One of the oldest banking systems in the world is still alive and well in the heart of Morocco’s Atlas Mountains. Regarded by most historians as one of the oldest in the world, the system of “lgoudar” dates back to the 15th century.
Named for ancient vaults built amid rocky valleys and arid lands, this ancient system of commerce is a vestige of a bygone era of Amazigh history.
Constructed of jagged stone and adobe clay, around 600 of these tall, vast vaults dot the landscape of the Souss-Massa region in southern Morocco. Walking arround the narrow passageways of the Igoudar is like walking into a gigantic post office with lockboxes on each side.
The name “Igoudar” is the plural of “Agadir,” which is also the name of the capital city of the Souss-Massa region. “Agadir” in the local dialect of Tamazight means “fortified granaries,” traditional buildings common to Morocco’s southern region. Also serving as a “treasury,” not only did the agadir store the goods of the community, but it also served a defense function to protect its people.
Around the 15th century, Morocco’s indigenous Amazigh, or “free people” as they called themselves, shifted from a nomadic lifestyle to become sedentary farmers and herders. As the locals started establishing permanent residences, it was quickly apparent that they needed storage facilities to store both valuables and food.
The Amazigh tribes mainly used the agadir to store non-perishable or long-lasting food such as olive oil, nuts, and grains, harvested from the nearby southern valleys.
But Igoudar were strategically placed on the rocky outcrops of the Anti-Atlas Mountains, to protect against a multitude of dangers, such as looting bandits, drought, and warring tribes in the surrounding desert. The baked clay walls surrounded open spaces which functioned as mosques and shelters during wartime, and even housed blacksmiths and apiaries.
The structures naturally became a place of refuge for both locals and travelers passing through the territory of the Agadir tribes, taking advantage of various services offered on site, such as food, shelter, and commerce.
“Those who passed through the region would stop off at the Igoudar,” Yasmine Lakmali, an Amazigh woman from the regional hub of Tafraoute, told the BBC.
“Camel caravans arriving in the valleys after weeks crossing the Sahara would stay to rest and trade before going on to the Atlantic Coast, taking with them the produce, jewelry, and textiles of the tribes.”
To keep the valuable Igoudar safe, the Amazigh tribes worked as communities to fend off the constant threats of marauding bandits. They further strengthened the sense of community implementing a community welfare system.
Each tribe would contribute its surplus of food, clothing, or other essentials to be redistributed to less fortunate individuals, such as divorced women or orphans who were unable to provide for themselves.
Of course, using the Igoudar came with a fee, or tax. Those making a deposit into the granary would also have to contribute a certain amount of grain to the vault. The total sum of the donations would then be divided at the end of the harvest among the members of the community.
Resourcefulness and smart management of the funds helped the Soussi Amazigh to build a resilient community, ensuring food safety for everyone even if the harvest in one year was not plentiful.
Amazingly, some of the 500-year-old vaults are still standing and functioning. The current custodian of the Ikounka village’s 400-year-old agadir is Hassan Louz.
“The elders—or Inflas—of the tribes would appoint special guards called ‘Amins’ to watch over their agadir day and night,” he told the BBC.
The Amins (Arabic for faithful or trustworthy) held considerable responsibility. In order to keep the agadirs safe, they were tasked with maintaining locks, resolving conflicts, and upholding tribal law, which called for severe penalties for theft or fraud. As a result, they lived on site and had their own private rooms and an adjacent mosque.
Although few villagers are continuing to preserve their ancestors’ traditions and keep them alive, the Igoudar structures are still strong and have even survived the destruction wrought by the devastating earthquake that struck the region in September 2023.
Since then, Morocco has poured significant funds into the reconstruction and rehabilitation of earthquake-affected areas. The government has also announced training programs to train the locals in building traditional structures using techniques such as adobe, while preserving the importance of structural resilience.
Many areas in the region, however, have not been included in the government’s rehabilitation programs. A number of villages are still buried under the rubble of mountainsides that collapsed like accordions on them during the earthquake, including many Igoudar.
But restoring and preserving these Igoudar is important to Morocco both culturally and historically. Many of the ancient vaults contain historical documents and artifacts that offer a glimpse into the tribal life of the population around the 15th century.
Researchers Hamza Elbahraoui and Igor Kliakhandler discovered a staggering 400 written contracts (known as “arraten”) in Morocco’s Atlas region earlier this year. In a research paper released on August 19, the two academics suggested that there might be many more documents and items still waiting to be excavated.
“The number of documents discovered by us and remaining in situ is likely to be in excess of 5000 items,” they wrote in a research abstract. “This is in addition to our own private collection of more than 4000 items. We estimate that the entire body of documents written on wood in the Anti-Atlas Mountains is likely to be no less than 100,000 items and may very well be more than 500,000.”
In fact, they believe that somewhere between 40,000 and 150,000 paper documents may still exist, according to the abstract.
Elbahraoui and Kliakhandler said their collection is available for anyone to access, and they have invited the public to support their work by contributing financially to appropriate institutions.