Ali Al Tuma tells the story of the European diplomatic exodus from Tetuan (Morocco), and the subsequent growth of Tangier as the region’s diplomatic capital.
Ali is a postdoctoral researcher at Utrecht University.
Before the advent of cosmopolitan Tangier, another city claimed that allure: Tetuan. Foreign diplomats preferred it. Its countryside was more beautiful, its inhabitants, according to English traveler William Lempriere, ‘more civilized’. He doesn’t say why. Perhaps because many there spoke Spanish. Descendants of exiles from Spain, Muslim and Jewish, it was they who transformed Tetuan into the ‘daughter of Granada’, that lost Andalusian paradise. Louis de Chénier, French envoy and historian, called its people ‘gentle and courteous’. Vineyards and gardens surrounded it. Its fruits were Morocco’s finest. As a Hadariya (civilized) town—like Fes—it embodied culture and learning, unlike Makhzen towns such as Tangier or Mogador, bases for the military or government-controlled commerce. For long Tetuan held, through its Martil harbor, some of the strongest ties with Europe. In the 1760s, European diplomats there partook, under royal orders, in the mission of guarding against ships from plague-stricken areas: prelude to a later well-developed prophylactic system in Tangier.
All that changed during Muhammad III’s reign (1757-1790), due to a British consul and one sailor.
British sin
‘That Muhammad didn’t like the English, was something he showed them on every occasion’, wrote Danish consul Georg Høst. Muhammad blamed them for supporting rebels against his father and did not hesitate to remind the English envoy (and other Europeans) of this bitter history. Still, he pursued peace and commerce with Britain, in keeping with his reformist foreign policy. The conduct of the British nonetheless seemed to offend him, repeatedly.
In 1772 the Sultan refused to recognize the British representative in Tetuan. Summoned to Meknes to discuss commercial disputes and bilateral relations, the consul declined. The Sultan ordered all Muslims, Jews and Christians in Tetuan, to refrain from communicating with the consul. Ordering the seizure of the consular residence, he practically expelled the man. Officially the consul was ‘free to leave if he so wished, but only after paying rent owed’. Under cover of darkness, the consul escaped to Gibraltar. Relations, however, soon appeared to mend after a diplomatic visit and elaborate gifts, including silverware, and artillery instructors.
The Shot
Then came the shot that changed Morocco’s diplomatic course. In summer 1772, an ‘English sailor’, hunting birds, accidentally shot and injured a woman in Tetuan. The Sultan ordered his arrest. The sailor fled to the British consulatem and was smuggled to Gibraltar by the consul. Enraged, the Sultan ordered all Christians to leave Tetuan.
This seemed harsh. Other nations and diplomats had done nothing to offend, a fact Muhammad acknowledged when assuring Venice that its consul was blameless. He did offer Europeans a choice of Tangier or Larache as an alternative residence.
Hope of Return
Foreign residents lamented leaving their homes and hoped to return. Spain’s envoy appealed on behalf of his Tetuan representative, stressing the city’s proximity to Spain and its commercial and naval importance. The British had long used Tetuan to ship provisions to Gibraltar. Gibraltar’s governor also protested, arguing that Tetuan had always hosted Britain’s envoy. Then he retaliated by expelling Moroccan Muslim and Jewish subjects.
Still the Sultan did not yield, even when a new British envoy arrived with lavish gifts, including bronze cannons and a London dress for the ‘Grand Queen’, confident that Tetuan would be restored. Other Europeans considered the gifts and shared his confidence.
He failed. The consul argued in writing, through a Moroccan intermediary (Muhammad had stopped meeting foreigners face to face), that ‘the English consul must take his residence in Tetuan’, as per a bilateral treaty. The Sultan responded on the reverse of the letter: ‘May God curse the Moor who speaks to me about permitting Christians to go to Tetuan’. Yet he permitted the consul to choose another residence at royal expense, releasing a few English captives ceremonially. Europeans were allowed to nominate Muslims or Jews as vice-consuls in Tetuan, and many did.
Culprit and Victim
The sailor turned out to be a British-protected Livornese, Luis Natali. After fleeing to Gibraltar, and fearing British punishment, he crossed to Tangier seeking Spanish protection and a health patent for Spain. The Spanish refused. His later fate is unknown. The ‘Grand Queen’ gave the injured woman a golden bracelet, exchanged for a handsome 400 piastres.
Motives
The expulsion appeared extreme. Was it moodiness or calculation? The Sultan resisted restoring Tetuan just as he resisted restoring European commerce in Agadir, a rebellious region. Having founded Essaouira (Mogador) as the main trade port to weaken rebellious connections, he aimed to elevate its importance above others, including Tetuan. From the 1770s, Tetuan’s commercial activity declined in favor of Essaouira and Tangier. Another motive may have been military security—the Europeans lived near Dar al Bomba, Tetuan’s munitions factory. Whatever the motive, Tetuan’s chapter closed.
Tangier
After Tetuan, diplomatic weight gradually shifted to Tangier. The transition accelerated during the 1780s and 1790s, not without some drama, including another British expulsion in 1781. While Tangier had hosted diplomats, several top consuls resided in other ports. The presence of a consul-general elsewhere meant that communications, from anywhere in Morocco, usually passed through places such as Mogador, Salé, or Rabat before reaching European capitals.
This was one reason why, in 1785, an ambitious Dutch vice-consul requested to relocate the consulate-general from Mogador, arguing that in Tangier, ‘people are closest to Europe’ and significant news could be sent in ‘three hours’ without a Mogador detour. Less than a decade later, Revolutionary France’s government decided that Tangier’s position at the Gibraltar Strait made it commercially and politically more advantageous than Salé for their consulate-general, noting that ‘all the European powers preferred it’.
Thus, the chief envoys gathered in Tangier promoting their nations’ interests, commercial, strategic, and even sanitary: forming history’s first International Sanitary Council, protecting Morocco and Europe against epidemics.
A last attempt to return the consuls to Tetuan came in 1792. One claimant to the throne, during a civil war, sought the foreigners’ recognition and financial support, promising them Tetuan. The offer was ignored. Tangier became the place to be. Thanks to a shot.
Blogposts are published by TLP for the purpose of encouraging informed debate on the legacies of the events surrounding the Lausanne Conference. The views expressed by participants do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of TLP, its partners, convenors or members.