Speak Moroccan Arabic

The name of Essaouira is derived from the word “Souira”, which means “a small fortress”. The name became later “Essaouira” meaning “the small fortress”.

Formerly known as Mogador, Essaouira is a city near Marrakech by the Atlantic coast.

During the 5th century B.C., the Carthaginian navigator Hanno established a trading post at the city of Essaouira. At the 7th century B.C., the Phoenicians used the large island of Mogador as a stopover on their sea routes down towards the equator. Then, around the end of the 1st century B.C., the king of Mauritania, Jubba II, established there a Tyrian purple factory processing the murex and purpura shells found in the rocks around Essaouira, producing the purple colors much sought after by the wealthy Roman Empire.

In the 15th century the Portuguese arrived to the city where they expanded their maritime empire. In 1506, the king of Portugal ordered a fortress to be built there, named “Castelo Real de Mogador”.

In the 1760s, during the Alaouite dynasty, the Sultan Mohamed Ibn Abdallah hired the French architect Théodore Cornut in order to build the new city of Essaouira; it’s during that period that the name of Essaouira was given to the city. The Alaouite Sultan encouraged the establishment of foreign traders, especially Jewish ones, in the city; in 1780, there were around one thousand of them.

In 1844, Essaouira was bombarded and briefly occupied by the French Navy. The name “Mogador” was back to use and the city started its decline, as other cities were favoured by the French protectorate.

After the independence, the name of the city got back to Essaouira again, and its economy was reduced to fishing activities and local trade at the town market, especially after the Jewish community left.

The city counts today 70,000 inhabitants (estimation of 2006).