El Jadida, Morocco | Portugal's Lasting Legacy

As-salamu alaykum my friends and welcome once again to the beautiful Atlantic coast of Morocco. Today we're doing our last video in this beautiful country. We've got lots of interesting travel ahead, looking forward to it. But today we are looking at El Jadida. This is about a one-hour drive away from Casablanca. I took the train in and this is home to one of the seven wonders of the ancient Portuguese world. This is an amazing example of the combination between European and Moroccan exchange. They've got an old town that's absolutely amazing, apparently, and a lot of culture to see along the way. So if that sounds good, come along. Yalla! In the winter months, El Jadida is more or less empty. There's an empty beach, some old men talking, a little bit of beach soccer going on. But normally in the summer, these beaches are absolutely full of Moroccan tourists. There's a lot of five-star hotels that direction, this direction, and the Moroccan tourism industry for Moroccans itself is booming. There's a lot of new money in this country and when there's new money, there's people chilling on the beach. So that's what El Jadida is becoming. But what was it in the past? Let's find out. So I think when discussing colonialism, especially when we're talking about it in English, in an American context, we always look at the British, the Spanish, and the French because they made the most obvious impressions around the world. But the one colonial empire that we often forget are the Portuguese. And the Portuguese built this. This is the fortress of Mazagaon or this is one of the seven wonders of the Portuguese. What's it called? The Portuguese empire. So the Portuguese were also globetrotting around the world, taking colonies, building their cultural, historical, and military empire from India to Malaysia to Morocco and of course Brazil. It's really important to see that the Portuguese were a big, big player, not just the, let's say, little brother to the Spanish empire, but a very important merchant empire which was interconnecting the east, the west, Asia, South America, and all those places. So these city walls were built in 1541 to 1542 and this was the fortress of Mazagaon, as I said earlier. And this was an important staging ground for many naval exploration that the Portuguese had been doing through that time period. In the 1500s, Portugal was marauding around the entire planet, taking over places. But the Moroccans were also dead set on taking back some of the land that they had lost to the Spanish empire. So while this was being established, the Moroccan sultanates, the empires of Mules, they retook Safi in the north, they retook various places, as well as Agadir from the Spanish. But the Portuguese were able to hold this until the mid-1700s. So this became an enclave, a really important staging ground for many Portuguese missions and a very important facet in Africa for Portugal. We're actually really not that far from Portugal, but here you can see that in 2004 this walled city, this fortress, was named part of the UNESCO Heritage Foundation. And it says that the city of Mazagaon, which is El Jadida today, this is the old name, is on the heritage list. So there you go. Oh, could have read it in English. I always do that. Being in this old city is actually cool because it does feel very Moroccan, but in a weird way it does feel also quite European. So over here we have a very traditional church minaret that you would find anywhere in Portugal. If anyone in the comments can help me out, I see this all the time. There's always these boxes with the date. I think it has to do with Ramadan, but I'm not sure. If you know in the comments, I'm very curious. I've seen this in every Moroccan city I've been in. And then over here is the grand minaret of the mosque of Mazagaon, and this was constructed in the, I think, the early 1800s by one of the sultans of Morocco, and they did it in a style to mimic one that was also in Rabat, but also pay homage to the Portuguese who were here. And it's very beautiful. It's a very beautiful place, I do have to say. One of the most striking things you can find here is the cistern of Mazagaon, but unfortunately, apparently it collapsed almost, but the Portuguese even in the 1500s were building very nice structures to contain water so that they could, of course, sustain the fortress. But the interesting thing for me is I just think these streets, they're so beautiful, and they have that Moroccan theme, but they also have something to do with these Portuguese tile. So this is definitely a different style than what I've seen before. Everything here seems to be a bit of a different style, but just as what I saw in Casablanca, they also have these beautiful street artworks that you can find everywhere. This one is very unique, actually. I think colonialism for me is one of the most complicated parts of analyzing history, because obviously there were major negatives for colonialism for people in the countries that were colonized, but it's very interesting to see, especially as a traveler, these long-lasting impressions that happened in these places and how it influences modern culture today. So I don't know, it's just interesting walking around here. You can see some of the facades of the old Portuguese buildings. You can see this kind of contrast between the Moroccan-style minaret and the church minaret over here. You've got some modern kids playing with some sort of large rope. And the interesting thing as I walk along the old fortress wall here is that it just keeps on going. People continue living, continue developing society, and no matter how things change, time never really stops, which is, I think, the interesting thing for this point. So from here you can see the fortress and how it faces the Atlantic Ocean and how this was incredibly strategic for monitoring what was happening on this coast and as a defensive mechanism for the Portuguese colonies in Africa, as well as, I'm assuming, the Azores, which are just this direction, a small Portuguese island chain, which you can visit, which is still theoretically part of Portugal. The last place I'll take you into the fort is the upper battlement. So they've got the cannons all lined up for you. You can check those out. God, this actually looks more modern. L.R. And then here you can stand up here and see the modern city of El Jardim. And listen, as the call of prayer rains down over the city, the old Portuguese town still standing over here. So for me and the various street cats eating some old fish, I will say thank you for watching. I hope you learned something new. I hope you enjoyed the video. This is my last video from Morocco and we're heading this direction to the unknown. Probably. I'm flying to Barcelona and then we'll see where we end up. So stay, travel, all that good stuff. Follow along if you want. I hope you enjoy the video. Like and subscribe. Do it up. So one last and adios amigos from Morocco.