Castelo Real of Mogador | |
|---|---|
 Castelo Real of Mogador, byAdriaen Matham, 1641. | |
  Castelo Real of Mogador Location in Morocco | |
| Coordinates:31°30′34″N9°46′30″W / 31.50944°N 9.77500°W /31.50944; -9.77500 | |
| Country |  Morocco |
| Region | Marrakesh-Safi |
| Province | Essaouira |
Castelo Real was a Portuguese castle established in Mogador, nowEssaouira in Morocco, by the Portuguese in 1506.[1]
The Portuguese kingDom Manuel orderedDiogo de Azambuja, the founder ofCastello da Mina, to build a castle on a small island, now called "La Petite Ile", in the Moroccan locality of Mogador.[1] The role of the castle was to serve as a relay on their routes along the Moroccan coast, betweenSafi, where the Portuguese were established since the end of the 15th century, andAgadir, which had just been occupied in 1504. The castle could also easily receive supplies fromMadeira.[1]
The construction process was accompanied by constant attacks from the Beni Regraga tribe, strongly motivated by Jihad and supported by theSaadian Sheriffs. On several occasions, the garrison was helped by troops sent from Portugal, one of which was a detachment of 350 men sent from Madeira. The Beni Regraga, a sub-tribe of the Masmuda, were the dominant force in the region together with two other sub-tribes originating from the Jebel Hadid, the Iron Mountain, the Haha, and the Chiadma. The tribes blockaded the fortress and in October or November of 1510, they successfully managed to capture the castle under unknown circumstances.[2][3]
The castle appears in various subsequent documents, as late as 1767 with the map ofThéodore Cornut. Soon however the fortifications of Essaouira were updated to become what they are today, and all traces of the Castelo Real have disappeared.
Altogether, the Portuguese are documented to have seized 6 Moroccan towns, and built 6 stand-alone fortresses on the Moroccan Atlantic coast, between the riverLoukos in the north and the river ofSous in the south. Four of them only had a short duration:Graciosa (1489),São João da Mamora (1515), Castelo Real of Mogador (1506–10) andAguz (1520–25). Two of them were to become permanent urban settlements:Santa Cruz do Cabo de Gué (Agadir, founded in 1505-06), andMazagan founded in 1514-17. The Portuguese had to abandon most of their settlements between 1541 and 1550, although they were able to keepCeuta,Tangier and Mazagan.[4]
|  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||