Why a 200-Year-Building in Morocco Is the Only National Historic Landmark Outside the U.S.

Morocco may seem like a strange place for a U.S. national historic site, the only one in a foreign country, but the North African nation may very well be the United States’ oldest friend. In 1777, as various European powers debated whether or not to intervene in the American War for Independence, the Moroccan sultan, Moulay Mohammed ben Abdallah, issued a proclamation recognizing U.S. independence from Britain, making his nation the first country to do so. The Sultan’s decree welcomed American ships to “come and traffic freely” in Moroccan ports. His hope was to increase maritime trade—and customs revenue—and saw the new nation as a potential trading partner.

Compared to France, Britain and Spain, the U.S., once established, had relatively few interests in Morocco. Yet its location on a critical trade route through the Strait of Gibraltar and the challenge of Barbary pirates in the vicinity made a more official presence for the American necessary. Established 200 years ago, on May 17, 1821, the Tangier American Legation is a rambling mansion that spans two sides of the Rue d’Amerique in the southern corner of the medina, or old walled city, of Tangier, which at the time was Morocco’s diplomatic capital.

A gift from the Moroccan sultan to the U.S. government in 1821, the structure has over the years been a diplomatic residence, a working consulate, a Peace Corps training center, an espionage headquarters, a museum, a research library and a community center. “It is a work of art and service in the process of becoming,” says Dale Eickelmann, the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM) President and Dartmouth anthropologist. And for two centuries, it has persisted as a powerful symbol of American cultural diplomacy and the friendly relationship between Morocco and the U.S.

Inside, the Legation today encompasses 45 rooms, climbing five stories high. At the very top is a conference room that must have the most spectacular view of any room of a National Historic Site. On a clear day, one can see the hulking Rock of Gibraltar across the blue strait and can make out the whitewashed houses of the beach towns of Andalusia just across the water in Spain. Ferries, fishing boats, cruise ships, and massive cargo ships ply the route, with the wide, graceful curve of the Bay of Tangier just below.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/two-hundred-years-tangier-legislation-180977742/