Customs

This week I write the column from the beach of a small town in the province of Cádiz, Andalusia, on the Costa de la Luz (‘coast of light’) on the southernmost coast of Spain at the entrance to the Straits of Gibraltar. Today the town is known as one of the world's most popular destinations for wind sports, particularly windsurfing.

The town’s name is Tarifa, after an Arabian by the name of “Tariff Iban Malik”. The town has existed for more than twelve centuries. When the Moors founded the town they prepared the way for a system that is probably the most important element in international trade. As the name suggests it is the tariff.

In the days when commerce began to expand from the Mediterranean, a gang of racketeers made Tarifa their headquarters, holding up all merchant ships at the town and levying a charge - a fixed rate - on all merchandise passing in and out of the Straits of Gibraltar. The mariners called this charge a ‘tariff’ and the word became familiar in England since its vessels formed the majority of the merchant trade of the day.