Meknès (meknes') [key], city (1994 pop. 443,214), N central Morocco. It has a noted carpet-weaving industry. There are also woolen mills, cement and metal works, oil distilleries, and food-processing plants. Meknès became (c.1672) the capital of Morocco under Sultan Ismail, who undertook such palatial building operations that the city was called the Versailles of Morocco. Little of his construction has survived. A European town is laid out beside the old one.
