Leaving Tanger on a ferry 2010.MOV

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanger

The modern Tanjah (Anglicised as Tangier) is an ancient Berber and Phoenician town, founded by Carthaginian colonists in the early 5th century BC. Its name is possibly derived from the Berber goddess Tinjis (or Tinga), and it remains an important city for the Berbers.
According to Berber mythology, the town was built by Sufax, son of Tinjis, the wife of the Berber hero Änti (Greek Antaios, Latin Antaeus). The Greeks ascribed its foundation to the giant Antaios, whose tomb and skeleton are pointed out in the vicinity, calling Sufax the son of Hercules by the widow of Antaeus. The cave of Hercules, a few miles from the city, is a major tourist attraction. It is believed that Hercules slept there before attempting one of his twelve labours.
Tangier was ruled by Umayyads, Abbasids, Idrisids, Fatimids, Caliphate of Cordoba, Maghrawa Emirate, Almoravids, Almohads, Marinids and Kingdom of Fez before Portuguese conquest. When the Portuguese started their expansion in Morocco, by taking Ceuta in 1415, Tangier was always a primary goal. They failed to capture the city in 1437 but finally occupied it in 1471. The Portuguese rule (including Spanish rule between 15801640) lasted until 1661, when it was given to Charles II of England as part of the dowry from the Portuguese Infanta Catherine of Braganza. The English gave the city a garrison and a charter which made it equal to English towns. The English planned to improve the harbour by building a mole. With an improved harbour the town would have played the same role that Gibraltar later played in British naval strategy. The mole cost £340,000 and reached 1436 feet long, before being blown up during the evacuation.
The United States dedicated its first consulate in Tangier during the George Washington administration. In 1821, the Legation Building in Tangier became the first piece of property acquired abroad by the U.S. government—a gift to the U.S. from Sultan Moulay Suliman. It was bombarded by the French Prince de Joinville in 1844.

The multicultural placement of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish communities and the foreign immigrants attracted writers like Paul Bowles, William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Tennessee Williams, Brion Gysin and the music group the Rolling Stones, who all lived in or visited Tangier during different periods of the 20th century.
It was after Delacroix that Tangier became an obligatory stop for artists seeking to experience the colors and light he spoke of for themselves - with varying results. Matisse made several sojourns in Tangier, always staying at the Hotel Villa de France. "I have found landscapes in Morocco," he claimed, "exactly as they are described in Delacroix's paintings." The Californian artist Richard Diebenkorn was directly influenced by the haunting colors and rhythmic patterns of Matisses Morocco paintings.

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