The Noble Title of the Ruined Port of Cazaza

Upon the hill of Er-Kudiez, the wind whispers a name born from the Berber word Akhsas. This name speaks of a human head. It hangs heavy over the ruins where the Mediterranean tides wash over the remains of a civilization.

In a time of swords and stone, Cazaza was a port that paid the state an annual tax of 30,000 dinars. This sum was comparable to cities like Taza and Melilla. It was located on the Moroccan Mediterranean coast, west of the Tres Forcas peninsula.

In 1505, forces based in Melilla took Cazaza from Wattasid Morocco. For this conquest, King Ferdinand granted the title Marquess of Cazaza to the Duke of Medina Sidonia. That name persists in the nobility even now, though the city was never rebuilt after the destruction when it was conquered. The Spanish lost control of Cazaza in 1533 because of the treachery of five of its garrison who betrayed it.

Now, only the ghosts of the past remain in the dust. The sun-bleached stones sit near the marabout of Sidi Masoud. The Haduba River flows past the ruins in the commune of Iaazzanene.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons