While
El Jedida (or Mazagan) did not exist in Leo's days, there was a small
town a few kilometers South of Azemmour, close to El Jedida today. This
town was called Tit. The surrender Leo alludes to in these lines corresponds
to the epoch the Portuguese landed on the coast and created Mazagan
(the town still stands today as the 'Portuguese neighborhood' of El
Jedida):
"Tit
is an old town, about 24 miles from Azamur. It was built by the Africans,
on the coast. It is surrounded by a vast countryside, where wheat grows
in abundance. Its people are not very intelligent and does not know
how to maintain gardens or anything pleasing to the eye. However they
dress quite well, thanks to commercial relations with the Portuguese.
When
Azamur was taken by the Portuguese, [Tit] surrendered to the King
of Portugal and agreed to pay tribute to him. In my days, the Sultan
of Fes traveled there in person as we was fighting to free the people
of Duccala [the region El Jedida belongs to]. Unable to succeed, he
hung both a Christian and a Jew, transferred the population to Fes
and gave them a small village 12 miles outside of Fes."
(Leo, 121)
El
Jedida [Mazagan] was re-conquered by the Moroccans at the end of the
18th century, after 300 years of Portuguese occupation. Upon recuperating
the town, the Moroccan sultan renamed it "El Jedida"- "the
new". However, the past is not so easily erased: the nearly 'touching'
mosque and cathedral in the Portuguese quarter remind us of the city's
mixed past.
"Tit
is an old town, about 24 miles from Azamur. It was built by the Africans,
on the coast. It is surrounded by a vast countryside, where wheat grows
in abundance. Its people are not very intelligent and does not know
how to maintain gardens or anything pleasing to the eye. However they
dress quite well, thanks to commercial relations with the Portuguese.
El
Jedida [Mazagan] was re-conquered by the Moroccans at the end of the
18th century, after 300 years of Portuguese occupation. Upon recuperating
the town, the Moroccan sultan renamed it "El Jedida"- "the
new". However, the past is not so easily erased: the nearly 'touching'
mosque and cathedral in the Portuguese quarter remind us of the city's
mixed past.