English Tangier | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1661–1684 | |||||||||
 Flag | |||||||||
 Leonardo de Ferrari's plan of the Portuguese fortifications at Tangier, c. 1655 | |||||||||
| Status | Territory of the English Empire | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Given by Portugal as dowry | 1661 | ||||||||
| 1684 | |||||||||
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| Today part of | Morocco | ||||||||
English Tangier was the period in Moroccan history in which the city of Tangier was occupied by England as part of its colonial empire from 1661 to 1684. Tangier had been under Portuguese control before Charles II of England acquired the city as part of the dowry when he married the Portuguese infanta Catherine. The marriage treaty was an extensive renewal of the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance. It was opposed by Spain, then at war with Portugal, but clandestinely supported by France.
The English garrisoned and fortified the city against hostile but disunited Moroccan forces. The exclave was expensive to defend and fortify and offered neither commercial nor military advantage to England. When Morocco was later united under the Alaouites, the cost of maintaining the garrison against Moroccan attack greatly increased, and Parliamentary refusal to provide funds for its upkeep partly because of fears of 'Popery' and a Catholic succession under James II, forced Charles to give up possession. In 1684, the English blew up the city's harbour and defensive works that they had been constructing and evacuated the city, which was swiftly occupied and annexed by Moroccan forces.