Agadir: Agadir n’Ihrir. Previously a small outpost of the 11th century B.C. Phoenicians; then of 7th century B.C. Carthaginians; 4th century B.C. Mauretanian Berbers and 4th century A.D. Romans, during the Dark Ages of the Medieval Times around 1100 A.D. it became known as Agadir el Arbâa. Not until 1505 did the tiny village of Agadir make its first mark on history when the Portuguese set up a trading post here at what was then a small fortified communal granary (‘Agadir Oufellah’ in the Berber - Chleuh - idiom meaning High Silo) to be named their Santa Cruz de Berbeira, thence Santa Cruz Do Cabo De Aguer, defended by a small fort on what is now called the Cap de Ghirone to become the furthest South "frontieras" (Portuguese enclave) built by a Portuguese nobleman, Joao Lopez de Sequeira, who personally paid for all expenses. This fortified port was attached to the more official Portuguese presence at Massa, just to the south of Agadir which had been established in 1497. The internal conflicts tearing Morocco apart made it difficult for any sovereign to take these ports away from the Portuguese. When writing about Agadir, Leo Africanus mentions a failed attempt by the local ruler to re-conquer the fortress. In 1511, the Moroccans laid siege to the fortified place to lose many men in battle, only to flee, vanquished. Leo Africanus writes that despite this defeat, the nearby Berber populations didnot abandon the hope of recuperating these lands someday. Led by the man who would later become the first Sultan of the Saâdien dynasty, they waited patiently, gathering men and forces for upcoming battles:

"When I left the Cherif's court (Cherif is a name given to any descendant of the Prophet, Mohammed), he had gathered more than 3000 horsemen and a great many footmen, along with huge quantities of war materials."

A profitable, but brief stay at this natural harbour for, in 1541, the Portuguese were forcibly ejected after a six month-long siege by the founder of the Saâdien dynasty, Mohammed Ech Cheikh el Mehdi as what he really wanted was control of the caravanserails of gold from the sub-Saharan nations. The Golden Age of Agadir then followed, with ships arriving every day to take on cargoes of sugar cane, dates, wax, oils, and spices from the surrounding areas and gold from Sudan, Mali and Chad. His son was to build the fortified kasbah of Agadir Oufellah some 30 years later to protect this lucrative trade. In 1760 the Alaouite Sultan Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdallah, jealous of the revenues generated by this port, decided to build one at Mogador – modern day Essaouira - leaving Agadir to fall into decline. In 1911 the arrival of a German gunboat (the Panther), sent by Emperor William III of Prussia officially to protect the local German community, was to trigger what became known as the Agadir Crisis between France and Germany whereby, in 1913, France ceded part of its possessions in the Congo to establish a Protectorate over nearly the entire Sultanate of Morocco. It was here in Agadir that, in 1930, Saint-Exupèry made a technical stop on his flight across the Atlantic Ocean and a staging post for AeroPostale. In 1913 the French built a modern port, enlarging the harbour in 1930 and again in 1954; At 23:47 precisely on February 29 1960, Agadir was almost totally destroyed by an earthquake lasting but 15 seconds, burying the old city and killing an estimated15,000 souls. It also mostly destroyed the ancient Kasbah on the summit of Cap Ghir hill, the farthermost trailing edge of the Atlas Mountains which stretch from here to Tunisia, the ramparts and Babs (gates) alone being restored. On its front gate can still be read the following sentence in Dutch, who, in 1746, had been permitted to set up here a trading post: "Fear God and honour thy King". On seeing the destruction in Agadir, King Mohammed V of Morocco declared: "If Destiny decided the destruction of Agadir, its rebuilding depends of our Faith and Will." Complete reconstruction began in 1961, two kilometres south of the earthquake’s epicentre, to make Agadir Morocco’s newest city - The Pearl of the South which, with some 350 days of sunshine, has become a prime beach resort for Europeans.