Essaouira
Essaouira
الصويرة | |
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UTC+1 (CET ) | |
Official name | Medina of Essaouira (formerly Mogador) |
Criteria | Cultural: ii, iv |
Reference | 753 |
Inscription | 2001 (25th Session) |
Area | 30 ha |
Buffer zone | 15 ha |
Essaouira (
The foundation of the city of Essaouira was the work of the Moroccan
Medina of Essaouira was designated by the UNESCO a World Heritage Site in 2001.
Name and etymology
The name of the city is usually spelled Essaouira in Latin script, and الصويرة in Arabic script. Both spellings represent its name in
Until the 1960s, Essaouira was generally known by its
History
Antiquity
Essaouira has long been considered one of the best anchorages of the Moroccan coast. The Carthaginian navigator Hanno visited in the 5th century BCE and established the trading post of Arambys.
Around the end of the 1st century BCE or early 1st century CE, the
A Roman villa was excavated on
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Mogador island, Essaouira. Sidi Mohammed ben Abdallah Museum.
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Beticaamphora found in Essaouira, 1-2nd century CE.
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Aegeanamphora found in Essaouira, 3-4th century CE.
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Roman coins excavated in Essaouira, 3rd century.
Early modern period
During the
Portuguese establishment (1506–1510)
In 1506, the king of Portugal, D.
The
During the 16th century, powers including Spain, England, the Netherlands and France tried in vain to conquer the locality. Essaouira remained a haven for the export of sugar and
De Razilly expedition (1629)
France was involved in an early attempt to colonize Mogador in 1629. As
He departed for Salé on 20 July 1629 with a fleet composed of the ships Licorne, Saint-Louis, Griffon, Catherine, Hambourg, Sainte-Anne, Saint-Jean. He bombarded the city of Salé, destroyed three corsair ships, and then sent the Griffon under Captain Treillebois to Mogador. The men of Razilly saw the fortress of Castelo Real in Mogador and landed 100 men with wood and supplies on Mogador island, with the agreement of Richelieu. After a few days, however, the Griffon reembarked the colonists and departed to rejoin the fleet in Salé.[9]
After these expeditions, France signed a treaty with Abd el-Malek II in 1631, giving France preferential treatment, known as "capitulations": preferential tariffs, the establishment of a Consulate, and freedom of religion for French subjects.[10]
Foundation of modern Essaouira (1760–1770)
The present city of Essaouira was built during the mid-eighteenth century by the Moroccan King.
For 12 years, Mohammed III directed a French engineer, Théodore Cornut, and several other Moroccan and European architects and technicians to build the fortress and city along modern lines.[12][13] Originally called "Souira" ("the small fortress"), the name became "Es-Saouira" ("the beautifully designed").
Thédore Cornut designed and built the city itself, particularly the Kasbah area, corresponding to the royal quarters and the buildings for Christian merchants and diplomats. Other parts were built by other architects, including Moroccan architects especially from Fez, Marrakesh, and Rabat. The harbour entrance, with the "Porte de la Marine", was built by an English renegade by the name of Ahmed el Inglizi ("Ahmed the English") or Ahmed El Alj ("Ahmed the Renegade").[13] Mohammed III took numerous steps to encourage the development of Essaouira including closing off the harbour of Agadir to the south in 1767 so that southern trade could be redirected through Essaouira. European communities in the northern harbour of Rabat-Salé were ordered to move to Essaouira through an ordinance of 21 January 1765.[citation needed]
From the time of its rebuilding by Muhammad III until the end of the nineteenth century, Essaouira served as Morocco's principal port, offering the goods of the
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City walls.
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The ramparts from the Medina.
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The Genoese-built citadel by the harbour.
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Harbour scala.
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tower and walls
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Dutch cannon made by Adrianus Crans in The Hague in 1744, installed in Essaouira.
Jewish presence
Mohammed III encouraged Moroccan Jews to settle in the town and handle the trade with Europe. Jews once comprised the majority of the population,[14] and the Jewish quarter (or mellah) contains many old synagogues. The town also has a large Jewish cemetery. The city flourished until the caravan trade died, superseded by direct European shipping trade with sub-Saharan Africa.[15] Changes in trade, the founding of Israel, the resulting wars with Arab states, and the independence of Morocco all resulted in Sephardic Jews leaving the country. As of 2017, Essaouira had only three Jewish inhabitants.[16] On 15 January 2020, King Mohammed VI visited Bayt Dakira, a Jewish heritage house, in Essaouira.[17]
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Old Jewish quarter in Essaouira.
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Jewish cemetery in Essaouira.
European trade and diplomacy
In the 19th century, Essaouira became the first seaport of Morocco, with trade volumes about double those of Rabat.[18] The city functioned as the harbour for Marrakesh, as it was only a few days from the inland city.[19] Diplomatic and trade representations were established by European powers in Essouira.[20] In the 1820s, European diplomats were concentrated in either Tangier or Essaouira.[21]
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Remains of the 19th-century Dutch Consulate in Essaouira.
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Remains of the 19th-century Portuguese Consulate in Essaouira.
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Former Essaouira English Consulate.
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Former French Consulate in Essaouira.
French interventions and Protectorate
Following Morocco's alliance with Algeria's
From 1912 to 1956, Essaouira was part of the
France had an important administrative, military and economic presence. Essaouira had a Franco-Moroccan school, still visible in Derb Dharb street. Linguistically, many Moroccans of Essaouira speak French fluently today.
Recent years
In the early 1950s film director and actor Orson Welles stayed at the Hotel des Iles just south of the town walls during the filming of his 1952 classic version of "Othello" which contains several memorable scenes shot in the labyrinthine streets and alleyways of the medina. Legend has it that during Welles' sojourn in the town he met Winston Churchill, another guest at the Hotel des Iles. A bas-relief of Orson Welles is located in a small square just outside the medina walls close to the sea. Several other film directors have utilized Essaouira as a location due to the photogenic and atmospheric qualities.
The town was used in the filming of "The Game of Thrones" as the home of the Army of the Unsullied. The scene of the rows of crucified slaves were props to cover the Portuguese cannons.
Beginning in the late 1960s, Essaouira became something of a hippie hangout.[22][23]
Geography
Essaouira is protected by a natural bay partially shielded from wave action by the
Essaouira connects to
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Essaouira viewed from space.
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The desert road between Marrakesh and Essaouira.
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Argantree near Essaouira.
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Essaouira beach.
Climate
Essaouira's climate is semi-arid (BSk/BSh) with mild temperatures year round. The gap between highs and lows is small and summers are warm while winters are mild. Annual rainfall is usually 300 to 500 millimetres (12 to 20 in). The highest temperature ever recorded in Essaouira was 48.3 °C (118.9 °F) on 8 July 2022.[26] The lowest temperature ever recorded was 1.1 °C (34.0 °F) on 20 January 1988. The lowest maximum temperature ever recorded was 11.8 °C (53.2 °F) on 15 February 2018. The highest minimum temperature ever recorded was 26.7 °C (80.1 °F) on 13 October 2017. The maximum amount of precipitation recorded in one day was 99.1 millimetres (3.90 in) on 8 March 2013.[27]
Climate data for Essaouira (1991-2020, extremes 1966–present, humidity and sun 1961-1990) | |||||||||||||
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Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 28.9 (84.0) |
36.4 (97.5) |
33.8 (92.8) |
35.7 (96.3) |
32.0 (89.6) |
38.0 (100.4) |
48.3 (118.9) |
38.0 (100.4) |
32.0 (89.6) |
38.0 (100.4) |
33.2 (91.8) |
30.0 (86.0) |
48.3 (118.9) |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 18.5 (65.3) |
18.8 (65.8) |
19.5 (67.1) |
19.4 (66.9) |
20.3 (68.5) |
21.4 (70.5) |
21.7 (71.1) |
22.2 (72.0) |
22.4 (72.3) |
22.2 (72.0) |
20.7 (69.3) |
19.7 (67.5) |
20.6 (69.0) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | 14.9 (58.8) |
15.5 (59.9) |
16.6 (61.9) |
16.9 (62.4) |
18.0 (64.4) |
19.3 (66.7) |
19.7 (67.5) |
20.1 (68.2) |
20.2 (68.4) |
19.6 (67.3) |
17.6 (63.7) |
16.0 (60.8) |
17.9 (64.2) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 11.2 (52.2) |
12.2 (54.0) |
13.6 (56.5) |
14.3 (57.7) |
15.6 (60.1) |
17.1 (62.8) |
17.7 (63.9) |
18.1 (64.6) |
18.0 (64.4) |
17.0 (62.6) |
14.5 (58.1) |
12.4 (54.3) |
15.1 (59.3) |
Record low °C (°F) | 1.1 (34.0) |
5.0 (41.0) |
1.8 (35.2) |
9.0 (48.2) |
6.0 (42.8) |
13.0 (55.4) |
14.2 (57.6) |
13.0 (55.4) |
10.4 (50.7) |
10.0 (50.0) |
3.0 (37.4) |
5.0 (41.0) |
1.1 (34.0) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 66.4 (2.61) |
45.4 (1.79) |
54.3 (2.14) |
19.0 (0.75) |
14.1 (0.56) |
1.1 (0.04) |
2.0 (0.08) |
1.4 (0.06) |
3.2 (0.13) |
26.8 (1.06) |
68.9 (2.71) |
61.6 (2.43) |
364.2 (14.36) |
Average precipitation days | 5.9 | 5.2 | 5.5 | 3.4 | 2.0 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 3.4 | 6.0 | 6.1 | 39.5 |
Average relative humidity (%)
|
80 | 81 | 81 | 82 | 82 | 84 | 86 | 86 | 84 | 83 | 80 | 81 | 83 |
Mean monthly sunshine hours | 208.5 | 204.9 | 247.2 | 264.0 | 289.5 | 290.9 | 301.6 | 291.4 | 251.8 | 234.1 | 197.0 | 197.6 | 2,978.5 |
Source 1: NOAA,[28] (February record high)[29] | |||||||||||||
Source 2: Deutscher Wetterdienst (extremes and humidity)[30][31][27][32][26] |
Essaouira today
The Medina of Essaouira (formerly "Mogador") is a UNESCO World Heritage listed city, an example of a late 18th-century fortified town, as transferred to North Africa by European colonists.
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Xiphias gladius, Essaouira
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Fishmarket in Essaouira
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Funfair in Essaouira
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Fishermen in Essaouira after a bountiful fishing day
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Clock tower in Essaouira
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Essaouira book market.
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Saidi-Souiri type Essaouira carpet.
Accommodation
There are only a handful of modern purpose-built hotels within the walls of the old city. Newer international hotels have been built along the sea front, with local planning regulations restricting buildings to 4 storeys in height.[
Activities
The
The fishing
Essaouira is also renowned for its
Essaouira is also a center of argan oil production. It has become a tourist attraction due to the tree-climbing goats who are unique to the region, as argan trees are the only type the goats climb.[34]
Education
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2016) |
There is a French international school in Essaouira, Groupe scolaire Eric-Tabarly.[35]
Culture
Since 1998, the
Sights
Jewish quarter "Mellah" of Essaouira's old medina
- Bayt Dakira - "House of Memory" (Jewish museum)
- Chaim Pinto Synagogue
- Jewish cemeteries of Essaouira (old and new)
- Gravesite of Rabbi Haim Pinto
- Medina
- Fortifications:
- Sqala du Port
- Sqala de la Kasbah
- The most picturesque gates:
- Port de la Marine
- Bab Manjana with clocktower
- Tagart beach (with sand dunes)
- Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption church (catholic, operational)
- Sidi Mogdoul mosque
- Sidi Mogdoul lighthouse
- Ben Youssef mosque[37]
International relations
Essaouira is twinned with:[38][39]
- Changshu, China
- La Rochelle, France
Notable people
- Albert Almoznino, hand shadow artist
- André Azoulay, adviser to the king
- David Bensoussan, memoirist[40][41]
- David Hanania Pinto, rabbi
- Edmond Amran El Maleh, writer
- Jacques Amir, politician
- Mahmoud Guinia, Gnawa musician
- Meir Cohen, politician
- Victor Elmaleh, businessman and athlete
See also
- Haha
- Regraga
- Tensift River
- Souira Guedima
- Gnaoua World Music Festival
- Gnaoua
- André Jodin
- William Willshire
Notes
- High Commission for Planning, Morocco. 8 April 2015. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
- ^ On the formation of diminutive nouns in Moroccan Arabic, see R.S. Harrell, A short reference grammar of Moroccan Arabic (Washington, D.C., 1962), p. 81.
- ^ See T. Fox and M. Abu-Talib, A Dictionary of Moroccan Arabic (Washington, D.C., 1966), p. 148.
- ^ Mac Guckin de Slane (ed. and transl.), Description de l'Afrique septentrionale par el-Bekri (Alger 1913), Arabic text p. 86 مرسى امقدول marsá Ameqdūl "the port of Ameqdūl", translation p. 175 Amegdoul (Amegdul), with footnote: "Le tombeau ou chapelle de Sîdi Megdoul est situé tout auprès de Mogador; ce dernier est une altération de Megdoul".
- ^ Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. "Medina of Essaouira (formerly Mogador)". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
- ^ Marokko Ingeborg Lehmann, Rita Henss p.243
- ^ City walls: the urban enceinte in global perspective, James D. Tracy, p.352
- ^ Notes to The History and Description of Africa and of the Notable Things Therein by Leo Africanus p.338
- ^ E.J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936, Volume 9 by Martijn Theodoor Houtsma, p.549
- ^ France in the age of Louis XIII and Richelieu by Victor Lucien Tapié p.259
- ISBN 0253210410.
Essaouira.
- ^ a b c The Anglo American, Volume 3 by Alexander D. Paterson p.521
- ^ a b Of Essaouira: "He employed European architects to design it, one a Frenchman said to be his prisoner, and the other an Englishman, converted to Islam and known as Ahmed el-Inglizi— otherwise Ahmed the Englishman." in Morocco, Dorothy Hales Gary, Baron Patrick Balfour Kinross, Viking Press, 1971, p.35
- ^ "Moroccan schools to teach Jewish history and culture". 13 December 2020.
- ^ The Sultan's Jew: Morocco and the Sephardi World by Daniel J. Schroeter, pp. 17 ff
- ^ "Morocco's little idyll of Jewish-Muslim coexistence". The Economist. 2 November 2017.
- ^ "Moroccan king visits restored Bayt Dakira in Essaouira". Middle East Online. 16 January 2020.
- ^ The Anglo American, Volume 3 by Alexander D. Paterson p.520 ff
- ^ The sultan's Jew: Morocco and the Sephardi world by Daniel J. Schroete,r p.125
- ^ The sultan's Jew: Morocco and the Sephardi world by Daniel J. Schroeter p.17
- ^ The sultan's Jew: Morocco and the Sephardi world by Daniel J. Schroeter, p.121
- ^ Day, Meagan (20 October 2016). "The 1970s Hippie Trail: drugs, danger, and a magical pudding shop in Asia". Timeline. Archived from the original on 22 May 2023. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
- ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
- ^ C.Michael Hogan, Mogador: promontory fort, The Megalithic Portal, ed. Andy Burnham, 2 November 2007 [1]
- ISBN 0-231-03869-0
- ^ a b "60222: Essaouira - Mogador Intl. Airport (Morocco)". ogimet.com. OGIMET. 8 July 2022. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
- ^ a b "Météo climat stats | Station Essaouira / Données Météorologiques Gratuites".
- ^ "Essaouira Climate Normals 1961–1990". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
- ^ "Asia: Highest Temperature". Ogimet. Archived from the original on June 16, 2010. Retrieved June 19, 2010.
- ^ "Klimatafel von Essaouira (Mogador) / Marokko" (PDF). Baseline climate means (1961–1990) from stations all over the world (in German). Deutscher Wetterdienst. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
- ^ "Climate Essaouira - Climate data (602200)".
- ^ "Météo climat stats | Moyennes 1991/2020 / Données Météorologiques Gratuites".
- ^ Planet, Lonely. "Sidi Kaouki, Morocco – Lonely Planet". Lonely Planet. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
- ^ "Essaouira". Nomad's Travel.
- AEFE. Retrieved on 12 May 2016. "25 rue Princesse Lalla Hasna, Quartier des Dunes, 44000 Essaouira"
- ^ Gnaoua Festival Press Kit Archived 28 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Essaouira guide book". Morocco.FalkTime. 5 October 2018. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
- ^ "La diversité de la culture et des traditions de Chine sous les feux des projecteurs à Essaouira". maroc-diplomatique.net (in French). Maroc Diplomatique. 18 December 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
- ^ "Jumelage et partenariat". larochelle.fr (in French). La Rochelle. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
- ^ ""La Rosace du Roi Salomon", nouveau roman de David Bensoussan". Le Mag. 14 November 2011. Archived from the original on 3 July 2015. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
- ^ "Le judaïsme marocain est "bien vivant"". Atlas. 8 November 2011. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
Further reading
- David Bensoussan & Asher Knafo, "Mariage juif à Mogador" Éditions Du Lys, www.editionsdulys.ca, Montréal, 2004 (ISBN 2-922505-15-4)
- David Bensoussan, Le fils de Mogador, www.editionsdulys.ca,Éditions Du Lys, Montréal, 2002 (ISBN 978-2-922505-21-4)
- David Bensoussan, Il était une fois le Maroc : témoignages du passé judéo-marocain, éd. du Lys, www.editionsdulys.ca, Montréal, 2010 (ISBN 978-1-4759-2609-5, Prix Haïm Zafrani de l'Institut universitaire Élie Wiesel, Paris 2012.
- David Bensoussan, La rosace du roi Salomon, Les Éditions Du Lys,www.editionsdulys.ca, 2011, ISBN 978-2-922505-23-8.
- ISBN 9981889180
- Jean-Marie Thiébaud, Consuls et vice-consuls de France à Mogador (Maroc), L'Harmattan, 2010 Harmattan.fr
- Jean-Marie Thiébaud, Les Inscriptions du cimetière [chrétien] de Mogador (Essaouira, Maroc) – étude épigraphique et généalogique, L'Harmattan, 2010 Harmattan.fr
- Doris Byer: Essaouira, endlich, Wien 2004, ISBN 978-3-8542-0651-4
- Brigitte Tast, Hans-Juergen Tast: Still the wind cries Jimi. Hendrix in Marokko, Schellerten 2012, ISBN 978-3-88842-040-5
- Brigitte Tast, Hans-Jürgen Tast: Orson Welles – Othello – Mogador. Aufenthalte in Essaouira, Kulleraugen Vis.Komm. Nr. 42, Schellerten 2013, ISBN 978-3-88842-042-9