Formerly Known Amogdul (the well-guarded) in Berber, Mogdura Portuguese, English and Mogadur French Mogador, Essaouira (The well-drawn) is a port city on Morocco's Atlantic coast with about 70,000 inhabitants and the capital of the province of the same name which has about 500,000 inhabitants.
Its medina is listed as World Heritage by UNESCO. Geography: Port located on the Atlantic coast, 173 km north of Agadir, 176 km west of Marrakech and 360 km south of Casablanca . History: According to tradition, after the founding of Carthage in 814 BC. BC Punic traders headed for the far West, to Essaouira, to install ladders, countertops. The first men on whom there is information there spoke a Berber language. Therefore Essaouira, this anchorage used by the Carthaginian navigator Hannon from the sixth century BC. AD, protected from winds and high in water, served for several centuries an outpost on the road to Cape Verde and Ecuador. By the third century BC. BC, Berbers formed themselves into a monarchy.
The region came under Roman influence in the wake of the Third Punic War in 146 BC. AD. Rome was a client state of that kingdom whose ruler was the most illustrious Juba II. The king favored the installation crew and the development of meat-packing industry and purple. This second activity (production dye from a shell: the murex) explains Fame Purpuraires Islands (off Essaouira) until the end of the Roman Empire. This color, with the ancients, was synonymous with a high social rank. In 42 AD. AD, Rome finally annex the Berber kingdom to convert it into a Roman province of Mauretania Tingitane.
the Middle Ages, the Portuguese sailors measure all the benefits of the bay and named the city Mogador, deformation probably named Sidi Mogdoul, a local marabout. Jews have a special status as intermediaries between the Sultan and the foreign powers, forced to install a House in Essaouira consular (There were even ten in the Kasbah). They are called "merchants of the king" or "consular". They have, for example, a monopoly on wheat sales to Christians, it is forbidden to Muslims. The new city: In 1764, Sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah decided to move its naval base in Essaouira, where the pirates will punish the inhabitants of Agadir in revolt against his authority. He appealed to Theodore Cornut, a French architect in the pay of British Gibraltar. The Sultan received him with all the honors due to a great artist and entrusted the implementation of the new city "in the middle of the sand and wind, where there was nothing. " Cornut from Avignon, who had been employed by Louis XV to the fortifications of Roussillon, worked three years to build the port and the Kasbah, whose original plan is preserved in the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris. It seems that the second ramparts and Medina were drawn well after the departure of Cornut. The sultan had wanted to extend their cooperation, blaming the French for being too expensive and have worked for the British enemy. Very consistent with his plan, the city earned its present name Es Saouira, which means "the Well-Designed .
The importance of Essaouira has continued to grow until the early nineteenth century, the city experienced a great prosperity thanks to the large Jewish community. It had up to 17,000 Jews only 10,000 Muslims. The Moroccan bourgeoisie flocked to buy jewelry. It has long been nicknamed the port of Timbuktu, as the caravans laden with gold, spices and slaves from Africa were traded Saharan. Trade was flourishing. But most Jews left after the Six Day War. Today, there remain only a few Jewish families in ville.Pendant years, this was the only Moroccan port opened to foreign trade. The decline began with the French protectorate and the development of other ports (Casablanca, Tangier, Agadir). Hampered by its shallow waters and can not accommodate large modern ships, the city does have a spectacular renaissance over the past fifteen years, mainly due to tourism revival but also his vocation culturelle.Essaouira is now the county Instead of a province of 500,000 inhabitants, mostly farmers. The city is united by a cooperative venture with Saint-Malo, under the auspices of Unesco. Twin city of La Rochelle.
Kasbah Essaouira: Facing the ocean Atlantic sometimes angry, the Scala de la Kasbah is an old battery 200 meters long which are aligned guns from Spain. It is on these walls that sheltered privateers Sultan Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdallah turned his Orson Welles film Othello. Sardine Fishing
: Old Port site, Essaouira, the former Mogador and Portuguese and French, of modest proportions, is being increasingly challenged by larger ports for the sardine fishery along the Atlantic coast.
Tourism: Tourism is increasingly important in Essaouira, with nice hotels located in traditional Moroccan riads in the old city. There are also hotels modern along the beach. Essaouira is also famous for windsurfing and kite surfing, thanks to powerful winds that blow almost constantly in the bay. Some photographs
source: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essaouira
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