Fez

Fez: see Fès, Morocco.

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Fès

 or Fez Arabic Fas

City (pop., 1994: 541,162), northern Morocco. The oldest of Morocco's four imperial cities, it was founded on opposite banks of the Wadi Fès by Idris I c. 789 and Idris II c. 809. The two parts were united by the Almoravid dynasty in the 11th century to become a major Islamic city. Fès reached its zenith under the Marinid dynasty as a centre of learning and commerce in the mid-14th century and has kept its religious primacy through the ages. The site of the oldest mosque in northern Africa, it is also the seat of an Islamic university founded in 859. A centre for trade and traditional crafts, it was until the late 19th century the only place where the fez hat was made.

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Fez 

(named for Fès, Morocco, where the production of fezzes was widespread), a woolen or felt hat in the shape of a truncated cone, usually with a black or dark blue tassel, which is often interwoven with silver or gold. The fez is worn by men in Morocco, Egypt, Algeria, Turkey, and Southwest Asia and is part of the native dress in some regions of Albania and Greece. It is worn either under a turban or as a separate hat. From 1826 to 1925 a red fez with a black tassel was the official headgear of civil servants and soldiers in Turkey.