A lovely white Andalusian city set upon the Mediterranean Sea near Tangier, Tetuan traces its origins back to 3rd century B.C. Then it was a settlement called Tamouda which existed until 42 A. D.. when it was destroyed by Roman armies.

When the Merinid sultan Abu Thabit constructed a kasbah at Tetuan in 1307, the Muslim city began to find its form. However, as a refuge for Barbary pirates, Tetuan drew the wrath of the Castilian king Henry III whose forces overran the city and sacked it in 1399.

For a century thereafter Tetuan went into a period of decline until coming under the Andalusian influence of refugees from Granada. From 1484 the city took on some of the rich architectural and cultural character of Muslim Spain, traces of which can still be seen today.

In 1913 Tetuan became the capital of Spain's protectorate until independence in 1956.