Essaouira
Built 1760 as fortified trading port. UNESCO 2001. Evolved: military → trade → fishing → tourism/windsurfing. Constant winds, sardine port, historic medina.
Essaouira (formerly Mogador) was purpose-built in 1760 by Sultan Mohammed bin Abdallah, designed by French architect Théodore Cornut using Vauban military fortification principles. The planned city served as Morocco's primary Atlantic trading port—the "Port of Timbuktu"—connecting sub-Saharan trade routes to European markets through the 18th-19th centuries. By the 20th century, commercial shipping moved to Casablanca, and Essaouira declined until tourism rediscovered it in the 1960s-70s (Jimi Hendrix visited in 1969, boosting its countercultural appeal). UNESCO designated the medina a World Heritage Site in 2001. Today, constant Atlantic winds make Essaouira Morocco's windsurfing capital, the port processes sardines (third-largest in Morocco), and the walled medina attracts tourists. The city exemplifies adaptive reuse: military port → trading hub → fishing village → tourist/sports destination.