03Cities and regions

On the Atlantic

Essaouira

Essaouira is a port town on the Atlantic coast with about 83,000 people, known until the 1960s as Mogador. Sultan Mohammed bin Abdallah laid it out from 1760 with several architects, among them Théodore Cornut and Ahmed al-Inglizi, as a port for foreign merchants, and it became the country's leading commercial harbour from the late 18th to the mid-19th century. The walled medina has been a World Heritage Site since 2001. The bay is partly sheltered by the Mogador islands, where King Juba II set up a purple-dye works some two thousand years ago. Walk the sea walls and the harbour bastion with its old cannons, then head down to the fishing port where the boats land their sardines: strong trade winds drive the currents that make these waters rich in fish. Since 1998 the town has hosted the Gnaoua and World Music Festival, usually in the last week of June. Essaouira is small, and a day or two is enough.

1760

Modern town laid out

Since 2001

World Heritage Site

1998

First Gnaoua festival