Essaouira

Essaouira الصويرة
City
Clockwise from top: Essaouira skyline, city wall bastion, Magana clocktower, Essaouira citadel by Scala harbour, Mosque Ben Youssef
Coat of arms
Essaouira Location in Morocco Show map of Morocco Essaouira Essaouira (Africa) Show map of Africa
Coordinates: 31°30′47″N 9°46′11″W / 31.51306°N 9.76972°W / 31.51306; -9.76972
Country	Morocco
Region	Marrakesh-Safi
Province	Essaouira
Founded	1769
Founded by	Mohammed III
Government
• Mayor	Tarik Ottmani
Highest elevation	50 m (160 ft)
Lowest elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Population  (2014)[1]
• Total	77,966
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
UNESCO World Heritage Site
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Medina of Essaouira (formerly Mogador)
Criteria	Cultural: ii, iv
Reference	753
Inscription	2001 (25th Session)
Area	30 ha
Buffer zone	15 ha

Essaouira (/ˌɛsəˈwɪərə/ ESS-ə-WEER-ə; Arabic: الصويرة, romanized: aṣ-Ṣawīra), known until the 1960s as Mogador (Arabic: موغادور, romanized: Mūghādūr, or موݣادور, Mūgādūr), is a port city in the western Moroccan region of Marrakesh-Safi, on the Atlantic coast. It has 77,966 inhabitants as of 2014.

The foundation of the city of Essaouira was the work of the Moroccan 'Alawid sultan Mohammed bin Abdallah, who made an original experiment by entrusting it to several architects in 1760, in particular Théodore Cornut and Ahmed al-Inglizi, who designed the city using French captives from the failed French expedition to Larache in 1765, and with the mission of building a city adapted to the needs of foreign merchants. Once built, it continued to grow and experienced a golden age and exceptional development, becoming the country's most important commercial port but also its diplomatic capital between the end of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century.

Medina of Essaouira was designated by the UNESCO a World Heritage Site in 2001.