Calle de Wad-Ras

The name comes from a valley in northern Morocco. There, on 23 March 1860, the Spanish army under Leopoldo O’Donnell defeated the sultan’s troops in what became known as the battle of Wad-Ras, the last great clash of the War of Africa. General Prim’s charge proved decisive, and the victory paved the way for the peace treaty that Spain signed in Tetouan a month later. The place name comes from Arabic, something like “high valley.” It fits the military place names of the Tetuán district, christened Tetuán de las Victorias after the Moroccan city taken during that campaign. Its first streets gathered the milestones of the war: O’Donnell, Prim, Topete, Ceuta. Wad-Ras figured in that repertoire, though it had earlier answered to the humbler name of Algodonales.