English Tangier

English Tangier was the period from 1661 to 1684 during which England held the port city of Tangier on the Strait of Gibraltar. The city came to Charles II as part of the dowry of Catherine of Braganza, daughter of the Portuguese king, when the two married in 1661. Its acquisition gave England a naval base commanding the strait and a counterweight to French and Spanish power in the western Mediterranean. The garrison was costly to maintain and was repeatedly attacked by the forces of the Moroccan sultan. Government engineers built a mole and fortifications, and the colony attracted a mixed population of soldiers, merchants and Irish and English settlers. The strategically exposed position proved untenable, and in 1684 Charles II ordered the evacuation of the town and the destruction of its harbour works before the Moroccans took possession. English Tangier is remembered as an early experiment in overseas colonial government and as a costly outpost whose abandonment ended England's first foothold on the North African coast.