Burroughs had read Paul Bowles's novels, The Sheltering Sky and Let It Come Down, set in Fez and Tangier, which had a reputation for wickedness. It sounded like his kind of city- worth checking out. On Feb 5th, 1954, Burroughs celebrated his fortieth birthday in Tangier. Tangier was a city built on low sand hills at the northwestern tip of Africa. Tangier was unique for two reasons: Geographically, it was the only city overlooking both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, thus straddling two worlds. Legally it was an international zone. Whereas the rest of Morocco was under French rule, Tangier was governed by the consuls of eight European nations and had three official languages. Many writers and artists passed through. Matisse had lived and painted there from 1911 to 1913. Mark Twain came in 1867 and wrote that the houses were so jammed together it seemed like "a crowded city of snowy tombs." Robert Ruark wrote that Tangier "contained more thieves, black marketers, spies, thugs, phonies, beachcombers, expatriates, degenerates, characters, operators, bandits, tramps, politicians, and charlatans" than any place he'd ever visited. Hard drugs were routinely sold over the counter. Kif and hashish were openly smoked. Finally Burroughs had found a sanctuary of noninterference he had been searching for in all his wanderings around the globe.
French Tanger, Spanish Tánger, Arabic Tanjah, port city, provincial capital, and
province, Nord Ouest region, Morocco, on a bay of the Strait of Gibraltar 17 miles
km) from the southern tip of Spain. First known as an ancient Phoenician trading
post, it later became a Carthaginian and then a Roman settlement called Tingis.
Becoming a free city in AD 42, it was made the capital of the Roman province of
Mauretania Tingitana. Tingis, after five centuries of Roman rule, was captured
successively by the Vandals, Byzantines, and Arabs. The city was occupied by Islamic
dynasties from c. 705 to 1471 and by the Spanish and Portuguese until 1662. In that
year, as part of the dowry of Catherine of Braganza of Portugal upon her marriage to
Charles II, it was transferred to the English crown, during whose rule extensive
fortifications were erected. In 1684 it was returned to Morocco and during the 19th
century was the diplomatic capital of that country, though British trade and political
influence still predominated. When the rest of Morocco became a French protectorate
in 1912, Tangier had special status; and in 1923 it officially became an international
city, governed by a commission composed of representatives from Great Britain,
France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands, Sweden, and, later, the
United States. Tangier remained an international zone (except for a period during
World War II, when Spain took control) until it was integrated in 1956 with the
independent Kingdom of Morocco.
The city is built on the slopes of a chalky limestone hill. The old town (medina), enclosed by 15th-century ramparts, is dominated by a Casbah, the sultan's palace (now a museum of Moroccan art), and the Great Mosque. European quarters (whose populations have declined considerably since integration with Morocco) stretch to the south and west. Tangier has been the site of the summer royal residence since 1962. An important port and trade centre, Tangier has excellent road and rail connections with Fès, Meknès, Rabat, and Casablanca, as well as regular shipping services to Europe and an international airport. Supplementing its role as a tourist centre are the building trades, fishing, and a textile industry (especially carpets).
Click here to take a Virtual Tour of Tangiers.
