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The modern Tanjah (Anglicised as Tangier) is an ancient Phoenician town, founded by Carthaginian colonists in the early 5th century BC. Its name is possibly derived from the Berber goddess Tinjis (or Tinga), and it remains an important city for the Berbers. Ancient coins call it Tenga, Tinga, and Titga with Greek and Latin authors giving numerous variations of the name.

According to Berber mythology, the town was built by Sufax, son of Tinjis, the wife of the Berber hero Antaios. The Greeks ascribed its foundation to the giant Antaeus, whose tomb and skeleton are pointed out in the vicinity, calling Sufax the son of Hercules by the widow of Antaeus. The cave of Hercules, a few miles from the city, is a major tourist attraction. It is believed that Hercules slept there before attempting one of his twelve labours.

The commercial town of Tingis came under Roman rule in the course of the 1st century BC, first as a free city and then, under Augustus, a colony (Colonia Julia, under Claudius), capital of Mauritania Tingitana of Hispania. It was the scene of the martyrdoms of Saint Marcellus of Tangier. In the 5th century AD, Vandals conquered and occupied "Tingi" and from here swept across North Africa. A century later (between 534 and 682), Tangier became part of the Byzantine empire, before coming under Arab control in 702. Due to its Christian past it is still a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church.

When the Portuguese started their expansion in Morocco, by taking Ceuta in 1415, Tangiers was always a primary goal. They failed to capture the city in 1437 but finally occupied it in 1471. The Portuguese rule lasted until 1661, when it was given to Charles II of England as part of the dowry from the Portuguese Infanta Catherine of Braganza. The English gave the city a garrison and a charter which made it equal to English towns. The English planned to improve the harbour by building a mole. With an improved harbour the town would have played the same role that Gibraltar later played in British naval strategy. The mole cost £340,000 and reached 1436 feet long, before being blown up during the evacuation.

In 1679, Sultan Moulay Ismail of Morocco made an unsuccessful attempt to seize the town but imposed a crippling blockade which ultimately forced the English to withdraw. The English destroyed the town and its port facilities prior to their departure in 1684. Under Moulay Ismail the city was reconstructed to some extent, but it gradually declined until, by 1810, the population was no more than 5,000.

The United States dedicated its first consulate in Tangier during the George Washington administration. In 1821, the Legation Building in Tangier became the first piece of property acquired abroad by the U.S. government—a gift to the U.S. from Sultan Moulay Suliman. It was bombarded by the French Prince de Joinville in 1844.

Tangier's geographic location made it a centre for European diplomatic and commercial rivalry in Morocco in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By the opening of the 20th century it had a population of about 40,000, including 20,000 Muslims (with Berbers predominating over Arabs), 10,000 Jews, and 9,000 Europeans (of whom 7,500 were Spanish). The city was increasingly coming under French influence, and it was here in 1905 that Kaiser Wilhelm II triggered an international crisis that almost led to war between his country and France by pronouncing himself in favour of Morocco's continued independence.

In 1912, Morocco was effectively partitioned between France and Spain, the latter occupying the country's far north (called Spanish Morocco) and a part of Moroccan territory in the south, while France declared a protectorate over the remainder. The last Sultan of independent Morocco, Moulay Hafid, was exiled to the Sultanate Palace in the Tangier Kasbah after his forced abdication in favour of his brother Moulay Yusef. Tangier was made an international zone in 1923 under the joint administration of France, Spain, and Britain, joined by Italy in 1928. After a period of effective Spanish control from 1940 to 1945 during World War II, Tangier was reunited with the rest of Morocco following the restoration of full sovereignty in 1956.

Ecclesiastical history:

Tangier was a Roman Catholic titular see of former Mauretania Tingitana. Originally the city was part of the larger province of Mauretania Caesariensis, which included much of Northern Africa. Later the area was subdivided, with the eastern part keeping the former name and the newer part receiving the name of Mauretania Tingitana. (Thus one official list of the Roman Curia places it in Mauretania Caesarea).

Towards the end of the third century, Tangier was the scene of the martyrdom of Saint Marcellus of Tangier, mentioned in the Roman Martyrology on 30 October, and of St. Cassian, mentioned on 3 December. It is not known whether it was a diocese in ancient times.

Under the Portuguese domination, it was a suffragan of Lisbon and, in 1570, was united to the diocese of Ceuta. Six of its bishops are known, the first, who did not reside in his see, in 1468. In the protectorate era of Morocco Tangier was the residence of the prefect Apostolic of Morocco, which mission was in charge of the Friars Minor. It had a Catholic church, several chapels, schools, and a hospital. The city is a host of the Anglican church of Saint Andrew.

Espionage history:

Tangier has been reputed as a safe house for international spying activities. Its position during the Cold War and other spying periods of the 19th and 20th century is legendary.

Tangier acquired the reputation of a spying and smuggling centre and attracted foreign capital due to political neutrality and commercial liberty at that time. It was via a British bank in Tangiers that the Bank of England in 1943 for the first time obtained samples of the high-quality forged British currency produced by the Nazis in "Operation Bernhard".

The city has also been a subject for many spy fiction books and films.

Source: Wikipedia