This City Is Very Ancient,
Having Probably Been Built By The Aboriginals, Berbers, And Was Usually
Called By The Romans, Taigo On Tingis.
The Emperor Claudius re-peopled
it, and called it Julia Traducta.
The Moors call it Sanjah, and relate
that Benhad Sahab El-Alem built it, also surrounded it with walls of
metal, and constructed its houses of gold and silver. In this condition,
it remained until destroyed by some Berber kings, who carried away all
its treasures. The modern Tangier is a small city of the province of
Hasbat, picturesquely placed on the eastern slope of a hill, which
terminates in the west with its port and bay, having some analogy to the
site of Algiers. It has almost a square form, and its ramparts are a
wall, flanked here and there with towers. This place, likewise, is most
advantageously situate in the narrowest part of the Straits of
Gibraltar, at a few miles east of Cape Spartel, and thirty miles W.S.W.
of Gibraltar, and has, therefore, been coveted by all the conquerors of
North Africa. The Phoenicians, Romans, Goths, and Arabs successively
effected its conquest; and it was long a bone of eager contention
between the Moors and Portuguese. In 1471, Alonzo, King of Portugal,
took it from the Moors; and in 1662 it came into the hands of the
English, as a part of the dowry of Catherine, queen of Charles II.; so,
whilst in our possession it was a place of considerable strength; but on
its evacuation in 1684 by order of the English government, who were
disgusted by the expense of its occupation, and the bootless collisions
with the natives, the fortifications were demolished, and only the
vestiges of them now are visible.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 31 of 196
Words from 8127 to 8418
of 52536
