English Tangier English Tangier English Tangier refers to the Moroccan city of Tangier during the period of its colonial occupation by the Kingdom of England, which lasted from 1661 to 1684. Tangier had been under Portuguese rule before KingCharlesII acquired the city as part of the dowry when he married the Portuguese infanta Catherine. The marriage treaty was an extensive renewal of the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance; it was opposed by Spain (at war with Portugal) but clandestinely supported by France. England garrisoned and fortified the city against hostile (but disunited) Moroccan forces. When Morocco was later united under the Alaouites, the cost of
English Tangier on the north-western coast of Africa. The Portuguese started their colonial empire by taking nearby Ceuta in 1415. Years of conflict between Portugal and the Moroccans under the Wattasid and Saadi dynasties followed. In 1471, they stormed Asilah to the west and threw Tangier into such chaos that they were able to occupy it completely unopposed. By 1657, the position had changed. The Saadi dynasty steadily lost control of the country to various warlords and finally came to an end with the death of Ahmad al-Abbas. The main warlord around Tangier was Khadir Ghaïlan (known to the English of the