When our guide, Hmad, included the American Legation in our itinerary, all of us were, at first, pretty unenthused. It didn’t help that he initially spelled it as “American Legion,” which made me think it had something to do with the veterans’ organization.
We didn’t know him well enough to insist that we weren’t interested on this first day, and I am so glad we just rolled with it.
It turns out that the American Legation is one of the first (if not the first) American diplomatic installations in the world; it’s now a museum dedicated to the historic relationship between our two countries. Morocco was the first country to formally recognize the fledgling United States of America, way back in 1777. One of the most surprising and fascinating items was a letter from George Washington to the Emperor of Morocco, saying, essentially, “Those Articles of Confederation were not it; see enclosed, our shiny new Constitution.”
This is very silly and Eurocentric of me, but I had never given much thought to what the people and governments of countries outside of western Europe thought of our revolution. I just had never even thought to wonder whether people in north Africa were paying any attention. I loved that we started out our Moroccan adventure in a place that celebrates hundreds of years of alliance.
The museum also included a wonderful collection of Moroccan art, and information about collaboration and espionage in World War II. The structure itself was a gorgeous building, with courtyards, stairs, and twisty passageways.
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