Chaouen

Chefchaouen شفشاون ⴰⵛⵛⴰⵡⵏ Chaouen
Nickname(s): The Blue Pearl الجوهرة الزرقاء
Chefchaouen location of Chefchaouen in Morocco
Coordinates: 35°10′17″N 5°16′11″W / 35.17139°N 5.26972°W / 35.17139; -5.26972
Country	Morocco
Province	Chefchaouen
Founded	1471
Government
• Governor	Mhamed Haddan
• Mayor	Mohamed Said al-Alami
Elevation	564 m (1,850 ft)
Population (2014)
• Total	42,786
Time zone	(GMT) Casablanca, Monrovia

Chefchaouen or Chaouen (Arabic: شفشاون‎‎ Shafshāwan (pronounced IPA: ʃəfˈʃɑˑwən); Berber: ⴰⵛⵛⴰⵡⵏ Ashawen) is a city in northwest Morocco. It is the chief town of the province of the same name, and is noted for its buildings in shades of blue.

Chefchaouen is situated in the Rif Mountains, just inland from Tangier and Tetouan. The city was founded in 1471, as a small fortress which still exists to this day, by Moulay Ali Ben Moussa Ben Rached El Alami (a descendant of Ibn Machich and Idris I, and through them, of the Islamic prophet Muhammad) to fight the Portuguese invasions of northern Morocco. Along with the Ghomara tribes of the region, many Moriscos and Jews settled here after the Spanish Reconquista in medieval times. In 1920, the Spanish seized Chefchaouen to form part of Spanish Morocco. Spanish troops imprisoned Abd el-Krim in the kasbah from 1916 to 1917, after he talked with the German consul Dr. Walter Zechlin (1879–1962). (After defeating him with the help of the French, Abd el-Krim was deported to Réunion in 1926.) Spain returned the city after the independence of Morocco in 1956.

Chefchaouen or Chaouen, as it is often called by Moroccans, is a popular tourist destination because of its proximity to Tangier and the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. There are approximately two hundred hotels catering to the summer influx of European tourists. One distinction possessed by Chefchaouen is its blue-rinsed houses and buildings.

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Wikipedia