About El-Jadida
El Jadida (الجديدة in Arabic) is a coastal town in Morocco, 96 km from Casablanca. It is the prefecture of the El Jadida province. El Jadida (or al-Djadīda) is the current name of the former Mazagão (Mazagan), a fortified city built by the Portuguese at the beginning of the 16th century, which was not retaken by the Moroccans until 1769.
The fortifications of the Portuguese city, with their bastions and ramparts, constitute an early example of Portuguese Renaissance military architecture. The Portuguese buildings still visible are the Portuguese cistern, the Portuguese fortress of Mazagan, and the Church of the Assumption, built in the Manueline style. They offer exceptional testimony to the cross-influences between European and Moroccan cultures. From the beginning of the 19th century, the town expanded beyond the ramparts of the Portuguese city. Today, it extends far beyond what is now just a historical islet on the edge of the Atlantic.
