Tetouan

Tetouan (Arabic: تطوان‎), sometimes nicknamed "The White Dove", is a city in northern Morocco, located in the vicinity of the Mediterranean Sea, near Tangier and the Spanish city of Ceuta. It has around 380,787 inhabitants, according to the 2014 census. Former capital of the Spanish protectorate of Morocco, it is currently the summer residence of King Mohamed VI. It is the city in Morocco with the most Andalusian features.

History

Ancient Age

Human presence in the Tetouan region dates back to 5000 BC. C., as evidenced by the Ibero-Mauritanian industries found in the Taht El Ghar cave, south of the city, and in El Ghar Lakhal, near Ceuta.

The city had existed since the III century BC. There are vestiges of Phoenician and Roman times from the ancient city of Tamuda. The study of this settlement is part of the program of Archaeological Projects Abroad of the Ministry of Culture of Spain. The Phoenicians established an emporium at the mouth of the Oued Martil.

Middle Ages

The first mention of the city is due to the Andalusian geographer Abou Oubayd Al Bakri in the XI century, the following come from from Almohad fonts from the 12th century century.

Around 1305, the Merinid Abu Tábit established a fortified city on an existing Berber population, mainly to serve as a rear guard for the attack on the Portuguese colony of Ceuta. In 1399 it was attacked by Enrique III el Doliente of Castile to protect his ships from the pirates and corsairs who had made it their refuge. In 1437 Portuguese troops razed the city.

After the occupation of Ceuta by the Portuguese in 1415, the main city in the north of the kingdom of Fez, the development of Tetouan accelerated, a strategic base as a starting point for military expeditions against the occupiers and as the main open port to the Mediterranean sea.

In 1483-1484 the first Andalusian refugees arrived, coming from the Píñar fortress, under the command of the Granada captain and mayor Sidi Al-Mandari or Mandri. He rebuilt and fortified the city and a period of great splendor began. The city also became a refuge for Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain. The nucleus of the old city comes from this period, the neighborhood that the locals call bled, that is, "the town" par excellence. Sidi Mandri is one of the most famous rulers of Tetouan, who was assisted in government and succeeded after his death by his wife, Zaida Aljorra or Sayyida al-Hurra ("the Free Lady"), a powerful woman of Andalusian origins who would come to marry the sultan of Morocco.

According to the historian Skirej (1483), 80 Moors who arrived from Granada began to build houses in the part called Al Balad, but they were harassed by the Beni Hozmar tribe, who claimed ownership of the site. Upon being informed of their grievances, Sultan Mohammad Ach-Chaikh Al Wattassi lent them 40,000 mithqal and sent 40 guards from Fez and another 40 from the Rif to protect them. He wrote to the Governor of Chefchaouen, Moulay Ali Ben Moussa Ben Rached El Alami, requesting him to send a competent person to build a defensive wall. Mohammed ben Ali Al Mandari, a commander of Andalusian origin united the city, of which he was governor and architect. He is considered as the true founder.

The 16th century is characterized by a series of internal power struggles (Sayyida al-Hurra was the victim of a of them). At the beginning of the following century, Tetuán will be one of the main destinations for the exile of the Moors (the last Spanish Muslims, expelled by Felipe III of Spain). The Moors founded a large neighborhood to the north of Bled, known as Al-Ayun ("the fountains"), where to this day numerous reminiscences of the Spanish spoken by those exiles are preserved: the popular Tranqat street ("of the bars") or the Luqash (Lucas) mosque and school are two well-known examples, in addition to numerous Arabicized Castilian surnames in Tetouan families.

Spanish presence

La Battle of Tetuán (1894), of Dionisio Fierros.

On February 6, 1860, the Spanish general Leopoldo O'Donnell who commanded the troops of Queen Elizabeth II defeated the troops of Sultan Mohammed IV and conquered the city. In 1862 the city was returned to Morocco.

View of Tetuán from the Alcazaba (The Universal Museum1865)

In Tetouan, as a consequence of this war activity, the first contacts between Spaniards and descendants of expelled Spaniards took place, after four centuries of isolation, especially with the numerous Sephardic Jewish colony, which still spoke a variety of Spanish language, the Judeo-Spanish, also called haketía in Morocco. A good part of the Muslim population of the city was, for its part, of peninsular origin, and kept alive the notion of its origin.

Between 1913 and 1956, Tetouan was the capital of the Spanish Protectorate of Morocco. The Spanish administration built several new neighborhoods outside the old city walls, as well as infrastructures such as the now-defunct Ceuta-Tetouan railway line. The influence of the "protectorate" has remained important even after the country's independence. Thus, in 1913, in compliance with the dahir of Khalifa Muley el Mehdi Ben Ismail, the population census and housing statistics were carried out, resulting in a population of 18,533 inhabitants, of whom 11,623 were Muslims 11,623, 4,250 were Jewish and 3,006 were Catholic.

Building of the Spanish insurance company La Unión y El Fénix

The number of soldiers from Tabor and from the SAI el Khalifa Guard must be added to these figures, whose data has been crossed out on their family sheets to avoid duplication, but who are residents of Tetouan.

On the afternoon of July 18, 1936, at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, Republican aviation bombed the city of Tetuán. In the Moorish neighborhood, a popular uprising broke out in front of the rubble of the houses and mosques, where 15 dead and more than 40 wounded were extracted. The crowd headed towards the High Police Station. The revolt was unstoppable, so the high commissioner Juan Luis Beigbeder went to his friend, the vizier Sidi Ahmed el Ganmia, who -mounted on his horse- entered the masses and, invoking the name of Allah, appeased them. This action by the vizier was immediately rewarded with the first award of the Grand Cross Laureate of San Fernando.

Tetouan today

Bab El Ucla

Many inhabitants have kept Spanish as their second language, which is reflected in the signs on numerous streets and shops. The Moroccan government, however, has seen this difference with respect to the rest of the country (where the second language is French) as a possible incentive for the autonomist claims that northern Morocco has always had, for which reason it has done everything possible to eradicate the use of Spanish in the area. Currently, the Spanish language is little used among young people, somewhat more among middle-aged people, and a lot among older people. This is also influenced by the influx of immigrants from other parts of Morocco. It is also worth noting the existence of several Spanish educational centers in that city: the Jacinto Benavente Spanish School (for primary education), the Nuestra Señora del Pilar Spanish Institute (for secondary education) and the Juan de la Cierva Spanish Institute (for professional training).).

Tent from a roof

Tetouan and the province of which it is the capital were subjected during the reign of Hassan II (1961-1999) to a declared economic boycott, in punishment for the autonomist demands. There was little private and very little state investment in the maintenance of the city, which the monarch never officially visited. In the mid-1980s, Hassan II seemed to forgive the Tetouani, and announced his intention to go to the city. For this, he gave orders that a palace similar to the one he owned in other Moroccan cities be enabled for him. The palace was made by evicting the old headquarters of the Spanish High Commission and then General Consulate of Spain. In front of the palace, a large esplanade was opened, razing the Feddán square ―historic meeting place and emblematic place of the city―, a fact in which many Tetouani saw a habitual manifestation of power of the late king.

The explanade of the royal palace and the palace at the bottom.

The old city, or Medina de Tetuán, was declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco and important restoration tasks were undertaken in which the Junta de Andalucía participated, taking into account the Andalusian origin of a large part of the old town. Since 1999, it has been the main summer residence of the Moroccan monarch Mohamed VI, who has a mansion on the nearby Rincón beach.

The province or wilaya of Tetouan has 550 374 inhabitants and the surrounding city 380 787 inhabitants, according to the 2014 census. It is the city with the most Andalusian features in Morocco. Its name is tetuaní. In Arabic the usual demonym is tiṭwānī, fem. tiṭwāniyya, although its inhabitants also use the adjective tiṭṭāwnī, fem. tiṭṭāwniyya, derived from the old name of the town.

Education and research

• University Abdelmalek Essaadi (public), classified as the best Moroccan and North African university and the 16th most visited in Africa, according to the classification of AFRIQUE-DOSSIER, where they have various faculties, including the faculty of literature and humanities, the faculty of economic and social sciences, the faculty of legal and law sciences, the faculty of natural sciences and technical sciences.
• Schools of public and private higher education, fine arts, nursing, graphic design, computer science, optical, vocational training and foreign languages.
• Private and public secondary education institutes, including the Instituto Español Nuestra Señora del Pilar, the Instituto Español de Formación Profesional Juan de la Cierva and the Colegio Español Jacinto Benavente.
• Private and public schools.

Climate

Tetouan has a Mediterranean climate with a low annual temperature range.

Average climatic parameters of Tetuán, Morocco
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Average temperature (°C)	17.4	17.9	19.0	20.9	23.1	27.7	30.5	30.5	27.6	24.3	20.4	18.1	23.1
Temp. medium (°C)	9.6	10.0	11.5	13.1	15.3	18.8	20.9	21.4	19.7	16.8	12.7	10.4	15
Rains (mm)	81.3	79.7	71.8	67.5	30.2	4.1	1.2	3.7	31.4	85.1	98.9	94.6	649.5
Days of rain (≥ 1 mm)	9.1	9.6	9.0	9.0	6.3	1.5	0.7	1.7	4.6	9.2	10.4	9.2	80.3
Source: BBC Weather (records)

Economy

A street of the Medina of Tetuán, near the market of carpenters

Tetouan is located in an agricultural region, which makes it the commercial center for products grown in the area such as cereals, citrus fruits, fruits and vegetables. The rest of the activity is divided between cattle raising and crafts. It also has establishments specialized in the manufacture of products derived from tobacco, soaps, matches, flour, fabrics and construction materials, although the main industries are canning (fish), graphic arts and furniture production.

Sports

Atlético Tetuán is the only soccer team from continental North Africa to have played in the Spanish Primera División. It was in the 1951-52 season, he was last and his position in the historical classification of the Spanish first division of football is number 62.

This team was founded by Atlético de Madrid, from which it retains its red and white vertical stripes. In addition, the shield is very similar to that of the mattress club, even Atlético Tetuán having paid tribute to the Madrid club on a certain occasion. In its showcases there are more than a hundred cups, crowned with two league championships 2011-2012 and 2013-2014.

Featured Characters

Festivals

• International Festival of Mediterranean Film in Tetuán
• Tetuán Theatre Festival
• International Festival of Laúd de Tetuán
• International Festival of Comic
• Voix National Festival of femmes (Family Voices)
• National Festival of Marionetas
• National Andalusian Music Festival

In the arts and popular culture

Tetouan has been an inspiration for many artists.

The novels Jewish Quarter of Tetuán, by Mohamed Sibari, and The innocent cavities of Tetuán, by Mohamed Bouissef Rekab are set in this city.

Volver a Tetuán is a collection of poems by the writer Abderrahman El Fathi that brings together experiences and feelings around the city.

Tetuán is one of the main settings of the novel El tiempo entre costuras by the writer María Dueñas. The adaptation of the soap opera for television, by the production company Boomerang TV for the Antena 3 network, was filmed in the Medina of Tetouan and other historical sites in the city.

Twinnings

• Barbate, Spain^{[chuckles]required]}
• Barcelona, Spain^{[chuckles]required]}
• Grenada, Spain
• Píñar (Spain)
• Santa Fe (Argentina)