Background
Essaouira is a quiet sort of place with a long history. There was a small Phoenician settlement here, previously called Magdoura or Mogador, a corruption of the Berber word Amegdul, meaning ‘well-protected’. The Romans were interested in the purple dye produced from the abundant shellfish on the rocky coast, which they used to colour the robes of the rich. Mogador was occupied in the 15th century by the Portuguese who built the fortifications around the harbour. The town was one of their three most important bases, but was abandoned in 1541, from which time it went into decline. Mogador was also visited by Sir Francis Drake in Christmas 1577. In 1765, the Alaouite Sultan Sidi Mohammed Ibn Abdallah transformed Mogador into an open city, enticing overseas businessmen in with trade concessions, and it soon became a major commercial port, with a large foreign and Jewish population establishing the town as a major trading centre.
The sultan employed the French architect Théodore Cornut to design the city and its fortifications. In his design, Cornut chose a rectangular layout for the main streets, resulting in a uniform style, and constructed ramparts in the Vauban style. The fortifications were not always that effective, however. From time to time, the tribesmen of the region would raid the town, carrying off booty and the merchants’ wives – who it is said, were not always that happy to return. Perhaps life in the bled was more pleasant than listening to the wind in the damp counting houses of Mogador.
Orson Welles stayed here for some time, filming part of Othello at the Skala du Port. At Independence the town’s official name became Essaouira, the local Arabiac name meaning ‘little picture’. In the 1960s Essaouira had a brief reputation as a happening place, attracting hippies and rockstars, including Jimi Hendrix.
Now the town is emerging from several decades of decline, for on top of fishing, fish processing, a small market and handicraft industries, the town is attracting greater numbers of tourists, notably surfers. The burgeoning number of riads and their accompanying upmarket tourism have also brought some wealth to the inhabitants of this most relaxed town, without spoiling its gentle atmosphere, though an increase in the number of oversized hotels outside the city walls may have a more detrimental effect.
Essaouira has some useful friends in influential places, including André Azoulay, one of HM the King’s special advisers, and there is an artistic lobby, too, including gallery owner Frédéric Damgaard and Edmond Amran-Mellah, the writer.
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