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Tangier (or Tangiers)

Port in north Morocco, on the Strait of Gibraltar, 58 km/36 mi southwest of Gibraltar; population (urban area, 1994 est) 497,100. Cigarette manufacturing is the most important industry, though, with the attractions of the Great Souk (market), the Casbah (citadel), and Great Mosque of the old town, tourism has become important to the economy. There are also fisheries, market gardens, textiles, and preserving industries. Tangier, long a terminus of trans-Saharan caravan trade routes, is also the northern terminus of the Tangier-Fès railway.

History

Tangier was first known as a Phoenician trading port in the 15th century BC, and later a Carthaginian settlement. It was the capital of the Roman province of Mauretania Tingitana and was later occupied by Vandals, Byzantines, and Muslims 705-1471. Captured by the Portuguese in 1471, it passed to England in 1662 as part of the dowry of Catherine of Braganza, but was abandoned in 1684, and later became a lair of Barbary Coast pirates. From 1923 Tangier and a small surrounding enclave became an international zone, administered by Spain 1940-45. In 1956 it was transferred to independent Morocco and became a free port in 1962.

Features The city is surrounded by old walls and dominated by a kasbah (fort). The ‘Great Souk’ (market place) is the end of the Saharan and Sudan caravan routes.

International zone The Algeciras Act of 1906 (Algeciras Conference) recognized Tangier and the surrounding territory (583 sq km/225 sq mi) as an international zone in the widest sense, and under the Treaty of Fès (November 1912) Tangier was to become its centre. The status of Tangier remained undetermined until 1923; but in that year Britain and France drew up a statute, to which Spain added its signature in 1924, making Tangier an international city. This statute remained in force until 1940. All the countries that had acceded to the Algeciras Act were invited to accept the 1923-24 statute, and with the exception of Italy and the USA, did so. (The USSR was not invited.)

World War II Both France and Spain, sometimes separately, and at other times in conjunction, attempted to obtain complete control; but these attempts were unsuccessful until June 1940, following the collapse of France and Italy's entry into the war. On 14 June 1940 Spanish troops occupied Tangier and in November Tangier was incorporated into the Spanish zone of Morocco. Under pressure, Spain formally undertook to keep the zone demilitarized. In 1945 Spain agreed to withdraw its troops from Tangier; the international city status was restored; and a general settlement reached regarding the future of this status.

Independence On 2 March 1956 France agreed to the abrogation of the Treaty of Fès, and recognized the independence of Morocco. Following a meeting of the interested powers in Rabat in July, a nine-power conference on the future of Tangier signed a declaration in October, abolishing the international regime as from 1 January 1957, when Tangier became an integral part of Morocco.

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