saadien -Dynastie saadienne (1554-1659

Map of the Empire saadien
The Saadian Zaydanides45 sometimes called, is a native Arab dynasty Sharifian the Draa Valley. She came to power in 1511 with Sultan Muhammad al-Mahdi al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah chose Marrakech for final capital after Taroudant. From 1554 she has full control over Morocco, while the central and eastern Maghreb is under the dominion of the Ottomans. Muhammad al-Sheikh is a staunch opponent of the Ottoman sultan-caliph Suleiman the Magnificent. To ward off the threat posed by the Turkish governors of Algiers, the Saadian sultan did not hesitate to seek the alliance of Spaniards who occupied Oran and allow him to seize Tlemcen. Despite a devastating raid against Fez Ottoman troops really do not penetrate inside the Moroccan territory, and Saadian can extend their occupation of north-western Algeria. Diplomacy Muhammad al-Shaikh earned him the enmity of the Sublime Porte tenacious. Indeed, in 1557 the assassins in the pay of Hasan pasha of Algiers Corso behead the Moroccan Sultan and sent his head as a trophy in Istanbul, where can contemplate Soliman and his implacable enemy Ouest46. The murder, however, did not affect the military front and even strengthens the foundation of the Saadian dynasty.
Designated by the mystical brotherhoods including the Chadilya and Jazoulya, Saadiens have the difficult task of reuniting Morocco and fight the young King Sebastian I of Portugal willing to carry his personal crusade in Africa. In 1578 Ksar el Kebir (Battle of the Three Kings), a large Portuguese army composed largely of mercenaries from almost all Christendom Western Catholic (Portuguese knights, militia Spanish provinces lansquenets German and Flemish and Italian troops halberdiers Papal) is completely destroyed by the military forces of the Empire of Morocco Saadian which offer a victory considérable47 impact. After this battle, the dynasty focuses on the north-east of Morocco to protect the country from Ottoman ambitions.
Despite their political opposition to the Sublime Porte, the Saadian Makhzen organize their army and the Ottoman model. The Board shall adopt the titles of pashas and beys, and sultans to equip an elite guard composed of peiks and solaks, taking the discipline and costume characteristic of Turkish janissaries. A representative of the Sultan with the title "khalifa" 48exerce power viceroy from Fez on the northern and eastern. Many pashas and bosses are renegades and Andalusians responsible for collecting taxes, raising troops and monitor the tribes to prevent revolt against the Makhzen saadien.


The inner courtyard of the Ben Youssef Medersa period saadienne
The influence turque49 be explained by the exiled princes Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik and Ahmed (Ahmed future Saadi al-Mansur) in Algiers and Istanbul during the reign of their half-brother Moulay Abdallah al-Ghalib, who had wanted to eliminate in order to be the sole representative of the dynasty. Support of the Ottoman Sultan Murad III to the claims of both Saadian princes may seem paradoxical because of the adversarial nature of Turkish-Moroccan relations, but Abd al-Malik and his brother know how to use this support to intelligently reclaim the throne and eliminate their nephew Mohammed el-Mottouakil (son of al-Ghalib) which in turn was allied with Portugal. Murad III's death in 1595 put an end also to hegemonic appetites of the Sublime Porte and strengthens the independence marocaine50.


Abd el-Wahed ben Messaoud, ambassador of Sultan al-Mansur in England, circa 1600


Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur Saadi, whose reign marked the apogee of the Saadian dynasty.
If the Turks are mostly found in the General Staff and artillery, most of the Saadian army is composed of European renegades and tribes Cheragas Arab military contingents as well as the Souss (Souss the Ehl-el, constitutes the backbone of the military dynasty). This considerable force, estimated at 40,000 men by the historian Henri Terrasse, is the sultan Ahmad al-Mansur's most powerful political and military leader of this part of Africa. He proves it by launching one of its most brilliant officers, General Yuder Pasha to conquer Songhai Empire of Mali becomes Tondibi after the battle of the Moroccan pashalik of Timbuktu and Bilad as-Sudan (Sudan western Niger as opposed to Eastern Nilotic Sudan), including the prestigious cities of Gao and Djenné. On the religious level, the rule of the Caliphate is recognized until saadien Chad Idriss Alaoma III, ruler of the kingdom of Kanem-Bornou51. This spiritual allegiance marks an undeniable victory for the Sultan al-Mansur on the African scene to the detriment of the Ottoman Empire who also intends to use its status as a caliphate.
The Songhai Empire and destroyed his sovereign Askia Ishaq II overthrown, the gold of the Niger River valley on its way to Marrakech Moroccan oasis then the circuit caravans under heavy armed escort. With this Malian gold, Sultan al-Mansur embarked on a policy of prestige, completes his huge and luxurious El Badi Palace seat of a very luxurious court life, and we see even the Queen of France Catherine de Medici attempt to use a loan of 20,000 ducats to the wealthy saadien52 caliph.
In turn Queen Elizabeth I of England wants to establish a strategic alliance with the Spanish anti-powerful caliphate saadien to counter the ambitions of Philip II. This policy is embodied by the Anglo-Moroccan joint attack against Cadiz (1596) and the exchange of ambassadors between the courts of London and Marrakech in 1600. But this brilliant page ends with the death of Ahmed in Fez in 1603. In 1612, the pashas of Timbuktu behave in independent princes of Mali and gold continues to reach Marrakech. The dynasty died in 1659 in the death of Sultan Ahmed el-Abbas, who ended a long war between the various dynastic heirs of the family saadienne53.

On the eve of the disappearance of the Saadian dynasty, Morocco breaks up into several local authorities, some of whom aspire to transcend their regional context and to impose nationwide. Among these powers, the most notable are the zaouia Dila, based in the Middle Atlas, whose strength lies in the Berber tribes of the mountains, including Sanhadjas and the zaouia of Illigh who founded the kingdom of Tazeroualt in Souss and control of important caravan routes from the Sahara. In addition to these theocratic states Sufis, the warlord El Ayyachi champion of jihad in the Atlantic provinces, is size an important fief in the Gharb. Coastal cities predominantly Andalusian erect also independent political entities, such as the Republic of Salé and the Principality of Naqsides in Tetouan. Finally, in Marrakech and the Haouz emerges lordship former bosses Saadian palace. But all these players involved, it is the Alawites, emirs who Tafilalet necessary through a gradual and methodical conquest of Morocco, leveraging internal weaknesses and divisions of their opponents. The Alawite dynasty comes to power and on throughout the middle of the seventeenth century.



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