Tetouan - City of Morocco

Tétouan also spelled Tetuan, sometimes Tettawen or Tettawin, is a city in northern Morocco. It is the only open port of Morocco on the Mediterranean Sea, a few miles south of the Strait of Gibraltar, and about 40 mi E.S.E. of Tangier. Tetouan's civil airport Sania Ramel Airport is located 6km in the East.

Arabic is the official language but it is not used for everyday dialogue. Moroccan Darija-Arabic is predominant while a minority uses Tarifit language in their daily life. The use of Spanish and French is still widespread especially by the businesspeople and intellectual elites. Its main religion is Islam but there are minorities of Christians.

The city was founded in the 3rd century BC. Artefacts from both the Roman and the Phoenician era have been found in the site of Tamuda.

The city is situated in the area of Morocco which was formerly ruled by Spain. In 1913 it became the capital of the part of Morocco under Spanish protectorate which was governed by the Jalifa and it remained its capital until 1956. Many people in the city still speak Spanish. On road signs often names are written both in Spanish and in Arabic, though many signs are in Arabic and French, the second language of modern Morocco. Tétouan became part of the independent state of Morocco when it was founded out of French Morocco and most of Spanish Morocco in 1956.

Tétouan has also been home of an important Sephardi Jewish community, which immigrated from Spain after the Reconquista and the Spanish Inquisition. This Jewish Sephardi community spoke a form of Judaeo-Spanish known as Haketia. Some of them emigrated later to Oran, to South America and much later to Israel, France and Canada. Some Jews in Tetouan converted to Islam and remain in the city. There are very few Jews left in Tétouan nowadays.Some of the bombers in the 2004 Madrid train bombings and Iraq terror campaign came from Tetouan.