Larache

35.183333333333 - 6.15Koordinaten: 35 ° 11 ' N, 6 ° 9' W

Larache (also Laraish, or El Araish; العرائش Arabic al - Ara'isch, DMG al - ʿ ara iš ʾ ) is a port town in the region Tanger- Tétouan in northern Morocco. Larache is the capital of the province and has about 200,000 inhabitants.

Location

Larache is located - above the mouth of Oued Loukos - directly on the Atlantic Ocean and is connected via the A 1 and N 1 with Tangier (about 85 kilometers north-east ) and the capital Rabat ( about 180 kilometers south-west ). Tetouan is located about 130 kilometers to the northeast.

Economy

Larache has a fishing port and a fish cannery. Due to the beautiful beaches in the north of the city of Bath Tourism plays an increasingly important role in recent years.

Attractions

The built in Spanish style circular Place de la Libération forms with their covered by Arakaden cafes the center of Larache, while the transition from the old town ( medina) of the new town. An old city gate ( Bab- el- Khemis ) leads from the square directly in the Medina to the long drawn socco de la Alcaiceria (also called Socco Chico ), the former market of cloth merchant, where there is, however, to buy almost anything today.

In addition, the mighty walls of the ' Storchenburg ' are ( Castillo de las Cigueñas ) interesting, a fortification with bastions of the Spanish period. Above the entrance to the former tower of the commander flaunts a Spanish- Portuguese coat of arms (see web link) from the time of the personal union of the two countries ( 1580-1640 ).

On a nearby cemetery overlooking the sea about two kilometers south of the city center is the grave of the French poet Jean Genet.

History

About four kilometers northeast of the city, the remnants of the original Punic, later Roman settlement of Lixus have been found. In the 1st century AD, the territory became Roman. In the 9th century wandered the Beni Arous, a Berber tribe, in the area a; they called the city of El Araïch ( the ' grapevine ') - a name that has survived to this day.

In 1489, the Portuguese tried to take the city and its surroundings, but had to leave the conquered territory again in the same year. Between 1610 and 1689 it belonged to Spain. As other Moroccan coastal cities also - - In the 18th and 19th century, Larache developed into a pirates nest and was subsequently twice (1829 and 1860 ) attacked by European naval forces. 1829 founded the Europeans this with the hijacking of an Austrian merchant ship, the Moroccan corsairs wanted, as is customary in the so-called Barbary States, sell the crew as slaves. The Austrians sent several frigates from the naval port of Venice, there was a naval blockade of the port of Larache and a gun battle that won Austria. Ships under the Austrian flag were henceforth no longer attacked. From 1909 and finally from 1912 until the independence of Morocco in 1956, the city was part of the Protectorate of Spanish Morocco.