![]() ![]() The Fez was originally a Greek headgear that the Ottomans adopted in the early 19th Century as part of their efforts to modernize with their European counterparts. They usually come in the shape of a red truncated cone or in the shape of a short cylinder made of kilim fabric. Mahmut II was the first Sultan to sport the Fez It's called fez in Turkish ( plural fezzes or fezes ), or tarboosh in Arabic For some period, Borj Nord may have served as a cannon factory.Continuing with the recent trend of Ottoman history and culture (I'm biased, I know!), in this post we shall find out about the history of the Fez, a classical example of Ottoman culture. Sultan Al-Rashid (1631-1672) recaptured Fez and whipped things back into shape in 1666, reinstating the city as Morocco's capital. Under Berber rule, Fez had issues with plague, poverty, famine and civil war in the first half of the 17th century. Sadly, we will likely never know the answer to these mysteries. Were the remaining 8 or 9 fortlets built around Fez of this style? Nobody seems to remember, probably because all of the people involved have been dead for hundreds of years. While it certainly exhibits some starfort (or more polygonal fort, actually) aspects and looks as though it could manage itself quite well in a fight, there seems to be no way it could have been designed by the same dude who dreamed up Borj Nord.Īdditionally, there were no other starforts built in this style elsewhere in Morocco ( Fort al-Kabibat in Larache is a lovely starfort, but it's not this lovely!). While Nord is a beautiful, sleek classic starfort design, Sud is some kind of a shardfort. There's higher ground not far from both of these forts, upon which any attacker with a modicum of sense would drag artillery, and thus checkmate the merry little borjies.īorj Nord and Borj Sud are relatively close to one another, built on either side of the Fez that existed in the 16th century (the city has now expanded vastly to the original location's southwest) and notionally at about the same time, but their designs couldn't be more different. Which certainly seems like a loving and protective endeavor on the Sultan's part.except Borj Nord and Borj Sud are the only remaining examples of whatever number of small forts were eventually built during this period, and they're clearly sited to watch over the interior of the city itself, not to defend against an attack from without. ![]() These forts were to utilize the latest advancements in fortification technology, which as we all know means starforts. Sultan Ahmed ordered the construction of ten (or maybe eleven) lil' forts ( borj is the Arabic word for small fort) in and around Fez, adding to the city's medieval walls. "But what will happen to us," wailed the populace of Fez, "without your regal presence and protection? Will we be left to the wicked wiles of the warthoggy Ottomans?!?" And thus were born Fez' borjies (not sure what the plural of borj would be, so we're going with borjies). He and most of his sultanate's government was set up at Fez for some time, but he preferred the city of Marrakesh, some 300 miles to Fez' southwest, and made plans to uproot and move his center of power there. Sultan Ahmed spent his youth in Istanbul, capital city of the Ottoman Empire, and was impressed with the technological military advances of European nations like Portugal and Spain (starforts!).
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