 Fes el Bali is, along with Fes Jdid and the French-created Ville Nouvelle or “New Town”, one of the three main districts in Fez.As the capital for his newly acquired empire, Idris ibn Abdallah chose to build a new town on the right bank of the Fez River in 789 CE.Many of the first inhabitants were refugees fleeing from an uprising in Cordoba (modern-day Spain)  However, in 809 CE his son, Idris II, decided to found a capital of his own on the opposite bank of the Fez River.