The Battle of Mamora was a military engagement between the Wattasid Moroccans and the Portuguese army which landed in . The Wattasids were victorious, and the Portuguese were decisively defeated.Susana Ferreira, The Crown, the Court, and the Casa Da Índia: Political Centralization in Portugal 1479-1521, p. 147James Maxwell Anderson, The History of Portugal, p. 75
Prelude
In 1515, Manuel I of Portugal sent an armada consisting of 8,000 men and 200 ships,David Nicolle, The Portuguese in the Age of Discovery c.1340–1665 led by , Count of Linhares,Susana Ferreira, p. 146 with a task of capturing and building a fort in Mehdya,James Maxwell Anderson, p. 75 naming it Sao João da Mamora.Julius Honnor, Morocco Footprint Handbook, p. 298Susana Ferreira, p. 146 Arriving there, the low tide and shifting sandbars left the Portuguese ships stranded.Susana Ferreira, p. 147 The Moroccans led by Sultan Muhammad al-Burtuqali attacked the Portuguese with an army of three thousand cavalry and thirty thousand infantry.Susana Ferreira, p. 147
Battle
The Moroccan counter-attack came in July when the sultan's younger brother and the grand vizier Moulay Nasr who besieged the Portuguese from the north, the sultan came and besieged them from the south bank of Sebou RiverRogerson Barnaby, 203 the sultan concentrated his artillery on the Portuguese ships while his brother invested on the fort, the sultan watched his artillery hit one of the ships with an incredible shot,Rogerson Barnaby, 203 within an hour the whole nature of the siege changed, the escape route was blocked, no longer being threatened by Portuguese cannon ships, the sultan ordered twelve light artillery to move straight to the river shore, the Moroccan pressed the Portuguese with Explosive grenades close to the Portuguese lines,Rogerson Barnaby, 204 the Moroccans stop firing and the Portuguese began to dismantle the fort and start escaping in small boats, However seeing the Portuguese fleeing, the sultan gave signal and attacked the Portuguese, by the end of afternoon the water of Sebou turned red as Leo Africanus who witnessed the siege said:Rogerson Barnaby, 204
Portuguese casualties were heavy, 4,000 were killed and 100 ships were lost.Jack P. Greene، Philip D. Morgan, Atlantic History: A Critical Appraisal James Maxwell Anderson, p. 75
Aftermath The sultan returned to Fez victorious with a column of soldiers escorting 52 captured cannons, the sultan received emissaries from tribal leaders and sheiks who warmly welcomed them and congratulated the sultan for his victory,Rogerson Barnaby, 204 the captured guns would be used in the Siege of Asilah in 1516 however the siege failed.Rogerson Barnaby, 204
It was a decisive victory for Wattasids, it shattered Manuel's and Portuguese hopes to conquer entire Morocco.Gharipour Mohammad, Sacred Precincts: The Religious Architecture of Non-Muslim Communities Across the Islamic World (Arts and Archaeology of the Islamic World), p. 448 Francisco García Fitz، João Gouveia Monteiro, War in the Iberian Peninsula, 700–1600 Seeing the Portuguese pride was shattered, the captains of the forts ordered raids after raids into the interior of Morocco to prove the Portuguese military had not been broken, the governor of Safi Nuno Fernandes de Ataide launched a raid into Oulad Umran tribe however he was defeated and killed and only 100 men escaped.Institut des hautes études marocaines (Rabat), Hespéris : Archives berbères et Bulletin de l'Institut des hautes études marocaines, Paris, Larose, 1946, p. 463 Rogerson Barnaby, 204
Notes
not to be confused with António de Noronha, the 25th Viceroy of Portuguese India.
References