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The cities of Tangier and Tetouan, and, to some extent, the growing town of Chaouen , have been in the front lines of Morocco’s relations with Europe , particularly Spain. The use of French language in the Moroccan dialect is minimal in these places, while many words in everyday speech derive from Spanish. The houses are white, or light blue, as in Tetouan. One could easily spend a week exploring this region.

 

 

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This ancient, oldest continually inhabited city in Morocco sprawls over a series of low hills that overlook a wide sandy bay halfway along the narrow straits of Gibraltar . It was a Phoenician port around 1100 BC. After the destruction of Carthage it was granted the privileged status of colonia (virtual self-government within the Roman empire). Musa ben Nussair seized it in 706 and appointed Tariq bbn Ziyyad governor. In 1471, it was captured by the Portuguese, and in 1661 they gave it to the British (along with Bombay) as part of Catherine de Braganza's dowry to King Charles II. Samuel Pepys described it as one large whorehouse in 17th century. “Nothing,” he wrote, “but vice in the whole place, for swearing, cursing, drinking and whoring.” Harassed by Moulay Ismail, the British left in 1685, after destroying the gigantic harbor mole. European presence, however, remained a fact of the city and until international authority was established in 1923. The eight countries and a mendoub (sultan's representative) that managed the city abolished taxes, opened the city to free trade, and turned this strategic city into a haven of prosperity and freedom. When the great French painter, Henri Matisse, visisted, he compared it to paradise. Up to the 1950s and 60s, it was “one of the world’s most cosmopolitan and recondite cities.” A combination of sexual license, drugs, political exiles, spies, smugglers, cheap living and eccentric expatriates gave it its nefarious reputation. The city was reunited with Morocco on October 29, 1956 , but it gradually fell on hard times as economic activity shifted to the Casablanca metropolis, and Marrakech and Agadir were developed as major tourist destinations. Many of the city's natives immigrated while other relied on small jobs and smuggling to subsist. With the advent of King Mohammed VI, the city is now making a comeback, with major industrial and infrastructure developments giving it a new life and reconnecting it with both Europe and the rest of Morocco.

Besides the typical souks, kasbah, and the archeological ruins, Tangier's long international history makes for a different visit. Sites of interest include:

English Church

S ir John Drummond-Hay, British consul, close friend of Sultan Moulay Hassan, worked throughout his life to maintain the independence of Morocco. He secured the appointment of Harry MacLean in 1877 as Chief of Staff to train a modern army. MacLean was happy to transfer from Gibraltar for he had been in trouble due to an affair he had had with his superior’s wife. Became a flamboyant figure in Moroccan society, with his personal bagpiper and a mounted bodyguard dressed in burnouses made from MacLean’s tartan. Emily Keene, Sharifa of Wazan, came to Tangier as companion of Mrs. Perdicaris. The Sharif of Wazan fell in love with her when he saw her singing and combing her hair on a balcony. They were married by Sir John Drummond-Hay in a Christian service, had children and divorced. She stayed in Tangier running an inoculation clinic and dispensing vast quantities of sweets to children until her death. One of her sons inherited the mantle of Sharif.

Americans have had a long presence Tangier:

Captain John Smith of Pocahontas fame went to Tangier, Safi and Marrakech, was impressed by Sultan Ahmed al-Mansour addahbi. In 1668, he discovered island in South Chesapeake Bay , off the coast of Maryland , and named it “Tangier Island.”

Thomas Barclay 1st appointed Diplomatic Agent in 1791, but died in 1793 before occupying his post. Replaced by one Hans Heissel in 1794, though consular affairs handled by a Consul Agent named Girolano Chiappi. In 1797, President Washington named Scottish-born James Simpson Consul. He would be the 1st.

In 1821, Moulay Slimane gave a building to Consul John Mullowny for use for perpetual use by US. The expanded building is located in the narrow street named “Rue d’Amerique.”

Mullowny was farsighted to suggest building lighthouse at Cap Spartel. Thirty years later, in 1861, after series of maritime tragedies, diplomatic corps revives Mullowny's idea and construction began under supervision of a French engineer named Jacquet. The lighthouse was completed in 1864, by which time Mullowny was long departed and replaced by Jesse H. MacNath who opposed the project.

In May 1904, Sharif Ahmed Raisulli kidnapped Ion Perdicaris and his son-in-law. The US Consul General Samuel Gammere cabled Washington and Teddy Roosevelt ordered 4 warships to Tangier. Eventually, Predicaris was released and Raisulli's demands were met.

Barbara Woolworth Hutton, the Woolworth heiress also lived and loved in Tangier. She built the Palace of Sidi Hosni in the Medina and enlarged nearby alleyways to be able to drive in. Greta Garbo, Onassis, and the Chaplins were among the guests who visited her.

There is an American School in the city that was at one time headed by Omar Shakespeare Pound.

Malcolm Forbes, accompanied by Liz Taylor, threw a lavish party in the city in 1989 to celebrate his 70th birthday.

 

 

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Known as the “daughter of Granada,” Tetouan is probably the most Spanish of Moroccan cities. It was the capital of the Spanish protectorate in northern Morocco . The Berber/Roman Tamuda ruins at the entrance of the city had long been deserted before the Marinid sultan, Abu Thabit, built a kasbah in 1307; yet Tetouan's real foundation began with the settlement of highly skilled Andalusian refugees just before and after Granada fell in 1492. As most Andalusian refugees did across Morocco and throughout the Maghreb , they engaged in corsair activity. A woman, Fatima bint Ali Rashid, ruled Tetouan for 33 years, after her increasingly blind husband died. The Hakima, sister of Ibrahim, Amir of Chaouen, wife to the sultan of Fes and an ally of Ottoman Turks, was a powerful governess of the much-feared corsairs. The city was blockaded by Spain 's Philip II in 1565 and saw its fortunes decline; but it was later revived under Moulay Ismail before it fell again to the Spaniards in 1860. Still, Tetouan grew into a center of high culture and refined living; it now hosts a major university, a good archeological museum, and is increasingly visited by tourists. Its adjoining beach resorts in Martil, Cabo Negro, Mdiq, and Restinga-Smir are popular with Morocco’s rich and upper middle class. Merely walking in the medina, sampling its ice cream, and drinking coffee is a pleasure.

 

 

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Founded in 1471 by Sharif Moulay Ali bin Rashid, the Wattasid-related amir of Chaouen and Tetouan, as a holy town, a secure mountain citadel from which to prevent further encroachment by the Spanish, who had taken Ceuta and Ksar el Sghir in Tangier, Chaouen, like Tetouan during the same period, was settled by Andalusian refugees. In 1561, the Saadian dynasty took over and in 1672 Mouay Ismail built the Dar al-Makhzen (City Hall). The town's enmity toward Christians was maintained up to 1920 when it was occupied by Spanish troops. Until then, only three Christians managed to get in. One, the French ascetic Charles de Foucauld saw the walls for an hour disguised as a rabbi in 1883; Walter Harris in 1889; and William Summers, an American missionary, was poisoned here in 1892. When Spaniards entered the town, they were welcomed by people who spoke with a pure 15th century Castilian accent. Riffian warriors forced the Spaniards out in 1924, but the Spaniards returned in 1926 and left thirty years later.

The Great Mosque, with its octagonal minaret, built by Sharif Moulay Ali bin Rashid, may have been inspired by the Torre de Oro in Seville; it was restored in the 17th and 19 th centuries. Next door is a 16th century madrassa . The alley that separates mosque from kasbah leads to a zawya and a school where Fatima bint Ali Rashid, the “governess” of corsairs, is buried.