Azemmour

Azemmour or Azamor is a Moroccan city, on the left margin of Morbea river, 75km southwest of Casablanca.

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Although it was dependent of the King of Fez, Azemmour had great autonomy. In 1486 its inhabitants became vassals and tributaries of John II of Portugal. Manuel I of Portugal cofirmed the treaty in 1497 and the city payed 10.000 sav?is every year. Later, unrest started to grow and thus Manuel sent a small fleet commanded by Jo?o de Meneses to conquer the city in 1508.

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However, in 1513 the Amemmour's governor Muley Zayam, refused to pay the tribute and "ringed the city with a powerful, well-equipped army. Manuel I of Portugal responded to the challenge by sending the largest seaborne force ever to sail for his kingdom: five hundred ships, fifteen-thousand soldiers, the entire military might of his small nation" (Bergreen, 19). James, Duke of Braganza led this army and on September 1 the army conquered the city with no resistance from its inhabitants. Ferdinand Magellan, the famed man to lead the first-ever circumnavigation of the earth, was among the Portuguese soldiers there and lost his horse there to skirmishes outside the city. However, Portuguese control of the city occured just for a small period as in 1541 it was abandoned due to economical difficulties by John III of Portugal.

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Sources Cited:

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Bergreen, Laurence. Over the Edge of the World. New York: Perennial, 2003.

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