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In the Roman era, the city of Essaouira was called Tamusiga. While Tamusiga was not located in Roman territory, the city entertained trade links with Roman Africa. The Iles Purpuraires, off the coast, had an important purple fabric that dated back to the Phoenician era.
Origins
The city’s origins are lost in the night of time. After the founding of Carthage, Phoenician merchants established a chain of trading posts beyond the Columns of Hercules, on the Atlantic coast of modern-day Morocco. The furthest-away of these trading posts was probably Agadir. The site of Essaouira, which offers one of the best anchorages on this coast, certainly held a trading post. Phoenician remnants on this site date back to the 7th Century BCE.
The Phoenicians developed relations with the indigenous population and traded with them. On the islands off the coast of Essaouira, they developed a purple dye fabric, where they made purple from the seashells they found on the coast. Because of their purple industry, these islands became known as Iles Purpuraires (Purple Islands).
Next to purple, the Phoenicians also traded argan oil, produced by the local Amazigh populations from the fruit of the argan tree, which grows only in this region of the world. Over 3.000 years ago, the Phoenicians were already exporting argan oil through the whole Mediterranean basin, and using it as food complement and cosmetic.
In the 5th Century BCE, the Carthaginian explorer Hanno the Navigator led an expedition to explore the West African coast, founding colonies along the way. In his travel itinerary, the Punic city located at the site of Essaouira is called Arambys (Har Anbin, “mountain of grapes”). It was probably abandoned before Hanno’s visit. Some specialists identify the Island of Cerne, also mentioned in Hanno’s travel itinerary, as the Island of Mogador; but most believe this island to be located further South, in the Banc d’Arguin, modern-day Mauritania.
Phoenicians, Amazigh and Romans
After the fall of Carthage, the former Punic trading posts were attached to the Kingdom of Mauretania.
King Juba II of Mauretania reestablished the ancient purple dye industry on the Iles Purpuraires. In the Roman era, purple was used to dye the togas of Roman Senators. Juba II also organized an expedition from the Iles Purpuraires, to explore the Canary Islands.
During the reign of Juba II, a city developed on the Iles Purpuraires. The Amazigh called it Amagdul (“well-guarded”). The Romans later renamed it Tamusiga. The city was limited to the islands: the Essaouira bay wasn’t occupied before the modern era.
While Tamusiga was the biggest Mauretanian city beyond the Roman borders, it also entertained close trade links with Roman Africa through its port. A Roman villa and necropolis have been excavated, and a Roman vase and Roman coins were found. Those items are now at the Sidi Mohammed ben Abdallah Museum, in Essaouira.
Later on
After the fall of the Roman Empire, Tamusiga was abandoned. The surrounding area was inhabited by Amazigh tribes, like the Regraga, who were Christian before Islam. According to a legend, during the life of the Prophet Mohammed, seven men of the Regraga tribe traveled to Mecca, where they converted to Islam.
In the 11th Century, Sidi Mogdoul, a Muslim saint from the Regraga tribe, was buried in Essaouira. His name was probably the origin of Mogador, the name the Portuguese gave to the city. The ancient Amazigh already called it Amagdul, from the Phoenician Migdol, “small fortress”.
In the beginning of the 16th Century, the Portuguese built a fortress in Mogador. They faced strong resistance from the Regraga, and were finally driven out by the Saadians. The Saadian Sultan Ahmed al-Mansur established an important sugar factory in the Essaouira region, and imported Black slaves from Sub-Saharan Africa to work there – they became the ancestors of the famous Gnaouas. The modern city was built in the 18th Century, by the Alawi Sultan Sidi Mohammed ben Abdallah (Mohammed III). At the end of the Protectorate, Mogador was renamed Essaouira, from the Arabic الصويرة (as-sawîra), “small wall” – a meaning that remains close to the ancient Amazigh, Phoenician and Latin name.
The Jewish community in Essaouira, which remains highly influential even today, goes back to the 18th Century. There might also have been Jews living in Tamusiga in the Roman era: no archaeological trace of them remains, but it seems likely, given that there were Jewish communities in cities of Roman Mauretania like Volubilis and Sala. For the same reason, a Christian presence in ancient Tamusiga is undocumented, but likely.
Today, the city of Essaouira is proud of its multicultural heritage, with its European, Moroccan and Sub-Saharan roots (Gnaoua Festival) and its Muslim, Jewish and Christian influences. Ancient history shows that this diversity is nothing new: over 2.000 years ago, the indigenous Amazigh were already mingling with Phoenician traders and Roman adventurers in the city’s port and streets.
