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| MOS ESPA |
| [Spaceports like this one are havens for those who don't wish to be found...] |
| 13 BE | Tatooine 03 |
| Type: Spaceport city Location: Tatooine Affiliation: Hutt crimelords Points of Interest: Mos Espa way Gardulla's palace Watto's junk shop |
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| During filming, much of the Mos Espa set was dashed apart by a furious rainstorm. George Lucas saw this as a good omen; exactly the same thing had happened twenty years earlier, while filming A New Hope |
| Main | Tatooine - Settling the Deserts | Mos Espa - Slave quarters - Anakin's hovel - Watto's shop | Mos Espa Arena - podrace course Mos Eisley - Chalmun's cantina - docking bays - Jabba's townhouse | Jabba's palace - Dune Sea - Jundland Wastes - Ben Kenobi's hut Anchorhead - Tosche Station - Lars moisture farm | Tusken camp - Fort Tusken - Jawa camps |
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| Links: Mos Espa spaceport |
| A rough, lawless settlement, the spaceport city of Mos Espa was rife with criminal activity, gambling dens...and worse. Located on the Xelric Draw trade route on the western Dune Sea, the Mos Espa spaceport was considered to be Tatooine's unofficial capital during the time of the Galactic Republic. This was primarily because Jabba the Hutt had a townhouse in Mos Espa. The spaceport was filled with criminals and gangsters who took advantage of the Republic's inability to properly police the Outer Rim. As well as many other illegal practices such as gambling and smuggling, slavery was abundant in Mos Espa. Usually owned by wealthy slavers who wanted to spend as little as possible, Mos Espa slaves were housed in tiny hovels in slave quarters in the poorer outskirts of the city, well away from the busy Mos Espa Way. The main street of Mos Espa wound through the city, and featured many popular locations. Traders frequented Mos Espa Way, with many stalls winding down the street or tucked away in side streets leading into the city's entertainment district. Various shop fronts, dealer forecourts and docking bays lined Mos Espa Way. The docking bays were positioned to attract tourists to the less seedy area of Mos Espa, though it was not too difficult to wind up in a crime-infested side street after leaviing Mos Espa Way. Jabba and Gardulla, Mos Espa's Hutt gangsters, both had town houses accessible from Mos Espa Way, though Jabba's was later abandoned in favour of a new town house in Mos Eisley, when Mos Espa's popularity declined. Away from the main street and the entertainment district were many more stalls and markets. Outdoor cafes and used speeder lots were dotted around the city, as were junk shops such as the one owned by the Toydarian slaver, Watto. These shops and stalls were located nearer to the outskirts of the city, though not as far as the slave hovels. Residential districts circled the center of the city. With the fall of the Republic and the rise of Palpatine's New Order, Mos Espa's popularity waned. Podracing was banned, thus taking away a huge portion of Mos Espa's attraction: it was famed for its proximity to the Mos Espa Grand Arena where many spectacular podraces were once held. Soon after, Jabba the Hutt left Mos Espa, and thus its criminal content fell. Mos Espa shrank as Mos Eisley grew into the new crime capital of Tatooine. |
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