19 Interesting Agadir Facts Will Make You Pack Your Bags Now!

With more than 340 days of sunshine a year, the city of Agadir ☀️ is located on the southern part of the Atlantic coastline of Morocco 🇲🇦. It is one of the most famous tourist centers in the country.

The beach 🏖️, along with the weather, is the key attraction for thousands of beach lovers around the globe. It is a town with many bars 🍻, restaurants 🍽️, cafes, hotels, and many exciting water sports.

So, in this article, we will now discuss some interesting facts about this beautiful city called Agadir.

Agadir Facts Discover the Enchanting Wonders of Morocco’s Coastal Gem

Interesting Agadir Facts

Agadir has been famous as a perfect tourist destination for the rich people of Europe

The city of Agadir was a great tourist destination for Europe’s famous and rich people for many years.

Today, the city is still full of luxurious beach resorts 🌴, restaurants, cafes, health, and beauty spas, first-class golf courses ⛳, and many other exciting facilities tourists might want to enjoy.

In addition, Agadir is one of the most modern and safest cities in the world, as you will see police 👮‍♂️ walking throughout the tourist spots of the city as well as around the Royal Palaces.

The origin of the name Agadir

Agadir is the shortened version of the Berber word “Agadir n Irir.” This means the fortified granary 🏰. The term is a Berber noun meaning enclosure, wall, citadel, etc.

Though this name’s origin is unknown, there are still some links to a fort made by a Portuguese merchant in the northern part of the town in the year 1505.

Location of Agadir

Agadir is one of the major cities in Morocco, located on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean 🌊. It is located north of where the Souss River flows into the ocean and 509 kilometers south of Casablanca.

Moreover, Agadir is the capital of the Agadir Ida-U-Tanan Prefecture and the Souss-Massa economic region.

Phoenicians from Tyre founded Agadir.

Phoenicians from Tyre founded the city of Agadir, alternately called “Gadir,” around 1104 BC. However, before that, there was a minimal record of the area.

Agadir is a main attraction for sun worshippers.

With more than 340 days of sunshine a year, Agadir is the best tourist spot in the country. The beach and the weather form the best attraction for numerous sun worshippers, especially in winter, when they need to escape the gloom and cold of northern Europe.

Also, Agadir is full of comfortable, modern hotels, bars 🍻, restaurants, cafes, and a broad water sports offer.

Once, a European traveler described Agadir.

The oldest known map that indicates the city of Agadir dates back to 1325. At the city’s approximate location, it names a place it calls Porto Mesegina, after a name of the Berber tribe that had been recorded during the 12th century, the Mesguina.

At the end of the medieval period, Agadir started becoming famous, and the first mention of its name was recorded in 1510 as Agadir al-harbor.

In 1789, a European traveler briefly described the city of Agadir. He said it was a ghost town 👻, with only a few houses and even those crumbling into ruins.

By 2004, it became a large city

The city of Agadir became a huge city of more than half a million by 2004, with a big port with four basins, a commercial port with a draft of 17 meters, a fishing port 🐟, triangle fishing, and a pleasure boat port with a marina ⛵.

Around 1930, the city was a vital stop for the French airmail service

Around 1930, Agadir was an essential stop for the French airmail service Aeropostale ✈️ and was mainly Saint-Exupery and Mermoz.

Several years later, from 1950 to 1956, the city of Agadir organized the Grand Prix of Agadir, and from 1954 to 1956, the Moroccan Grand Prix 🏁.

The History of Agadir

Though Agadir started as a small fishing village 🐠, an influx of German and Portuguese settlers began in the sixteenth century.

In 1911, the Agadir crisis occurred, resulting in France establishing a protectorate over Morocco 🇲🇦. Later, Morocco gained its independence from France in the year 1956.

Here, goats climb up in trees.

In the city of Agadir, along with the entire country of Morocco, you will enjoy the scene of goats 🐐 climbing up argan trees 🌳. Around these parts, Argan trees grow naturally.

These trees grow around the areas of the Anti-Atlas Mountains 🏞️, the Souss Valley, and also the western regions of the High Atlas Mountains. UNESCO even lists the site as a notable biosphere reserve.

Also, these argan trees are famous for the rich oil that may be obtained from the argan nuts 🥜. The goats usually climb on these trees to munch on the fruit.

The city is home to a vast selection of crocodiles.

Agadir is home to an extensive or, you can say, the biggest collection of crocodiles 🐊 in Morocco 🇲🇦. Located a short distance from the town, Crocoparc was the first dedicated crocodile park in the nation.

It has numerous crocodiles from different species that live in several carefully constructed ecosystems.

As a popular attraction for tourists, especially families, the large park has a gift shop 🛍️, beautiful gardens, and food and beverage outlets 🍔.

The park is open until 11 pm in the summer ☀️, which allows people to see those fearsome creatures even in the dark.

An earthquake destroyed the city in 1960

The beautiful city of Agadir was destroyed by a severe earthquake 🌍 in 1960. Later, it was rebuilt with mandatory seismic standards.

Today, it is famous as the largest seaside city in Morocco, where a comfortable and unusual mild year-round climate attracts many tourists and foreign tourists.

Since 2010, the city has been well served by a motorway from Tangier and low-cost flights.

In the 17th century, Agadir expanded its trade with Europe.

During the reign of the Berber dynasty Tazerwalt, the city was a harbor of some importance and started expanding its trade with Europe. However, there was neither a natural port nor a wharf.

The city of Agadir traded mainly in wax, sugar, copper, skins, and hides 🚢. In exchange, Europeans sold their manufactured items like textiles and weapons.

However, during the reign of Sultan Moulay Ismail, trade with France diminished, and eventually, trade with the Dutch and English increased.

The opening of the new commercial port after 1950

The city of Agadir grew with fishing 🐟, agriculture 🌾, canning, and even mining after the opening of the new commercial port and 1950. Moreover, due to its fantastic climate and solid hotel infrastructure, it started opening up to tourism.

Moreover, some years later, from 1950 to 1956, the city of Agadir organized the Grand Prix of Agadir 🏎️, and from 1954 to 1956, the Moroccan Grand Prix 🏁.

The remains of the earthquake are still there.

In 1960, Agadir had more than 40,000 residents when at midnight on 29th February 1960, an earthquake hit the city for almost 15 minutes. Again, the town was nearly destroyed by a severe earthquake, 5.7 on the Richter scale.

That earthquake lasted for 15 seconds and buried the city and killing over a third of the population.

The estimated death toll was almost 15,000, which destroyed the old Kasbah.

In 2022, another one hit Agadir with a magnitude of 4.5. This struck at a depth of almost three kilometers beneath the epicenter.

It was the premier sardine port.

Agadir City was the premier sardine port on the planet 🌍 in the 1980s and even has a beautiful beach 🏖️ stretching over 10 km with fine seafront promenades.

Here the climate is comfortable, winter is warm ☀️, and in summer, haze is familiar; thus, it allows for swimming all year round.

Here, business is also booming 💼 with the good export of vegetables and citrus fruits produced in the fertile valley of Souss.

Here, you can visit the remains of an earthquake that struck Kasbah.

Here you can see the city’s remains, which were once an impressive and grand kasbah 🏰. Several signboards offer information about the tale of the former Kasbah and its destruction.

Though the ruins are tiny, with just a few foundations and some outer wall stretches remaining, it is still something you won’t see in other parts of the nation.

Here you can enjoy a large festival dedicated to Amazigh heritage.

Timitar Festival, held annually each summer in Agadir, is one of the largest festivals in Morocco.

Also, it is one of the biggest celebrations of the Amazigh heritage and is widely famous as one of the best music festivals on the African continent.

This festival promotes local culture, drawing huge crowds. In the festival, diverse musical genres are represented, and you will also see vendors selling traditional jewelry, art, clothing 👘, carpets, many other handicrafts, and plentiful food options.

In the city of Agadir, you can explore a replica medina.

The city of Agadir has something unique to offer to its visitors. Here you can see a modern reconstruction of the old medina before the massive earthquake.

Built by a Moroccan-Italian designer and architect, La Medina d’Agadir provides a creative look into the past.

Here you will get to explore workshops with artisans practicing different trades and many stalls where you can buy traditional Moroccan items.

So, Agadir is a beautiful city in Morocco with comfortable weather, unique architecture, rich history, exciting culture 🎭, famous dynasties 👑, delicious cuisine, attractive art 🖼️, and many more.

At the end of this article, we learned 19 exciting facts that offer us a clear picture of this beautiful and famous Moroccan city, Agadir. You can see our website if you want to know some additional points.