Destination Morocco | Atlantic Morocco

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orocco is the only major Islamic country with an extensive Atlantic coast (known to Arabs as bahr adouloumat ), a fact that has given Morocco 's Atlantic seaboard an interesting history and culture. ‘Uqba ibn Nafi, who opened Morocco to Islam, is supposed to have charged into the Atlantic (near Tifnit, south of Agadir) saying that had he known of other lands beyond he would have taken the message of Islam there. A legend has it that it was on that same spot that the whale disgorged the Prophet Younes (Jonah).

Morocco's Atlantic coast has been visited, coveted, settled, and occupied by several seafaring nations, beginning, of course, with the intrepid Phoenicians, their descendants, the Carthaginians, then the Romans, followed by Arabs, then the Portuguese, the French, and the Spaniards, before most of the coast reverted back to Moroccan control. The Atlantic coast is about 2, 800 kms long (compared to 530 kms of Mediterranean shores). Of all these nations, the Portuguese left the most visible influences in the form of fortresses sheltering towns from Moroccan attacks.

Taroudant is not on the Atlantic ocean , but its fate was long connected to the Atlantic port of Agadir that we are adding it to the list. It is only a short trip—80kms—away from Agadir.

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ounded initially by the Phoencians who named it Zili, the town was evacuated and resettled by the Roman Emperor Augustus, destroyed by the Vikings in the 900s, and lay dormant till it was revived in the 14 th century. In 1471 , Portugal captured it and Botacca built the ramparts around it. In 1589, Spain took over until the redoubtable Moulay Ismail chased them out in 1691. The town was governed by Raisulli, the rebel who kidnapped the Greek-American Perdicaris early in the 20 th century (an event immortalized in the film The Wind and the Lion ), as part of a settlement reached between him and the sultan of Morocco . Today the town has grown into a major summer resort and cultural center. A critically acclaimed cultural festival, founded by the indefatigable Mohammed Benaissa, a native of the town and Minister of Foreign Affairs, blending East and West has been held here for decades. The town is also notable for its mural art and strong waves beating against the rocks and rampart.

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his city is not a major stop on the tourist circuit but is worth a visit. Like Fez , it was founded by Arabs in the 7 th century and grew into Morocco 's main Atlantic port until 1471, when the Portuguese took over. In 1610, they were displaced their Iberian cousins, but the town reverted back to Morocco in 1689 after Moulay Ismail chased them away. After they were expelled, the coast's sandbar provided safe haven for corsair ships attacking Christian vessels. Spain occupied it in 1911 and gave its boulevards, plaza, and even culture a Spanish flavor.

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ituated in the agricultural province of Doukkala , Mazagan was founded by the Portuguese who built a fort in 1502 and expanded the enclosure to its present dimensions. The water cistern was built around the same time and was not discovered till 1916 when a grocer next door tried to expand his store and found it still half-full with water. Mazagan withstood the Saadian siege of 1562 and all assaults until it fell to the Alawite sultan, Sidi Mohammed ben Abdellah, in 1769. The Portuguese escaped the siege by sea and may have blown up a tower on their way out (one out of five is missing). The captured town was renamed Al Jadida (The New) in 1815 and the enclosure turned into a Jewish quarter ( mellah ) . French colonials rebaptized the town Mazagan after 1912, but Moroccan renamed it again Al Jadida after independence in 1956. By that time, the Jews were departing for Europe and Israel . The town has the only five-sided minaret in the Islamic world and parts of Orson Welles' Othello were filmed in the cistern. Al Jadida is now a summer and weekend resort for the Casawi (residents of Casablanca ) middle class and is a thriving economic center.

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his port city gained significance when the Portuguese seized it in 1508 and built a fortress, a cathedral and walls. When Agadir, further south, fell to the Saadians in 1514, they demolished what they could of the town and fled. In the 20 th century it benefited from the phosphates and fishing industries (sardines) and is now well known for the quality of its pottery.

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his windswept city sits on a major crossroads of cultures, connecting with the Haha Berbers and Chiadma Arabs. The Phoenicians and Romans were interested in the area long before Islam came to Morocco . Because of its rich fishing waters and its famous seashell, the murex, which produces the highly prized crimson dye for Roman togas, the islands of Mogador acquired some renown in the Roman Empire . In the eleventh century, the town was named Amagdoul, after the patron saint of the region, Sidi Mogdoul. Later, King Manuel of Portugal seized the town early in his campaign to dominate the whole trade and coast of Morocco and built a fort in 1506, but the Saadians took it back in 1541.The foundations of the modern city, however, were laid by the great and visionary Alawite sultan, Sidi Mohamed ben Abdellah (the same sultan who first recognized the independence of the United States).

Sultan Ben Abdellah wanted to develop a port for international commerce, so he entrusted the project to Théodore Cornut of Avignon , a French military engineer captured during a failed assault on Larache in 1776, with the help of hundreds of Christian prisoners. The northern part of city was probably built by an English renegade named Ahmed el-elj (the name el-elj was given to Europeans who converted to Islam). A Portuguese palace was destroyed to build the skala , where the cannons facing the ocean can still be seen today. Thus the port and kasbah of Essaouira make up a whole out of European and Moroccan architectural traditions.

The city's port was known as the “ Port of Timbuktu ” because most African products for export ended up there, including slaves (children of Bambara, in the gnawa mythology). Sultan Ben Abdellah promoted free trade policies by reducing customs and encouraging the settlement of rich merchants and Jews to handle trade with Christians. A quarter for foreign merchants was also established. By 1780, the port was handling almost half of Morocco 's international trade. Export items included ostrich feathers, almonds, gum arabic, ivory and dried camel skins (which were imported from sub-saharan Africa through the caravan trade), while the other intrepid race of sailors, the British, imported Manchester cotton and the item that would prove to be more addictive than opium in China : tea.

The city fascinated European and American artists throughout much of the twentieth century. Orson Welles couldn't find a better place to film the Shakespearean tragedy of Othello . His visit to Essaouira is now commemorated with a plaque that stands in a square named after him. The city's beaches inspired Jimmy Hendrix to write his Castle in the Sand . And now a whole generation of windsurfers and other artists are following in their footsteps.

The city hosts a gnawa festival, consisting of all night parties or ceremonies ( ksara ). With the convergence of slaves and other Africans on the port of Essaouira , the Sidna Bilal zawya (named after a black convert, just like his namesake, the Prophet's companion and first mueddin ) built a lodge near the Jewish quarter, the mellah , in the medina. Now the gnawa remember the suffering of their slave ancestors through a well-rehearsed ecstasy ritual led by a bandleader, the m'alem , with his guenbri (a three-cord luth), while others use castanets ( qraqeb ) and drums.

The variety of the region's indigenous musical traditions (such as ahouach , amarg , ganga ) come together during the festival of the Argan Tree. The Regraga to the north commemorate their discovery of Islam when, according to legend, they sent the famous seven men ( sab'atu rijal ) on a journey to Mecca to find out about the Prophet and his new religion through a major moussem (festival) that includes more than 40 days of storytelling and troubadour music ( halqas , s hikhates , and the aita ).

One cannot walk in Essaouira without seeing a profusion of thuya wood products—a rock-hard wood that is dug out as a root—embellished with mother-of-pearl and ebony. Art galleries and restaurants are everywhere, and so are very creative posters with a variety of public messages. Essaouira's beaches are not hot enough, but the city is quite relaxing and an excellent place to read and think. Thanks to a new airline connection, it is now reachable by plane from Casablanca .

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gadir is probably Morocco’s second economic hub, after Casablanca. The main market for the agricultural products of the fertile Sous Valley, a major fishing port, and Morocco’s major tourist destination, the city dates from 1962, after the older town had been destroyed by an earthquake on February 29, 1960, killing more than 15,000 people, who are now buried in the mound of Ancienne Talborjt. By the 12th century, Agadir was occupied by the Ksima tribe, but in 1505, Joâo Lopez de Sequiera built the Castle of Santa Cruz do Capo de Aguer and sold it to the King of Portugal, Manuel I, in 1513. The Portuguese wanted to expand inland, but the locals, under the leadership of the Saadians kept them at bay and eventually expelled them in 1514. The town prospered after that, but it kept its autonomy, and even rebelled against Alawite monarchs, which led Mohammed ben Abdellah, the builder of Essaouira, to resettle its Jewish population in his new port, and close down the port of Agadir in 1760. The town remained rather marginal and quiet until the earthquake of 1960. With its well laid out streets, fancy restaurants, German clientele, Agadir is a good place to relax after a journey through the country’s medinas.

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e might as well add Taroudant, an elegant town with some of Morocco 's best preserved ramparts at the entrance of the rich Sous Valley with its olive groves and the High Atlas. Leo Africanus described it as a “magnificent” place whose residents are “highly civilized” and peace loving, and said it was ruled by a quartet of notable who shift positions after six months. The town was first absorbed by the Idrissids, before it was taken over by the Khariji Bargwata, turning it into a Shi'ite enclave, until they were crushed by the Almoravids in 1056. Tamimi, the son of Yussef ben Tashfin who was appointed wali (governor), fortified the town and placed it on the crossroads of trade and cultures. The town changed hands several times and became independent during the Marinid period. When the Saadians from the Draa Valley in the east took over in the 16 th century, they turned it briefly into their capital (before they moved to Marrakech) and a major economic center. The mosque they built was also a great center of learning. The population of the town was later decimated by the plague, and the town was annexed by the independent kingdom of Tazeroualt . It was destroyed by Moulay Ismail in 1685 after a struggle with his nephew, massacred the town's inhabitants`, repressed dissent, and restored the rights of the Jewish population. The closing of the Agadir port by Sidi Mohammed ben Abdellah in 1760 affected the town's economy. Ever since this time, Taroudant occupied a sort of middle ground between Agadir and Marrakech. In fact, it is known as “little Marrakech” and is a delightful place to stay.