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. As of 2024, the city has an estimated population of 469,465 inhabitants. It is part of the administrative division Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima.
Over the span of more than 2,000 years, Tétouan has witnessed many development cycles. Dating back to the 3rd century BC, Tétouan's first settlements, discovered a few miles outside of the modern city limits, belonged to the ancient Mauretanians. In the 2nd century BC, the Phoenicians traded there and after them the site, known now as the ancient town of Tamuda, became a Roman city under Emperor Augustus.M. Tarradell, El poblamiento antiguo del Rio Martin, Tamuda, IV, 1957, p. 272M. R. El Azifi, « L'habitat ancien de la vallée de Martil » in Revue de la Faculté des lettres de Tétouan, 1990, 4e année, n° 4, p. 65-81.
In the late 13th century, the Marinids built a casbah and mosque in what is now Tétouan's old city. In 1305, the scale of the settlement was expanded by sultan Abu Thabit Amir, who fortified the place.Ali ibn-abi-Zar' (1326) - Rawd Al-Kirtas (Histoire des souverains du Maghreb et annales de la ville de Fès. Traduction française Auguste Beaumier. Editions La Porte, Rabat, 1999, p. 325) 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.
Hundreds of thousands of Muslims (Moriscos) and Jews (Marranos) from Andalusia settled in northern Morocco, and on the ruins of the city of Tétouan. The city went through a prosperous period of reconstruction and growth in various fields, becoming a major center of Andalusian civilization.
Tétouan is linked to Granada, and it is nicknamed "Granada's Daughter" (Spanish: "La Hija de Granada" or "La Paloma Blanca"). To this day, many families keep keys belonging to their old homes in Granada. It is also nicknamed "Pequeña Jerusalén" (Little Jerusalem) by Sephardic Jews. Today, the majority of Tétouan's population is Muslim. Although their presence has declined during recent decades, Christian and Jewish communities also exist.
In 1913, Tétouan became the capital of the Spanish protectorate of Morocco (1912-1956) which was governed by the Khalifa (Moroccan princes serving as Viceroys for the Sultan) and a Spanish "Alto Comisario" accredited to them. The city remained the Spanish protectorate's capital until 1956, when Morocco regained its full independence.
Tétouan is a renowned multicultural center. Since 1997, the medina of Tétouan is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Since 2017, it has also been part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in the area of Crafts and Folk Art.
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.Tetouan, Halima Ferhat, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Vol. X, 549.
According to Mohamed Chafik, the current name "Tetuán" () is a Spanish deformation of the original Amazigh name "tiṭṭawin" (), plural form of "tiṭṭ" meaning "eye" or "water source". The term "tiṭṭ" appears in many location names in Morocco and the Maghreb (for example Tit Mellil). Mohamed Daoud cited seven different spellings or pronunciations for the city's name, 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. Ancient Mauretanian settlements at the outskirts of the city date to the 3rd century BC. Artifacts from both the Phoenician and the Roman eras have been found at the site of Tamuda.
Rebuilding the city-state
In 1286, the Marinids built a casbah and mosque in Tétouan. 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 Muslim and Jewish refugees of the Reconquista. The Andalusian Arabs, 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. The 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 (according to one chronicle, 40 natives of Fez and 40 Riffians). In turn, the Andalusians paid a large amount of mithqal, thus insuring their autonomy. Assisted by tribes from the surrounding mountains, the Andalusian refugees started harassing the Castilian possessions on the Moroccan coast. In 1565, these attacks led to the destruction of the city's harbor by Castilian forces. 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' continued attempts 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 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 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 (Our Lady of Sorrows), 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 (The Divorce Judge), where the protagonist compares his marriage to "captivity in Tétouan's caves." He also mentions tin Don Quixote, in addition to similar references 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 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 after 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 Sephardic Jews who introduced the Ottoman warqa, which was 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 (Moroccan prince, serving as Viceroy for the Sultan), and the Spanish "Alto Comisario" accredited to him, and it remained its capital until 1956.
The nationalist movement