2 - NORTH AFRICA IN THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES

Summary

General characteristics of the period

Before the end of the ninth/fifteenth century, the three great dynasties; then in power in North Africa—the Marinids in Morocco, the ‘Abd al-Wadids in the central Maghrib and the Hafsids in Ifrīqiya—were either being displaced by a new dynasty or suffered the decline of their authority and the dividing up of their lands; so that at the beginning of the tenth/sixteenth century the Maghrib was in complete political decay. This situation allowed the penetration of Africa by the Portuguese and the Spanish on the one hand, and by Ottoman Turks on the other. The Portuguese and the Spanish were unable to remain in Morocco, where the Sa'did dynasty succeeded in forming an indigenous government which lasted for a century before being supplanted by the ’Alawid dynasty. On the other hand, in the central and eastern Maghrib the Turkish corsairs, after conquering the rival Spanish forces, introduced governments of military occupation. These transformed themselves into local powers which were recognized by the Ottoman sultan, but their existence was troubled by many palace revolutions.

One of the principal activities of these states was privateering, from the ports of Salé, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli, which provided resources for the rulers, but resulted in difficulties with the European maritime powers. Nevertheless, foreign merchants settled in Algiers, in Tunis, and in some other places; political relations were established between the North African states and England, France and Holland. The Mediterranean, in spite of the discovery of new sea routes and new countries, continued to play an important part in world politics, especially as the Ottoman empire, which until then had held only the eastern shores, was henceforward established along the greater part of its African coast, from the Nile Delta to Mulūya.