Tangier

For the Portuguese who had taken Ceuta in 1415, Tangier was always the next goal, yet they failed before its walls in 1437, 1458 and 1464. In the end it fell without a blow: on 28 August 1471 the garrison, learning that Asilah had been taken, fled the town. The Portuguese turned the chief mosque into a cathedral, built Franciscan and Dominican houses among homes in the European style, and held off every Wattasid attempt to drive them out.

In 1661 Tangier passed to England as part of the dowry of Catherine of Braganza on her marriage to Charles II. The English garrison was rarely left in peace, and in 1664 the Earl of Teviot and some 470 men died in a single ambush. London poured money into new defences and a great harbour mole, which had reached 438 metres before its end, while waste and fraud swelled the cost and the soldiers' pay fell years behind. Moulay Ismail's siege of 1678–80 failed, but Parliament had lost patience. Over five months the garrison methodically demolished the mole and the town, and in February 1684 Moroccan troops entered the ruins.