Siege of Mazagan (1769)

Siege of Mazagan
	Part of the Moroccan–Portuguese conflicts
	; The siege and the evacuation of Mazagan in 1769
Date	Early 1769 – 11 March 1769
Location	El Jadida, Morocco
Result	Moroccan victory End of the Moroccan–Portuguese conflicts ;
Belligerents
Kingdom of Portugal	Sultanate of Morocco
Commanders and leaders
Dinis Gregório ; Bernardo Esquível [ pt ]	Mohammed III
Strength
592 men	70,000 men; 35 cannons

Last updated January 07, 2024

The siege of Mazagan of 1769 was the last engagement between Morocco and the Portuguese in Mazagan (El Jadida). The Moroccan army under Sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah was victorious and the Portuguese evacuated their last garrison in Morocco, bringing an end to their 354-year-long conflict.

Background

The Portuguese existence in Mazagan began in 1514 when they built a citadel in summer.^[3] In 1562, the Moroccans led by the Saadi Sultan Abu Abdallah Mohammed al-Mutawakkil unsuccessfully attempted to oust the Portuguese from Mazagan.^[4] The Portuguese garrison in Mazagan in 1769 was of 592 men: 472 infantrymen, 99 cavalrymen and 21 artillerymen.^[5]

Siege

In early 1769, the 'Alawite Sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah, refusing to acknowledge the Portuguese rule in Mazagan,^[6] prepared a large army of 70,000 men, arriving at Mazagan during the month of Ramadan, he had 35 cannons prepared and bombard it with 2,000 round shots into the city inflicting heavy casualties on the Portuguese and Damaging the city, as the siege prolonged, the garrison sent a letter to King Joseph I of Portugal asking for aid, Joseph instructed them to evacuate the fort taking everyone alongside their families when the inhabitants knew this they refused to abandon their last colony arguing their ancestors sacrificed themselves to keep it.^[7] Later the inhabitants complied to the order and sent to Sultan Mohammed asking to stop the fighting and give them 3 days to evacuate the town, Mohammed accepted on condition that they would leave everything behind.^[8]

In 1 February, a squadron, under the command of captain of sea and war Bernardo Ramires Esquível, sailed from Lisbon to evacuate the population of Mazagan.^[5] The squadron was composed of the 54-gun ship of the line Nossa Senhora de Belém e São José commanded by Esquível, this was the flagship of the expedition; the frigates Nossa Senhora da Nazaré and Nossa Senhora da Guia; the charruas Nossa Senhora das Mercês and Santa Ana e São Joaquim, as well as five yachts.^[5]

During the three days, the Portuguese burned the Furniture and the beddings, killed the livestock, and broke utensils and tools.^[8] The Portuguese did not respect the agreement,^[9] they buried gunpowder and mined the bastions, with around 40 barrels of gunpowder in each bastion.^[8] The boarding of the population was completed on 11 March and the last evacuated was the governor of Mazagan, Dinis Gregório.^[5] They left a man called "Pedro"; it is said that he ignited the gunpowder when the Moroccans entered, killing 5,000 Moroccans in the explosion.^[8]^[9] Due to this, the city remained uninhabited for nearly half a century and was called El-Mahdouma (The Ruined).^[10]

Aftermath

The squadron arrived at Lisbon between 21 and 24 March, the evacuees were attended at the expense of the royal family with dinner and supper, but were housed in miserable conditions.^[5] More than three hundred died in hospitals.^[5] The survivors later went to the colony of Brazil, where they founded a new settlement in 1773 called Vila Nova de Mazagão in the interior of the Amapá region of the State of Grão-Pará and Rio Negro.^[5]

Sultan Moulay Abd al-Rahman ordered that a mosque be built, and the destroyed portions of the former Portuguese city were rebuilt during his reign in the early nineteenth-century.^[10] In 1820, the name Mazagan was now banned, and the city was called El-Jadida (The New).^[11]^[12]

Related Research Articles

Moulay Ismail Ibn Sharif, born around 1645 in Sijilmassa and died on 22 March 1727 at Meknes, was a Sultan of Morocco from 1672 to 1727, as the second ruler of the 'Alawi dynasty. He was the seventh son of Moulay Sharif and was governor of the province of Fez and the north of Morocco from 1667 until the death of his half-brother, Sultan Moulay Rashid in 1672. He was proclaimed sultan at Fez, but spent several years in conflict with his nephew Moulay Ahmed ben Mehrez, who also claimed the throne, until the latter's death in 1687. Moulay Ismail's 55-year reign is the longest of any sultan of Morocco. During his lifetime, Moulay amassed a harem of over 500 women with more than 800 confirmed biological children, making him one of the most prodigious fathers in recorded history.

The 'Alawi dynasty – also rendered in English as Alaouite, 'Alawid, or Alawite – is the current Moroccan royal family and reigning dynasty. They are an Arab sharifian dynasty and claim descent from the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandson, Hasan ibn Ali. Their ancestors originally migrated to the Tafilalt region, in present-day Morocco, from Yanbu on the coast of the Hejaz in the 12th or 13th century.

The Battle of Alcácer Quibir was fought in northern Morocco, near the town of Ksar-el-Kebir and Larache, on 4 August 1578.

El Jadida is a major port city on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, located 96 kilometres (60 mi) south of the city of Casablanca, in the province of El Jadida and the region of Casablanca-Settat. It has a population of 170,956 as of 2023.

Sidi Mohammed ben Abdallahal-Khatib, known as Mohammed III, born in 1710 in Fes and died on 9 April 1790 in Meknes, was the Sultan of Morocco from 1757 to 1790 as a member of the 'Alawi dynasty. He was the governor of Marrakesh around 1750. He was also briefly sultan in 1748. He rebuilt many cities after the earthquake of 1755, including Mogador, Casablanca, and Rabat, and Abdallah Laroui described him as "the architect of modern Morocco." He also defeated the French in the Larache expedition in 1765 and expelled the Portuguese from Mazagan (al-Jadīda) in 1769. He is notable for having been the leader of one of the first nations to recognize American independence in his alliance with Luis de Unzaga 'le Conciliateur' through correspondence and Unzaga's secret intelligence service and led by his brothers-in-law Antonio and Matías de Gálvez from the Canary Islands. He was the son of Mawlay Abdallah bin Ismail and his wife a lady of the Chéraga guich tribe.

Elvas is a Portuguese municipality, former episcopal city and frontier fortress of easternmost central Portugal, located in the district of Portalegre in Alentejo. It is situated about 200 kilometres (120 mi) east of Lisbon, and about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) west of the Spanish fortress of Badajoz, by the Madrid-Badajoz-Lisbon railway. The municipality population as of 2011 was 23,078, in an area of 631.29 square kilometres (243.74 sq mi). The city itself had a population of 16,640 as of 2011.

MawlayMohammed al-Shaykh al-Sharif al-Hassani, known as Mohammed al-Shaykh, was the first sultan of the Saadian dynasty of Morocco (1544–1557). He was particularly successful in expelling the Portuguese from most of their bases in Morocco. He also eliminated the Wattasids and resisted the Ottomans, thereby establishing a complete rule over Morocco.

Moroccan–Portuguese conflicts refer to a series of battles between Morocco and Portugal throughout history including Battle of Tangier, Fall of Agadir and other battles and sieges in the Moroccan coast.

Castelo Real was a Portuguese castle established in Mogador, now Essaouira in Morocco, by the Portuguese in 1506.

Morocco–Portugal relations cover a period of several centuries largely historic, and to present not particularly substantial relations. Initial contacts started in the 8th century, when Muslim forces invaded most of the territory of the Iberian peninsula. After the Reconquista, Portugal would then expand into Africa, starting with the territory of Morocco, by invading cities and establishing fortified outposts along the Moroccan coast.

The siege of Larache, in 1689, was undertaken by an army of Morocco under 'Alawid Sultan Ismail Ibn Sharif against the Spanish forces of Charles II, which had ruled the city for almost 80 years since its cession in 1610. After three months of siege, the defenders were forced to capitulate.

The Castle of Alenquer, is a Portuguese medieval castle in civil parish of Alenquer, in the municipality of Alenquer, in the district of Lisbon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luís Carlos Inácio Xavier de Meneses, 1st Marquis of Louriçal</span>

D. Luís Carlos Inácio Xavier de Meneses, 1st Marquis of Louriçal, 5th Count of Ericeira,, was a Portuguese nobleman and statesman, that served as Viceroy of India twice.

Portuguese Tangier covers the period of Portuguese rule over Tangier, today a city in Morocco. The territory was ruled by the Kingdom of Portugal from 1471 to 1661.

Pedro I was a ship of the line of the Imperial Brazilian Navy. It was a third-rate, three-masted, two-decked, 74-gunned sailing ship. The ship was built by shipbuilder Antônio da Silva in the Bahia Navy Arsenal in Salvador for the Portuguese navy in Colonial Brazil in 1763. First named Santo António e São José, it took part in several naval actions in the decades after its construction such as the bombardment of Algiers in 1784.

The 1562 Siege of Mazagan, also known as the Great Siege of Mazagan was an armed engagement that took place in the modern city of El Jadida, then known as Mazagan, between Portuguese forces and those of the Saadi dynasty, which had unified Morocco a few years prior.

Portuguese Asilah covers the period of Portuguese rule over Asilah, today a city in Morocco. The territory was ruled by the Kingdom of Portugal from 1471 to 1550 and again between 1577 and 1589.

In 1640, the Moroccans led by Sidi al-Ayachi ambushed a Portuguese force from Mazagan, successfully killing most of them, including their commander.

References

↑ Carlos Nunes Silva, Urban Planning in North Africa
↑ Pereira, Pedro Miguel Nazaré (2011). Bernardo Ramires Esquível (PDF) (in Portuguese). Lisbon: University of Lisbon. pp. 97–99.
↑ Colin, G.S.; Cenival, P. de (1960–2007). "al-D̲j̲adīda". In Bearman, P.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C.E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W.P. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Brill.
↑ Comer Plummer: The Siege of Mazagan, 1562 at militaryhistoryonline.com
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Pereira, Pedro Miguel Nazaré (2011). Bernardo Ramires Esquível (PDF) (in Portuguese). Lisbon: University of Lisbon. pp. 97–99.
↑ Ahmad ibn Khalid an-Nasiri, al-Istiqsa li-Akhbar duwal al-Maghrib al-Aqsa Vol VIII, p. 35
↑ an-Nasiri, p. 36
1 2 3 4 an-Nasiri, p. 37
1 2 Carlos Nunes Silva
1 2 Proposition d'inscription de biens sur la Liste du patrimoine mondial: Cité portugaise Mazagan (El Jadida) (Nomination text for UNESCO World Heritage List) (in French). 2004.
↑ Fortress of Mazagan Al-Jadida, Morocco
↑ Sarmento, João (2011). Fortifications, Post-colonialism and Power: Ruins and Imperial Legacies. Routledge. pp. 128–133. ISBN 978-1-317-13387-2.

33°14′N8°30′W / 33.233°N 8.500°W / 33.233; -8.500

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Carlos Nunes Silva, Urban Planning in North Africa

[2] Pereira, Pedro Miguel Nazaré (2011). Bernardo Ramires Esquível (PDF) (in Portuguese). Lisbon: University of Lisbon. pp. 97–99.

[3] Colin, G.S.; Cenival, P. de (1960–2007). "al-D̲j̲adīda". In Bearman, P.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C.E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W.P. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Brill.

[4] Comer Plummer: The Siege of Mazagan, 1562 at militaryhistoryonline.com

[:0-5] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Pereira, Pedro Miguel Nazaré (2011). Bernardo Ramires Esquível (PDF) (in Portuguese). Lisbon: University of Lisbon. pp. 97–99.

[6] Ahmad ibn Khalid an-Nasiri, al-Istiqsa li-Akhbar duwal al-Maghrib al-Aqsa Vol VIII, p. 35

[7] -Nasiri, p. 36

[an-Nasiri,_p._37-8] 1 2 3 4 an-Nasiri, p. 37

[Carlos_Nunes_Silva-9] 1 2 Carlos Nunes Silva

[:03-10] 1 2 Proposition d'inscription de biens sur la Liste du patrimoine mondial: Cité portugaise Mazagan (El Jadida) (Nomination text for UNESCO World Heritage List) (in French). 2004.

[11] Fortress of Mazagan Al-Jadida, Morocco

[:5-12] Sarmento, João (2011). Fortifications, Post-colonialism and Power: Ruins and Imperial Legacies. Routledge. pp. 128–133. ISBN 978-1-317-13387-2.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]