Moroccan cuisine says the Idrissids established Fes in 789. That date refers to the foundation of the city by Idris I, founder of the Idrisid dynasty.
Fes, also written Fez, became one of Morocco’s most important historic cities. Idris I founded the first settlement, Madinat Fas, on the southeastern bank of the Jawhar River, now known as the Fez River. His son, Idris II, later developed a settlement on the opposite bank and moved the dynasty’s capital there in 809. The two foundations became the core of the modern city.
The date can be confusing because 809 is also associated with an important stage in Fes’s development. The question, however, asks when the Idrissids established Fes, and 789 is the standard answer for its initial foundation. The dynasty itself began in the late eighth century and ruled much of present-day Morocco before its authority declined in the tenth century. Fes later became renowned for scholarship, craft production, and its historic medina.