American Legation, Tangier

American Legation
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Courtyard of the Legation
Location	Tangier, Morocco
Coordinates	35°47′02″N 5°48′38″W / 35.78398°N 5.81068°W / 35.78398; -5.81068
Built	1821
Architectural style	Moorish architecture
NRHP reference No.	81000703
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	January 8, 1981[1]
Designated NHL	December 17, 1982[2]

The Tangier American Legation (Arabic: المفوضية الأميركية في طنجة; French: Légation américaine de Tanger), officially the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIMS),^[3] is a building in the medina of Tangier, Morocco that formerly housed the United States diplomatic mission to Morocco. It was the first American public property abroad and is the only U.S. National Historic Landmark in a foreign country.^{[note 1]}

The legation was established on May 17, 1821, following decades of cordial relations between the U.S. and Morocco; Sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah had issued a proclamation recognizing U.S. independence from Great Britain on December 20, 1777, making his nation the first to do so.^[4] The building was gifted by the sultan to the U.S. government to serve as a diplomatic post, for which it remained for the next 140 years.

After Morocco's diplomatic capital moved to Rabat in 1956, the building served a variety of government functions, before gradually falling into neglect and disrepair. In 1976, former U.S. diplomats established the nonprofit Tangier American Legation Museum Society to restore and preserve the structure;^[5] the site has since served as a cultural center, museum, and research library, concentrating on Arabic language studies.

The Tangier American Legation is considered a symbol of the historic cultural and diplomatic relations between the U.S. and the Kingdom of Morocco,^[6] and of long-running American engagement with the wider Islamic world.^[7] In recognition of its historic and cultural importance, the site was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1981 and designated a National Historic Landmark the following year; it is one of 39 properties owned by the U.S. Department of State listed in the Register of Culturally Significant Property.

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