Tangier

Tangier (pop. 554,000), seaport and residential and commercial city of Morocco, facing the Strait of Gibraltar. Tangier is a major center of tourism and shipping and is considered Morocco's main passenger-vessel port. It is heavily populated by Arabs and Berbers. The city has its origins in the settlements built by the Phoenicians and Romans in ancient times. It was under Arab control in the 700s. From the 1400s to the late 1600s, when the sultan of Morocco acquired the power to guide Tangier, it was held, at different times, by France, Portugal, and England. In 1912 the city again fell under the control of Spain and France, and in 1923 it was put under international control. In 1956 Tangier became fully independent of France and Spain, gave up its international status, and came under the full control of Morocco.

See also: Morocco.