| History & Patrimony |
| Essaouira, history of the city |
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| During the middle age, the Portuguese Navigators created there a counter which they named Mogador... from there they export sugar.... Pirates make of it one of their back bases. |
In 1765, the sultan Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah (Alaouite dynasty) ordered the construction of a port in Mogador in order to develop the trade towards Europe and America.
The sultan calls upon the services of a French engineer originating from Avignon, Theodore Cornut to draw the plan of this agglomeration. The Only city of ancient Morocco to have a town-planning, this new city will be baptized Essaouira, "the well drawn"
Theodore Cornut drew ramparts in Vauban style, broad and |
rectilinear streets and three principal districts intended respectively to accommodate the Muslims, the Christians and the Jews. For the Christians, houses of European inspiration were built with several stages and broad external windows.
From its foundation in the XVIIIth century and the beginning of the XXth century, Essaouira played a fundamental role as an international trade port between Morocco and the rest of the world. Several consulates as well as traders from different countries were established there.
As the rest of the historical centres of Morocco, Essaouira conceals significant historical buildings of great architectural value: the Ramparts, Sqala of the medina, the bastion of Bab Marrakesh, the gates of the medina and the Ben Youssef Mosque. |
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