American Legation | |
Courtyard of the Legation | |
Location | Tangier, Morocco |
---|---|
Coordinates | 35°47′02″N5°48′38″W / 35.78398°N 5.81068°W |
Built | 1821 |
Architectural style | Moorish architecture |
NRHP reference No. | 81000703 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | January 8, 1981 [1] |
Designated NHL | December 17, 1982 [2] |
The Tangier American Legation (Arabic : المفوضية الأميركية في طنجة; French : Légation américaine de Tanger), officially the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIMS), [3] is a building in the medina of Tangier, Morocco, that formerly housed the United States diplomatic mission to Morocco. It was the first American public property abroad and is the only U.S. National Historic Landmark in a foreign country. [note 1]
The legation was established on May 17, 1821, following decades of cordial relations between the U.S. and Morocco; Sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah had issued a proclamation recognizing U.S. independence from Great Britain on December 20, 1777, making his nation the first to do so. [4] The building was gifted by the sultan to the U.S. government to serve as a diplomatic post, for which it remained for the next 140 years.
After Morocco's diplomatic capital moved to Rabat in 1956, the building served a variety of government functions, before gradually falling into neglect and disrepair. In 1976, former U.S. diplomats established the nonprofit Tangier American Legation Museum Society to restore and preserve the structure; [5] the site has since served as a cultural center, museum, and research library, concentrating on Arabic language studies.
The Tangier American Legation is considered a symbol of the historic cultural and diplomatic relations between the U.S. and the Kingdom of Morocco, [6] and of long-running American engagement with the wider Islamic world. [7] In recognition of its historic and cultural importance, the site was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1981 and designated a National Historic Landmark the following year; it is one of 39 properties owned by the U.S. Department of State listed in the Register of Culturally Significant Property.
The legation is an elaborate Moorish-style building of stuccoed masonry. This complex structure contains the two-story mud and stone building presented to the United States in 1821 by Sultan Moulay Suliman. The first property acquired abroad by the United States government, it housed the United States Legation and Consulate for 140 years, the longest period any building abroad has been occupied as a United States diplomatic post.[ citation needed ] It is symbolic of the 1786 Moroccan–American Treaty of Friendship, which is still in force today. The complex expanded over the years as the surrounding houses were bought up. During World War II it served as headquarters for United States intelligence agents.[ citation needed ]
After the move to Rabat as the diplomatic capital in 1956, when the country gained its independence, the Legation was abandoned as a diplomatic building. Over the years the United States government proceeded to use it as consul offices and Peace Corps offices, among other things. In time it became neglected and threatened with demolition. [8]
In 1976 a group of American citizens established a public, non-profit organization to save the Old American Legation (as it is known locally). Today the Tangier American Legation Museum Society rents the structure, which is still owned by the United States government.
The Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM) is a museum and cultural center for the study of Morocco and Morocco–United States relations, and it has many paintings by Marguerite McBey and other artists. In 2010, TALIM expanded the original Paul Bowles room to The Paul Bowles Wing, three rooms devoted to the expatriate writer and composer Paul Bowles. In 1999, the Legation received its initial donation of furniture, photographs and documents for the original Paul Bowles Room compiled by Gloria Kirby, a permanent resident of Tangier and friend of Bowles. [9] The museum also has a research library and conference room. TALIM's community outreach programs include Arabic literacy courses for women living in the Tangier medina. Jen Rasamimanana is the current museum director.
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Rabat is the capital city of Morocco and the country's seventh-largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million. It is also the capital city of the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra administrative region. Rabat is located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the river Bou Regreg, opposite Salé, the city's main commuter town.
Tangier or Tangiers is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The city is the capital of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, as well as the Tangier-Assilah Prefecture of Morocco.
Essaouira, known until the 1960s as Mogador, is a port city in the western Moroccan region of Marrakesh-Safi, on the Atlantic coast. It has 77,966 inhabitants as of 2014.
The Moroccan–American Treaty of Peace and Friendship, also known as the Treaty of Marrakesh, was a bilateral agreement signed in 1786 that established diplomatic and commercial relations between the United States and Morocco. It was the first treaty between the U.S. and an African, Muslim nation, and initiated what as of 2024 remains the longest unbroken diplomatic relationship in U.S. history.
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The Secretary of State's Register of Culturally Significant Property is an honorific listing of diplomatic properties that figure prominently in the international or architectural heritage of the United States. It was founded in 2000 as a White House Millennium Project, in equation of the National Register of Historic Places for domestic properties maintained by the Secretary of the Interior. These historic places include chanceries, residences, office buildings, a museum, a cemetery, and a guest house; the properties are either owned or leased by the U.S. Department of State at the time of designation.
Relations between the Kingdom of Morocco and the United States of America date back to the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) and specifically since 1777 when the sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah became the first monarch to help the United States. Morocco remains one of America's oldest and closest allies in North Africa, a status affirmed by Morocco's zero-tolerance policy towards Al-Qaeda and their affiliated groups. Morocco also assisted the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency with questioning Al-Qaeda members captured in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere during the administration of President George W. Bush, who designated the country as a major non-NATO ally.
Tourism in Morocco is well developed, maintaining a strong tourist industry focused on the country's coast, culture, and history. The Moroccan government created a Ministry of Tourism in 1985. Tourism is considered one of the main foreign exchange sources in Morocco and since 2013 it had the highest number of arrivals out of the countries in Africa. In 2018, 12.3 million tourists were reported to have visited Morocco.
The Petit Socco, also known as the Place Souk Dakhel, or in Spanish as Zoco Chico, is a small square in the medina quarter of Tangier, Morocco.
Arab–American relations comprise a rich and nuanced narrative shaped by centuries of interaction, diplomacy, and exchange between the United States and the Arab world. Rooted in historical trade routes and cultural connections dating back to antiquity, the modern iteration of these relations has been profoundly influenced by geopolitical dynamics, economic interests, and cultural exchanges. The United States' engagement with the Arab world gained significant momentum in the aftermath of World War II, as American interests in the region expanded alongside the emergence of Arab nationalism and the pursuit of self-determination. Throughout the Cold War era, the United States navigated intricate alliances and rivalries within the Arab world, often driven by strategic considerations, such as access to oil resources and containment of Soviet influence.
The Tangier International Zone was a 382 km2 (147 sq mi) international zone centered on the city of Tangier, Morocco, which existed from 1925 until its reintegration into independent Morocco in 1956, with interruption during the Spanish occupation of Tangier (1940–1945), and special economic status extended until early 1960. Surrounded on the land side by the Spanish protectorate in Morocco, it was governed under a unique and complex system that involved various European nations, the United States, and the Sultan of Morocco, himself under a French protectorate. Due to its status as an international zone, Tangier played a crucial role for Moroccan Nationalists, who wanted independence, to establish international contacts and recruit allies as well as organising gatherings and events.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Tangier, Morocco.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Marrakesh, Morocco.
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