page_title: Tangier
section_title: Modern
hierarchical_section_title: Tangier / History / Modern
caption_attribution_description: 1904 cartoon. United States threatening Morocco for release of citizen held.
context_page_description: Tangier, also Tangiers is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Maghreb coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the capital of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, as well as the Tangier-Assilah prefecture of Morocco.
  Many civilisations and cultures have influenced the history of Tangier, starting from before the 10th century BCE. Between the period of being a strategic Berber town and then a Phoenician trading centre to the independence era around the 1950s, Tangier was a nexus for many cultures. In 1923, it was considered as having international status by foreign colonial powers and became a destination for many European and American diplomats, spies, writers and businessmen.
  The city is currently undergoing rapid development and modernisation. Projects include new tourism projects along the bay, a modern business district called Tangier City Centre, a new airport terminal, and a new football stadium. Tangier's economy is also set to benefit greatly from the new Tanger-Med port.
context_section_description: When the Portuguese started their colonial expansion by taking Ceuta in retribution for its piracy in 1415, Tangier was always a major goal. They failed to capture it in 1437, 1458, and 1464, but occupied it unopposed on 28 August 1471 after its garrison fled upon learning of the conquest of Asilah. As in Ceuta, they converted its chief mosque into the town's cathedral church; it was further embellished by several restorations during the town's occupation. In addition to the cathedral, the Portuguese raised European-style houses and Franciscan and Dominican chapels and monasteries. The Wattasids assaulted Tangier in 1508, 1511, and 1515 but without success. In the 17th century, it passed with the rest of Portugal's domains into Spanish control as part of the personal union of the crowns but maintained its Portuguese garrison and administration.
  Iberian rule lasted until 1661, when it was given to England's King Charles II as part of the dowry of the Portuguese infanta Catherine of Braganza. A squadron under the admiral and ambassador Edward Montagu arrived in November. English Tangier, fully occupied in January 1662, was praised by Charles as "a jewell of immense value in the royal diadem" despite the departing Portuguese taking away everything they could, even—according to the official report—"the very fflowers, the Windowes and the Dores". Tangier received a garrison and a charter which made it equal to other English towns, but the religious orders were expropriated, the Portuguese residents nearly entirely left, and the town's Jews were driven out owing to fears concerning their loyalty. Meanwhile, the Tangier Regiment were almost constantly under attack by locals who considered themselves mujahideen fighting a holy war. Their principal leader was Khadir Ghaïlan (known to the English as "Gayland" or "Guyland") of the Banu Gurfat, whom the Earl of Peterborough attempted to buy off. Ultimately, the truce only lasted for part of 1663 and 1664; on May 4 of the latter year, the Earl of Teviot and around 470 members of the garrison were killed in an ambush beside Jew's Hill. Lord Belasyse happened to secure a longer-lasting treaty in 1666: Khadir Ghaïlan hoped to support a pretender against the new Alawid sultan Al-Rashid and things subsequently went so badly for him that he was obliged to abide by its terms until his death in 1673.
  The English took advantage of the respite to improve greatly the Portuguese defences. They also planned to improve the harbour by building a mole, which would have allowed it to play the same role that Gibraltar later played in British naval strategy. Incompetence, waste and outright fraud and embezzlement caused costs to swell; among those enriched was Samuel Pepys. The mole cost £340,000 and reached 1,436 ft (438 m) long before its destruction. Although funding was found for the fortifications, the garrison's pay was delayed until in December 1677 it was 2​¹⁄₄ years in arrears; Governor Fairborne dealt with the ensuing mutiny by seizing one of the soldier's muskets and killing him with it on the spot.
  An attempt by Sultan Moulay Ismail of Morocco to seize the town in 1679 was unsuccessful; but longstanding exasperation with the colony's finances and a crippling blockade by Jaysh al-Rifi pushed Parliament to write off the effort in 1680. At the time, Tangier's population consisted of only about 700 apart from the thousand-man garrison; Governor Kirke estimated 400 of them had suffered gonorrhea from the same "mighty pretty" whore. Forces under Lord Dartmouth (including Samuel Pepys) methodically destroyed the town and its port facilities for five months prior to Morocco's occupation of the city on 7 February 1684.
  Ali ibn Abdallah and his son Ahmed ibn Ali served in turn as the town's governors until 1743, repopulating it with Berbers from the surrounding countryside. They were powerful enough to oppose Sultan Abdallah through his various reigns, giving support and asylum to his various rivals within and without the royal family.
  The Spanish attacked the city in 1790 but the city grew until, by
caption: A 1904 editorial cartoon illustrating the gunboat diplomacy involved in resolving the Perdicaris Incident.
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