Tétouan
Tétouan is a city in northern Morocco. It lies along the Martil Valley and is one of the two major ports of Morocco on the Mediterranean Sea, a few miles south of the Strait of Gibraltar, and about E.S.E. of Tangier. The city has an estimated population of 469,465 inhabitants as of 2024. It is part of the administrative division Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima.
The city has witnessed many development cycles spanning over more than 2,000 years. The first settlements, discovered a few miles outside of the modern city limits, belonged to the ancient Mauretanians and date back to the 3rd century BC. A century later, Phoenicians traded there and after them the site—known now as the ancient town of Tamuda—became a Roman colony under Emperor Augustus.
In the late 13th century, the Marinids started by building a casbah and mosque in what is now the old city. Soon after in 1305, the scale of the settlement was expanded by sultan Abu Thabit Amir, who fortified the place. Around the early 15th century, the Castilians destroyed the settlement in retaliation for piracy.
The modern history of the city starts around the late 15th century. It was re-built and fortified by Ali al-Mandri, who emigrated from the Nasrid city of Granada in the decade before it fell into the hands of the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile as the War of Granada was completed in 1492. Thousands of Muslims and Jews from Andalusia settled in the north of Morocco and on the ruins of the city of Tétouan. The city went through a prosperous period of reconstruction and growth in various fields and became a center for the reception of Andalusian civilization. It is often linked to Granada and is nicknamed "Granada's Daughter"; some families still keep keys belonging to their old homes in Granada. It is also nicknamed "Pequeña Jerusalén" by Sephardi Jews. The vast majority of the population are Muslims and small Christian and Jewish communities also exist, although their presence has declined sharply in recent decades.
In 1913, Tétouan became the capital of the Spanish protectorate of Morocco, which was governed by the Khalifa, and the Spanish "Alto Comisario" accredited to him. It remained the capital until 1956, when Morocco regained its full independence.
Tétouan is a renowned multicultural center. The medina of Tétouan is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. It has also been part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in the area of Crafts and Folk Art since 2017.
Etymology
According to Leo Africanus, the name comes after the Goths bestowed the government of the town upon a woman with one eye and that the inhabitants called it Tetteguin, meaning "eye" in their language.The current name is first mentioned in 9th-century Arabic chronicles, after the death of Idris II.
According to Mohamed Chafik, the current name "Tetuan" is a Spanish deformation of the original Amazigh name "tiṭṭawin", plural form of "tiṭṭ" ⵜⵉⵟⵟ meaning "eye" or "water source". The term "tiṭṭ" appears in many location names in Morocco and the Maghreb. Mohamed Daoud cited 7 different spellings or pronunciations for the name of the city, including the most commonly used "Titouân", dating back to the 8th century, as well as "Tittâouîne" used by Ibn Khaldun, and "Tittâouen" used by locals and mentioned by Mohammed al-Idrissi.
History
''''''Phoenician and Roman presence
A few miles outside of the city limits lies the ancient town of Tamuda. Early settlements at the outskirts of the actual city by ancient Mauretanians date back to the 3rd century BC. Artifacts from both the Phoenician and the Roman era have been found at the site of Tamuda. It became a Roman colony under Emperor Augustus.Rebuilding the city-state
In 1286, the Marinids built a casbah and mosque there. The first large-scale building project took place in 1305 when the settlement was expanded by the Marinid sultan Abu Thabit Amir. He fortified the place and had it serve as a base for attacks on Ceuta, which had recently come under the rule of a rebellious member of the Marinid dynasty. In 1399, it was destroyed by the Castilians, because pirates used it for their attacks. The Portuguese were already occupying the neighboring Ceuta and in 1436, its commander Pedro de Menezes, 1st Count of Vila Real dispatched a detachment of his garrison under his son Duarte de Menezes to raid Tétouan - which was recovering from the Castillian destruction - in order to prevent it from becoming a threat to future Portuguese operations.By the end of the 15th century, it was rebuilt by refugees from the Reconquista, when the Andalusian Moors, led by Ali al-Mandri, a captain of the troops loyal to Boabdil, the last king of the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, took refuge in the ruined city. They first raised the walls and then filled the enclosure with houses. These Andalusians came into conflict with the Beni Hozmar tribe settling in Jebala lands, after which they asked the Wattasid sultan for protection. In response, he sent 80 soldiers. In turn, the Andalusians paid a large amount of mithqal, thus insuring their autonomy. Instantly, the Andalusians, assisted by tribes from the surrounding mountains, started harassing the Spanish possessions on the Moroccan coast. These attacks led to the destruction of the city's harbor by the Spanish in 1565. During this time, the city was governed by the Andalusian Abu Hassan al-Mandri and the city remained autonomous from the Saadi sultans, with the Saadis constantly trying to assert their power.
Piracy and ''Mazmorras''
As early as the 1530s and 1540s, at the time when Spain and the Ottoman Empire were disputing control over the western part of the Mediterranean, piracy was spreading and soon Tétouan became one of the main centers of piracy in the region. Corsairs considered it as a form of retaliation against the Spanish Reconquista that led to the loss of their homes back in al-Andalus, especially that the timing coincided with the first Morisco influx to Tétouan due to the forced conversions they faced in Spain between 1501 and 1526. Their collaborators included English and Dutch renegades who were mostly Protestants, although a few had converted to Islam.While the harbor served as a port from where piracy missions were launched, captives were taken to dungeons. There were underground prison complexes with a series of connected excavated caves called Mazmorras. The captives were faced with being sold to the slavery market if ransoms were not paid. These subterranean installations were rediscovered in the early 20th century. A chapel of 90 square meters and a few altars were also uncovered. The sacred site, named Nuestra Señora de los Dolores, was used by the captives and redeemers like their relatives or Spanish Franciscans and Portuguese Jesuits who used to make frequent visits to negotiate the Christian captives' freedom.
Miguel De Cervantes, himself a captive in Algiers, Algeria between 1575 and 1580, refers to Mazmorras in El juez de los divorcios, where the protagonist compares his marriage to "captivity in Tetouan's caves." He also mentions it in Don Quixote, in addition to talking about Tétouan in El trato de Argel, La gran sultana and La ilustre fregona. It is believed that he had contact with some prisoners who told him about the hardness of the dungeons of Tétouan. Diplomat and explorer Leo Africanus, while visiting the city, mentions in his book Description of Africa that there were 3,000 captives, although some historians dispute that figure. Other accounts came from captives themselves such as Germain Moüette, who spoke of horrible conditions lived inside those mazmorras in the late 17th century. Piracy continued and in 1829, the Austrian Empire bombarded the city in reprisal.
The underground prison was explored in 1922 by Cesar Luis de Montalban, based on a report by archaeologist Manuel Gómez-Moreno Martínez. The Spanish protectorate administration then commissioned architect Carlos Ovilo to study the site but they found out that no excavation could be possible without taking the risk of damaging the housing above the site. Since then, no excavation has taken place, although recently, some researchers and civil associations have called for the authorities to extend exploration and restoration before opening it to the public.
Late military history
In the 17th century, the city was governed by the wealthy al-Naksis family. At the end of the century, the city was taken by the Alaouite sultan Moulay Ismail, who encountered fierce resistance. Tétouan remained fragile, until it was taken by the Alaouite governor of Tangier and leader of a moroccan army that had occupied Tangier after the English had evacuated the possession. The Alaouite governor ushered in a period of stability in Tétouan, building many of the city's landmarks such as the Meshwar palace and the Pasha mosque, the oldest standing mosque in Tétouan. After his death, the city again rebelled and was only nominally controlled by the central government.Elements of military constructions can be found in the original fortifications such as the three forts, the seven gates, and the large outer walls that surround the old medina. They have survived despite the changes that occurred through the expansions known to the city during multiple periods.
Tétouan received a number of Algerian immigrants following the French invasion of Algiers in 1830. According to Bouhlila, they introduced baklava, coffee, and the warqa pastry now used in pastilla. For Gil Marks, it was rather the Sephardic Jews who introduced the Ottoman warqa, which the Moroccans substituted for the Spanish pastry.
Hispano-Moroccan War and the Spanish protectorate
In 1844, Morocco lost a war against the French and in 1856, it signed the Anglo-Moroccan treaties of Friendship with the British. The Spaniards saw Morocco's defeat in 1844 and the treaties signed in 1856 as a sign of its weakness. Spurred by a national passion for African conquest, Spain declared war on Morocco in 1859 after a conflict over the borders of Ceuta.After a few months, Tétouan was taken on 4 February 1860 under the command of General Leopoldo O'Donnell, who was a descendant of an old Irish royal family, the O'Donnells of Tyrconnell. He was made hereditary Duke of Tetuán, and later served as Prime Minister of Spain. However, two years later the Spanish evacuated in May 1862.
In 1913, it became the capital of the Spanish protectorate of Morocco, which was governed by the Khalifa, and the Spanish "Alto Comisario" accredited to him, and it remained its capital until 1956.