Walter Harris (1866–1933) was a British travel writer, journalist, and Morocco specialist. Born in London to a wealthy shipping family, he first visited Morocco in 1887 and settled in Tangier soon after, making it his home for most of his life. From 1906 he served as The Times' correspondent in Morocco, reporting on the country through the turbulent years of the Moroccan Crisis and the establishment of the French and Spanish protectorates. Harris was known for his deep immersion in Moroccan society. He travelled extensively in disguise through regions closed to Europeans, cultivated close relationships with the Moroccan court, including with Sultan Abd al-Aziz, and wrote with an insider's intimacy rare among Western observers of the period. His key works are The Land of an African Sultan: Travels in Morocco (1889); Tafilet: The Narrative of a Journey of Exploration in the Atlas Mountains and the Oases of the North-West Sahara (1895); Morocco That Was (1921), his best-known book, a memoir of court intrigue, sultans, and pre-protectorate Morocco; and France, Spain and the Rif (1927). His prose is noted for its wit and keen observation, from a colonial-era vantage point typical of British travel writing of his time, and it remains a valuable primary source on Moroccan history and society before French rule. He died in Tangier in 1933.
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