its services beyond satellite television. After acquiring Boost Mobile, Dish began building out a standalone 5G network, that does not rely on any LTE infrastructure. To grow its wireless subscriber base, Dish acquired Ting Mobile on August 1, 2020, Republic Wireless on March 8, 2021, and Gen Mobile on September 1, 2021.

In June 2022, Dish announced it had met the FCC mandate to provide coverage to 20% of the U.S. population. In June 2023, the company announced that it had met the requirement to provide coverage to 70% of the U.S. population by June 14, 2023.

As part of EchoStar's rebranding of Boost Mobile, it began referring to its 5G wireless network as the "Boost Mobile Network" and discontinued its usage of the Dish Wireless brand.

### Radio Frequency Spectrum Chart

The following is a list of known frequencies that Boost Mobile employs or plans to employ in the United States.

## Released phones

In June 2010, Boost Mobile launched the Motorola i1 smartphone, Boost's first iDEN-based push-to-talk Android phone, and in April 2011, they announced the Samsung Galaxy Prevail, the company's first CDMA-based Android offering.

In July 2012, Boost Mobile released the BlackBerry Curve 9310, and in March 2013, they released the HTC One SV and the ZTE-made Boost Force smartphone, the company's first device using Sprint's 4G LTE network. In June that year, Boost Mobile released the LG Optimus F7, the company's first device with a removable Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) for LTE network authentication/access, a new form of Subscriber identity module (SIM card).

In December 2014, Boost Mobile released the Lumia 635, its first smartphone using Microsoft 's Windows Phone mobile operating system, and in July 2015, they launched the NETGEAR Fuse along with no-contract Wi-Fi Hotspot plans, its first Mobile Wi-Fi Hotspot device.

## Marketing

The Boost Mobile brand was initially marketed to the teen and young adult demographics, heavily focused on action sports, lifestyle and urban music. Boost Mobile's past American advertising campaigns featured Los Rakas, Terry Kennedy, Kanye West, Ludacris, and The Game, and used the slang slogan "Where you at?" In late 2007, a Boost Mobile commercial with Young Jeezy, Jermaine Dupri, and Mickey Avalon was released. The "Where you at?" slogan referenced the walkie-talkie feature on all Boost Mobile phones and later evolved to highlight a social GPS application that was available on selected Boost Mobile phones. Boost have also used Indy Car driver Danica Patrick in a commercial. A 2005 episode of Adult Swim 's Aqua Teen Hunger Force titled Boost Mobile was an early example of native advertising within a regular television series.

Boost Mobile has also produced some regional campaigns, including providing live paper shredders at bus stops in Chicago and Boston, where several times an hour sample contracts from competing wireless service providers would be shredded into confetti.

On January 20, 2010, Boost Mobile's then-parent company Sprint Nextel managed to secure some of the 1985 Chicago Bears players (including Jim McMahon, Willie Gault, and Mike Singletary) to re-create the team's famous " Super Bowl Shuffle " rap song and music video as "The Boost Mobile Shuffle" during the first quarter of the Super Bowl XLIV.

Boost Mobile debuted a television campaign in June 2012 to promote the HTC EVO Design 4G, its first smartphone using Sprint's 4G WiMAX network. The ads feature comedian Faizon Love as the "4Genie", a genie who magically appears where cellphone users seek low-cost 4G.

On July 1, 2021, the first day on which NCAA student-athletes were allowed to receive compensation for the use of their name, image, and likeness (NIL), Boost announced that it had signed Haley and Hanna Cavinder, twin basketball players at Fresno State with a social media following in the millions, as spokespersons.

## Services

### ACP Program

Boost Mobile actively participates in the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), providing affordable connectivity and mobile services to eligible households. Through the Affordable Connectivity Program, participants get a discount on Boost Mobile phone or mobile broadband plans. The program collaborates with wireless carriers, like Boost Mobile, to offer payment assistance based on income and provide a one-time device subsidy. The ACP is a federal government program operated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)


Mark Eidelstein

# Mark Eidelstein

## Abstract

Mark Alexandrovich Eidelstein (Russian: Марк Алекса́ндрович Эйдельштéйн, also tr. Mark Aleksandrovich Eydelshteyn; born February 18, 2002) is a Russian film, television, and theatre actor.

He gained fame after playing the leading role in the drama The Land of Sasha, which made its worldwide premiere in February 2022 at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival. He has been dubbed by journalists as the "Russian Timothée Chalamet ".

## Early life and education

Eidelstein was born on February 18, 2002 in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. He has a younger brother, Matvey Eydelshteyn (English: Matthew Eidelstein) and is of Jewish heritage.

His mother, Olesya Valeryevna Eydelshteyn, works as a teacher of stage speech at the Nizhny Novgorod Theater School named after Yevgeny Yevstigneyev. There, a young Eidelstein often ran away from classes.

In 2018, Eidelstein passed the regional selection of the "Living Classics" competition for young readers and made it to the all-Russian final, held in Artek. There, Eidelstein met the dean of the acting department of the Russian Institute of Theater Arts by Taras Belousov, who advised him to finish school as soon as possible and enter a theater university - which he did, upon graduating from his mother's school in 2019, entering the Moscow Art Theater School-Studio. He graduated in 2023.

## Filmography


Mark Thomas Gibson

# Mark Thomas Gibson

## Abstract

Mark Thomas Gibson (born 1980, Miami, Florida) is an American visual artist working in painting, print, ink, and watercolor. Gibson's work explores Black representation in the United States using the medium of comics.

## Education

Gibson received his B.F.A. from Cooper Union and his M.F.A. from Yale School of Art in painting and printmaking in 2013, where he received the Ely Harwood Schless Memorial Fund Award.

## Art

Gibson focuses on using the language of comic as a tool for social justice. His work involves graphic novels, consisting of black and white pen drawings, and colorful paintings developed from imageries chosen from his books. Gibson's artist statement describes his artistic choices and vision:

I look at American culture from a multipartite viewpoint as an artist—as a black male, a professor, an American history buff and comic book nerd. These myriad of often colliding perspectives fuel my exploration of American culture through the high and low visual languages of painting and comics to reveal a narrative that spells out our fabricated destruction. The black ink and strong color in my work create stark contrasts in which positive and negative space define the composition. I rely on a minimal aesthetic, playing off of both fine art and the comic book vernacular of sequential narrative. In all the works, I try to shine a light on the grim and gritty social realities of contemporary America.

His influences include artists Honoré Daumier, Robert Gober, Philip Guston, Kerry James Marshall, and Kara Walker. Comic creators Oliver Harrington, Dwayne McDuffie, and Jim Steranko, as well as film directors Stanley Kubrick and Alfred Hitchcock.

### Some Monsters Loom Large (2016)

Some Monsters Loom Large is a narrative that features Mr. Wolfson, a wolf-man. Mr. Wolfson is first introduced basking in the sun on a desert island, slowly going insane. After a while, he discovers a mount-like structure with horns popping out of the ocean. He climbs inside and is presented with a small theatre production showcasing a brief history of Western colonialism and colonization of America. During this film, Mr. Wolfson learns that the cannibalism of Native Americans by pilgrims in the founding of America birthed an evil spirit named, "Manifest Destiny". The evil spirit infects anyone who comes in contact with it, transforming into them into wolf-men. Throughout the narrative, Mr. Wolfson is chased down and murdered by Manifest Destiny multiple times, which mark the endings of each volume. His solo exhibition, Some Monsters Loom Large, showed in Fredericks & Freiser, included installation of colorized reproductions of drawings found in the book as acrylic paintings.

### Early Retirement (2017)

Early Retirement is a narrative that "revolves around Mr. Wolfson, a werewolf and Doomsday prophet in New York City's street prophecy scene, and The Drummer, one of the three heralds of the Apocalypse. One day, The Drummer learns that the Truth has been delivered to Mr. Wolfson. Things quickly spiral out of control, leading to a three-way standoff between the Will of the People, the Will of Government and the Will of God." This work was influenced by the American presidential election of 2016, and his question regarding quest for utopia, and ways to join forces to go against the adversity in the United States of America. His solo exhibition, Early Retirement, showed in Fredericks & Freiser, included installation of black and white ink drawings and colorized reproductions as acrylic paintings.

## Curation

### Black Pulp

Black Pulp! is an exhibition co-curated by William Villalongo and Mark Thomas Gibson first showed at Yale University. The show gets its name from the term "pulp" which is a cheap paper that allowed ephemera such as newspapers, books, fliers, and posters to be printed inexpensively in the 19th and 20th centuries. The accessibility of pulp facilitated mass communication within and about the black community. Villalongo wishes the exhibition will highlight "historical efforts within the medium to rebuff derogatory image culture with exceptional wit, beauty, and humor, to provide emerging, nuanced perspective on black humanity."

The collection provides a perspective of black and non-black artists and publishers who work to draw attention to the black experience in American culture and history from 1912 to 2016 through contemporary works of art and historical printed media.

Black Pulp! consists of a wide range of works, ranging from comic books and historic texts and magazines, to digital prints, drawings, and media-based works by contemporary artists. With this eclectic collection, the exhibition draws connection from various Afrocentric movements of the 20th century and today. Black Pulp! features works by 21 artists from the Black diaspora: Derrick Adams, Laylah Ali, Firelei Báez, Nayland Blake, Robert Colescott, Renee Cox, William Downs, Ellen Gallagher, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Lucia Hierro, Yashua Klos, Kerry James Marshall, Wangechi Mutu, Lamar Peterson, Pope.L, Kenny Rivero, Alexandria Smith, Felandus Thames, Hank Willis Thomas, Kara Walker, and Fred Wilson.

### Woke!

Woke! is an exhibition co-curated by William Villalongo and Mark Thomas Gibson showing a selection of their recent works heavily influenced by Eric Garner and the Ferguson protests. The show gets its name from the term " woke," a contemporary American vernacular terminology for awareness in reference to socio-political contexts. The show discusses American atrocity and the black body in a physical way.

## Teaching

Gibson is an associate professor at Tyler School of Art at Temple University. Previously he was a full-time lecturer and the assistant dean of student affairs at the Yale School of Art.

## Awards

Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant 2023, Guggenheim Fellowship 2022, Hodder Fellowship 2022, Pew Fellowship 2022, Ely Harwood Schless Memorial Fund Award 2013, Yale School of Art Yale Norfolk Assistantship 2012, awarded by Samuel Messer, Associate Dean


France at the 2024 Summer Paralympics

# France at the 2024 Summer Paralympics

## Abstract

France is competing as the host nation of the 2024 Summer Paralympics in their capital Paris from 28 August to 8 September 2024. It is the first time that France will be hosting the Summer Paralympics, they have hosted the Winter Paralympics in Albertville in 1992.

## Archery

As the host nation, France entered six athletes.

## Athletics

As the host nation, track and field athletes from France achieved quota places for the following events based on their results at the 2023 World Championships, 2024 World Championships, or through high performance allocation, as long as they meet the minimum entry standard (MES).

- Note –Ranks given for track events are within the athlete's heat only

- Q = Qualified for the next round

- q = Qualified for the next round as a fastest loser or, in field events, by position without achieving the qualifying target

- DQ = Disqualified

- PR = Paralympic Record

- AR = Area (or continental) Record

- NR = National Record

- SB = Season's Best

- N/A = Round not applicable for the event

- Bye = Athlete not required to compete in round

## Badminton

As the host nation, France has qualified seven para badminton players for the following events, through the release of BWF para-badminton Race to Paris Paralympic Ranking.

## Blind football

The French men's blind football team qualified for the games as hosts.

Coach: Toussaint Akpweh

The following is the France squad in the football 5-a-side tournament of the 2024 Summer Paralympics.

## Boccia

As host nation, France directly qualifies three males, three females and one gender-free slots. Aurélie Aubert, Aurélien Fabre, Sonia Heckel, Fayçal Meguenni and Jules Menard have all qualified to compete.

## Cycling

Mathieu Bosredon, Anne-Sophie Centis, Elie de Carvalho, Dorian Foulon, Joseph Fritsch, Heïdi Gaugain, Florian Jouanny, Alexandre Léauté, Kévin Le Cunff, Gatien Le Rousseau, Alexandre Lloveras, Marie Patouillet, Thomas Peyroton-Dartet, Johan Quaile, Loïc Vergnaud and Anaïs Vincent have all qualified to compete.

### Road

### Track

Qualification Legend: QB = Final bronze medal; QG = Final gold medal; QF = Final

## Equestrian

As host nation, France directly qualifies a team of four athletes.

## Goalball

### Men's tournament

The French men's team qualified for the games directly using their quota as host.

Coach: Vivien Fournier Dit Chabert

The following is the France squad in the goalball tournament of the 2024 Summer Paralympics.

### Women's tournament

The French women's team qualified for the games directly using their quota as host.

Coach: Anthony Puaud

The following is the France squad in the goalball tournament of the 2024 Summer Paralympics.

## Judo

As host nation, France directly qualifies eight male and eight female judoka.

## Paracanoeing

France earned quota places for the following events through the 2023 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Duisburg, Germany; and 2024 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Szeged, Hungary.

Qualification Legend: FA – Qualify to medal final; FB – Qualify to non-medal final; SF – Qualify to semifinal

## Paratriathlon

## Powerlifting

Alex Adélaïde, Rafik Arabat, Axel Bourlon and Souhad Ghazouani have all qualified to compete.

## Rowing

French rowers qualified boats in each of the following classes at the 2023 World Rowing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia; and 2024 Final Paralympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland.

Qualification Legend: FA =Final A (medal); FB =Final B (non-medal); R =Repechage

## Shooting

As host nation, France entered nine para-shooter's after achieved quota places for the following events by virtue of their best finishes at the 2022, 2023 and 2024 world cup, 2022 World Championships, 2023 World Championships, 2023 European Para Championships and 2024 European Championships, as long as they obtained a minimum qualifying score (MQS) by July 15, 2024.

## Sitting volleyball

### Men's tournament

France men's sitting volleyball team qualified for the games as host.

- Mamadou Alpha Bah

- Cyrille Chahboune

- Gildas Guiheneuf

- Matthieu Jagu

- Benjamin Lacroix-Desmazes

- Thomas Laronce

- Thibaud Lefrancois

- Benjamin Pillerault

- Jean-Christophe Rambeau

- Damien Roget

- Morgan Troussard

- Romain Wolniewicz

### Women's tournament

France women's sitting volleyball team qualified for the games as host.

- Jenna Agbodjan Prince

- Séverine Baillot

- Estelle Marsa-Galant

- Aurélie Garcia

- Olivia Lanes

- Julie Ligner

- Lynda Medjaheri

- Karen Faimali-Meger

- Anais Rigal

## Swimming

As the host nation, France secured fourteen quotas at the 2023 World Para Swimming Championships after finishing in the top two places in Paralympic class disciplines and Paralympic qualification ranking.

## Table tennis

As the host nation, France entered nineteen athletes for the Paralympic games. All of them qualified through the allocations of the final ITTF world ranking.

## Taekwondo

As the host nation, France entered three athletes to compete at the Paralympics competition. All of them qualified for Paris 2024, by virtue of finishing within the top six in the Paralympic rankings in their respective class.

## Wheelchair basketball

### Men's tournament

France men's has qualified to compete by virtue of their top four results at the 2024 IWBF Men's Repechage in Antibes, France.

The following is the France roster in the men's wheelchair basketball tournament of the 2024 Summer Paralympics

## Wheelchair fencing

Clémence Delavoipiere, Cécile Demaude, Ludovic Lemoine, Yohan Peter, Damien Tokatlian, Maxime Valet and Brianna Vide had all qualified to compete.

## Wheelchair rugby

French wheelchair rugby team qualified as host.

- Tristan Barfety

- Adrien Chalmin

- Jordan Ducret

- Jonathan Hivernat

- Rodolphe Jarlan

- Corentin Le Guen

- Brice Maurel

- Cédric Nankin

- Ryadh Sallem

- Matthieu Thiriet

- Nicolas Valentim

- Sébastien Verdin

## Wheelchair tennis

Frédéric Cattanéo, Ksénia Chasteau, Pauline Déroulède, Stéphane Houdet, Guilhem Laget, Gaëtan Menguy and Emmanuelle Mörch have all qualified to compete.


Paralititan

# Paralititan

## Abstract

Paralititan (meaning "tidal giant") was a giant titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur genus discovered in coastal deposits in the Upper Cretaceous Bahariya Formation of Egypt. It lived between 99.6 and 93.5 million years ago.

## Discovery

Joshua Smith in 1999 in the Bahariya Oasis rediscovered the Gebel el Dist site where Richard Markgraf in 1912, 1913 and 1914 had excavated fossils for Ernst Stromer. In 2000, an American expedition was mounted to revisit the site. However, apparently Markgraf had already removed all more complete skeletons, leaving only limited remains behind. At a new site, the nearby Gebel Fagga, the expedition succeeded in locating a partial sauropod skeleton. It was identified by Lacovara as a species new to science. It was named and described by Joshua B. Smith, Matthew C. Lamanna, Kenneth J. Lacovara, Peter Dodson, Jennifer R. Smith, Jason Charles Poole, Robert Giegengack and Yousri Attia in 2001 as the type species Paralititan stromeri. The generic name means "Stromer's tidal (Greek para + halos "near sea") titan " or "Stromer's tidal giant", in reference to the "paralic" tidal flats the animal lived on. The specific name honors Ernst Stromer von Reichenbach, a German paleontologist and geologist who first established the presence of dinosaur fossils in this area in 1911. Paralititan represents the first tetrapod reported from the Bahariya Formation since Romer's publication of 1935.

The holotype specimen of Paralititan, CGM 81119, was found in a layer of the Bahariya Formation, dating from the Cenomanian. It consists of a partial skeleton lacking the skull. It is incomplete, apart from bone fragments containing two fused posterior sacral vertebrae, two anterior caudal vertebrae, both incomplete scapulae, two humeri and a metacarpal. The Paralititan type specimen shows evidence of having been scavenged by a carnivorous dinosaur as it was disarticulated within an oval of eight metres length with the various bones being clustered. A Carcharodontosaurus tooth was discovered in between the clusters. The holotype is part of the collection of the Cairo Geological Museum.

The large anterior dorsal vertebra 1912V11164, in 1932 by Stromer referred to an undetermined "Giant Sauropod", was in 2001 tentatively referred to Paralititan.

## Description

Joshua Smith, who informally led the research team that found the dinosaur fossils, told an interviewer, "It was a truly enormous dinosaur by any reckoning."

Little of Paralititan is known, so its exact size is difficult to estimate. However, the limited material, especially the long humeri, suggested that it is one of the most massive dinosaurs ever discovered, with an estimated weight of 59 t (65 short tons). The complete right humerus measured 1.69 meters (5.5 feet) long which at the time of discovery was the longest known in a Cretaceous sauropod; this was surpassed in 2016 with the discovery of Notocolossus which had a 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) humerus. Using Saltasaurus as a guide, Carpenter estimated its length at around 26 m (85 ft) in 2006.

Scott Hartman estimates an animal that is massive, but still smaller than the biggest titanosaurs such as Puertasaurus, Alamosaurus, and Argentinosaurus. In 2010, Gregory S. Paul estimated its length at 20+ meters (66+ ft), and its weight at 20 tonnes (24.2 short tons). In 2012 Holtz gave a length of 32 meters (105 feet) and an estimated weight of 65.3–72.5 tonnes (72–80 short tons). In 2016, using equations that estimate body mass based on the circumference of the humerus and femur of quadrupedal animals, it was given an estimated weight of ~ 50 t (55 short tons). In 2019 Gregory S. Paul estimated Paralititan between 30 and 55 tonnes (33–60.6 short tons). In 2020 Molina-Perez and Larramendi estimated the size of the animal at 27 meters (89 feet) and 30 tonnes (33 short tons).

From the formation another sauropod had already been known, Aegyptosaurus. Paralititan differs from Aegyptosaurus in its larger size, the latter genus weighing only fifteen tons, possibly in not having pleurocoels in its front tail vertebrae, and in possessing a relatively longer deltopectoral crest on its humerus.

## Palaeoenvironment

The autochthonous, scavenged skeleton was preserved in tidal flat deposits containing in the form of fossil leaves and root systems, a mangrove vegetation of seed ferns, Weichselia reticulata. The mangrove ecosystem it inhabited was situated along the southern shore of the Tethys Sea. Paralititan is the first dinosaur demonstrated to have inhabited a mangrove habitat. It lived at approximately the same time and place as giant predators Carcharodontosaurus, Spinosaurus, and the sauropod Aegyptosaurus.


The Last Word (2017 film)

# The Last Word (2017 film)

## Abstract

The Last Word is a 2017 American comedy-drama film directed by Mark Pellington, from a screenplay by Stuart Ross Fink. It stars Amanda Seyfried and Shirley MacLaine.

The Last Word premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2017. It was released on March 3, 2017, by Bleecker Street.

## Plot

A retired businesswoman wants to control everything around her, knowing that she only has a little time left before an imminent death due to a medical condition. She decides to craft her own obituary, so she hires a young obituary writer to work with her to ensure her life story is told her way. The businesswoman tries to expand the horizons of her life, and adopts a young kid for mentoring and lands herself a job as a disc jockey. She grows close with the young writer and influences her life.

## Cast

- Shirley MacLaine as Harriett Lauler

- Amanda Seyfried as Anne Sherman

- AnnJewel Lee Dixon as Brenda

- Anne Heche as Elizabeth

- Tom Everett Scott as Ronald Odom

- Thomas Sadoski as Robin Sands

- Joel Murray as Joe Mueller

- Adina Porter as Bree Wilson

- Philip Baker Hall as Edward

- Sarah Baker as Zoe

- Steven Culp as Sam Serman

- Basil Hoffman as Christopher George

- Todd Louiso as Dr. Morgan

## Production

In September 2015, it was announced that Amanda Seyfried and Shirley MacLaine would star in the film, with Mark Pellington directing from a screenplay by Stuart Ross Fink, while Myriad Pictures would handle sales and finance the film. In February 2016, Anne Heche, Philip Baker Hall, and Tom Everett Scott joined the cast of the film. Nathan Matthew David composed the film's score.

### Filming

Principal photography began on February 3, 2016. and concluded on March 11, 2016.

## Release

In November 2015, Bleecker Street acquired U.S distribution rights to the film. The film had its world premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2017. It was released on March 3, 2017. On its first weekend, the film grossed $35,000 from four theaters in New York and Los Angeles.

### Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval of 40% based on 95 reviews, with an average rating of 4.9/10. The website's critics consensus reads: " The Last Word proves Shirley MacLaine remains a wonderfully magnetic screen presence -- and deserving of a far better vehicle for her considerable talents." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 40 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".