Essaouira in the context of "Théodore Cornut"

The Canary Current is a wind-driven surface current that is part of the North Atlantic Gyre. This eastern boundary current branches south from the North Atlantic Current and flows southwest about as far as Senegal where it turns west and later joins the Atlantic North Equatorial Current. The current is named after the Canary Islands. The archipelago partially blocks the flow of the Canary Current (Gyory, 2007).

This wide and slow moving current is thought to have been exploited in the early Phoenician navigation and settlement along the coast of western Morocco and Old Spanish Sahara. The ancient Phoenicians not only exploited numerous fisheries within this current zone, but also established a factory at Iles Purpuraires off present day Essaouira for extracting a Tyrian purple dye from a marine gastropod murex species.

Sidi Mohammed ben Abdallah al-Khatib (Arabic: سيدي محمد بن عبد الله الخطيب), also known as Mohammed III (Arabic: محمد الثالث), (c. 1710 – 9 April 1790) was the Sultan of Morocco from 1757 to 1790 as a member of the 'Alawi dynasty. He was the governor of Marrakesh around 1750. He was also briefly sultan in 1748. He rebuilt many cities after the earthquake of 1755, including Mogador, Casablanca, and Rabat. Historians such as Abdallah Laroui have described him as "the architect of modern Morocco." He also defeated the French in the Larache expedition in 1765 and expelled the Portuguese from Mazagan (al-Jadīda) in 1769. He is notable for having been the first leader to recognize American independence, along with establishing an alliance with Luis de Unzaga (nicknamed "le Conciliateur", or "The Conciliator"), as well as his secret intelligence service, led by Unzaga's brothers-in-law Antonio and Matías de Gálvez. He was the son of Mawlay Abdallah bin Ismail and a lady of the Chéraga guich tribe.

Iles Purpuraires are a set of small islands off the western coast of Morocco at the bay located at Essaouira, the largest of which is Mogador Island. These islands were settled in antiquity by the Phoenicians, chiefly to exploit certain marine resources and as a promontory fort. (Hogan, 2007) Roman occupation of western Morocco beginning in the 1st century AD continued the use of the islets, principally for manufacture of a royal blue dye from the marine organisms Murex. Ile Purpuraires is associated with the color purple and Hanno the Navigator may have visited these islands. Neolithic archaeological studies in this area indicate indigenous peoples of western Morocco fished in this locale circa 3000 to 2000 BC. (Trakadas, 2002) The islands have been designated as a protected Ramsar site since 2005.

Ahmed el Inglizi (Arabic: أحمد الإنجليزي, lit. 'Ahmed the English'), also Ahmed El Alj or Ahmed Laalaj (Arabic: أحمد العلج, lit. 'Ahmed the Renegade'), was an English renegade architect and engineer who worked for the Sultan of Morocco Mohammed ben Abdallah in the 18th century. As described by his surname "El Alj", Ahmed el Inglizi was a "renegade", i.e. he had abandoned Christianity for Islam. He seems to have joined with the pirates known as the Salé Rovers.

He is known for building parts of Essaouira (particularly the harbour entrance), after Frenchman Théodore Cornut had designed and built the city itself, particularly the kasbah, corresponding to the Royal quarters and the buildings for Christian merchants and diplomats.

Mogador Island (Arabic: جزيرة موكادور, romanized: Jazīra Mūkādūr; Standard Moroccan Tamazight: ⴰⵎⴳⴷⵓⵍ, romanized: Amegdul; French: Ile Mogador) is the main island of the Iles Purpuraires near Essaouira in Morocco. It is about 3 kilometres (2 miles) long and 1.5 kilometres (1 mile) wide, and lies about 1.5 kilometres (1 mile) from Essaouira.