Tetouan’s Skundo Water Network as a Gateway for Environmental History

Inscriptions on a fountain across from Bab al-Oqla, one of the entrances to Tetouan’s historical medina, invite the passerby to drink its sweet and pure water. The thirsty will be satiated—possibly even healed—not only physically, but spiritually, moved to a state of gratitude by this bounty. The fountain, like many others in the city, is served by the skundo system, a web of clay pipes dating back to the city’s re-foundation at the end of the fifteenth century by Sidi al-Mandari, a military captain in Nasrid Granada. Relying on gravity alone, this engineering marvel channeled water from the surrounding mountains and springs throughout the city to mosques, public baths, private residences, wells, and industrial hubs. The skundo system underwrote the demographic expansion of city, growing to accommodate thousands of moriscos expelled from Spain in 1609. It’s transformation from dynamic public infrastructure to preserved piece of cultural heritage began under the Spanish Protectorate in Morocco (1912-56). Now reduced in scope but still active, the skundo system is a key element of Tetouan’s cultural identity, lauded as ultimately responsible for a unique urban landscape that reflects Islamic religious values and Andalusi diaspora culture. This paper explores the possibilities that the skundo system presents for environmental history. Taking inspiration from Abbey Stockstill’s book Marrakesh and the Mountains: Landscape, Urban Planning and Identity in the Medieval Maghreb this research pays special attention to the interplay between geography, architecture and loci of power in pre-modern Tetouan. The paper will draw upon Sujit Sivasundaram’s method of cross-contextualization in order to (1) analyze sixteenth and seventeenth- century Islamic pious endowments alongside later evidence from the Spanish Protectorate in Morocco, and (2) deepen our understanding of pre-1492 water management in Granada in light of written, architectural, and archaeological evidence from parallel water systems in Tetouan.