The Petit Socco, also known as the Place Souk Dakhel or in Spanish as Zoco Chico, is a small square in the

medina quarter A medina (from ar, مدينة, translit=madīnah, lit=city) is a historical district in a number of North African cities, often corresponding to an old walled city. The term comes from the Arabic word simply meaning "city" or "town". Histori ...

Tangier Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the capi ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

Name

The words are a combination of the French word ''petit'', meaning 'little/small', and the Spanish word ''zoco'' (often spelled as ''socco'' in northern Morocco), meaning souq, bazaar (

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

) or marketplace.

History

The Petit Socco, intersected by rue Es-Siaghine and close to the Grand Mosque, has long been the focal point of the

medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the ...

or old city of Tangier. Before the inception of the

Tangier International Zone The Tangier International Zone ( ''Minṭaqat Ṭanja ad-Dawliyya'', , es, Zona Internacional de Tánger) was a international zone centered on the city of Tangier, Morocco, which existed from 1924 until its reintegration into independent Moroc ...

in 1923, many of the European nations' consulates in Tangier were in its immediate vicinity, as were the main banks. The head office of the State Bank of Morocco was established next to the Petit Socco at its creation in 1907, and stayed there until 1952 when it moved to a new building outside the medina. The Petit Socco was the hub of information in diplomatic-era Tanger, with the

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

s of the four most intrusive nations on each of its sides by the early 20th century: British to the north (between the ''Café Central'' and the then ''Bristol''hotel), Spanish to the east, German to the south, and French to the west. Two of that era's iconic establishments, the ''Hotel Fuentes'' on its southern side and ''Gran Café Central'' on its northern side, still exist as of 2023. From the 1950s, the Petit Socco declined in prominence and was later known for drugs and prostitution. In recent years, the Petit Socco and surrounding area have undergone significant renovation, as illustrated by the opening in 2017 the ''Palais Zahia'' hotel in the former seat of the State Bank, and the inauguration in 2022 of the Dar Niaba Museum in the former

French consulate The Consulate (french: Le Consulat) was the top-level Government of France from the fall of the Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire on 10 November 1799 until the start of the Napoleonic Empire on 18 May 1804. By extension, the term ''The Co ...

building on rue Es-Siaghine.

References

Buildings and structures in Tangier Red-light districts in Morocco Souqs {{TangerTetouanAlHoceima-geo-stub

Name

History

See also

References