Tétouan 8.11

Tétouan is a city in northern Morocco. The Berber name means literally "the eyes" and figuratively "the water springs". Tétouan is one of the two major ports of Morocco on the Mediterranean Sea. It lies a few miles south of the Strait of Gibraltar, and about 60 km E.S.E. of Tangier. In 2014 the city had 463,968 inhabitants . Tétouan's civil airport Sania Ramel Airport is located 6 km to the east.In 1913 Tétouan became the capital of the Spanish protectorate of Morocco, which was governed by the Jalifa, and the Spanish "Alto Comisario" accredited to him. It remained such a capital until 1956, when Morocco regained its full independence.Arabic is the official language, the city has its own dialect, a particular citadin variant of non-Hilalian Arabic which is distinct from Jebli Arabic. However, Jebli Arabic is predominant since people from the neighboring rural areas settled in the city during the 20th century rural flights. The use of Spanish and French is still widespread especially by the businessmen and intellectual elites due to past colonial ties and geographic location to Europe. The majority religion is Islam; small Christian and Jewish communities also exist.