Wikipedia
Tafilalt or Tafilet ( Berber: Tafilalt, ⵜⴰⴼⵉⵍⴰⵍⵜ; ) is a region and the most important oasis of the Moroccan part of the Sahara Desert; it is also considered one of the largest oases in the world. Entirely located along the Ziz River, the oasis ten days' journey south of Fez, across the Atlas Mountains. It is celebrated for its large and luscious dates. Al Hassan Addakhil, founder of the reigning Alaouite dynasty of Morocco, cultivated these with such success around 1250 that he could fund the dynasty's rise to power.
The inhabitants of the oasis and region occupy fortified villages ( Ksar). In Ifli, the central portion, formerly existed the town of Sijilmasa, founded by Miknasa Amazighs in 757. It was on the direct caravan route from the Niger to Tangier, and attained a considerable degree of prosperity. Medieval traveler Ibn Batuta wrote about visiting Sijilmasa (near Tafilalt) in the fourteenth century on his journey from Fez to "the country of the blacks". It was later destroyed, but even its ruins extend five miles along the river bank.
The word "Tafilalt" is an Amazigh word and it means "Jug", which is specifically a jar made of clay and used to conserve water. The current royal family of Morocco, the Filalis, have taken their name from the region. Since 1648 it has been the custom of Moroccan sultans to despatch superfluous sons and daughters to Tafilalt.
The first European to visit Tafilalt in the modern era was René Caillié (1828), the next Gerhard Rohlfs (1864). A later visit to the oasis by WB Harris is described in his book Tafilet (London, 1895). "The oasis is ten days' (historic, by animal) or one day's (modern, by motor vehicle) journey south of Fez, across the Atlas."