Chapter III - Blood and Plenty
History lends various titles Padishah Ahmad of House Marinid. Berbers and Moroccan subjects, who's freedom and opulence is the fruit of the emperor's judgement, know him as 'Ahmad the Magnificent'; generations of nationalists and heretics have conferred to him an ill-merited nickname, 'The Scourge' or 'Ahmad the Bloody'. In all good impartiality, scholars at the grand libraries of Alexandria and Marrakech refer to him as 'Ahmad the Belligerent', and this moniker summarises the Sultan's divisive character perfectly. It must be noted that Ahmad inherited all of these nicknames as a result of his actions between 1495-1510 - the 'Years of Blood and Plenty'. During this period, Morocco was locked in a state of near-constant conflict not only with its neighbours, but with her own citizens, as nationalists and aristocratic elements rose up against the court's sturdy thrall. Whatever the outcome, one cannot deny the extent to which Ahmad has shaped Moroccan history.
In 1496, word reached Ahmad's court of a Portuguese colonial expedition to the south, in the land known to Europeans as Arguin. This news alarmed the Padishah, who dreaded interference with his own territorial ambitions in West Africa. A month later, drunken Portuguese sailors, docking at Melilla, assaulted and maimed a daughter of Morocco. The outraged Sultan, apparently perceiving this act as an embodiment of Christian excess and immorality, called for a personal jihad against Portugal.
Loyal Moslems poured into Arguin, overwhelming a Portuguese force of far greater technological means. They promptly moved on to Trarza, a smaller colony, where little resistance was faced. Both settlements were seized; Portugal, having lost much naval capability some years prior, could not reclaim the ventures.
It was only four tentative years later that Ahmad was called to arms again, this time against an old enemy. The Mamluks were critcally weakened by bankruptcy and chaos, relying on their allies for defensive measure. A reconquest of Syria, it transpired, had been poorly-judged. The hardened Moroccan armies marched for Cairo, the Holy Land and beyond.
Once and for all, the Mamluk hordes - scourge of the Moslem world for centuries untold - had been crushed. Ahmad had fulfilled the dream of his fathers. His realm now consolidated all North Africa, as well as the Judaeo-Christian heartland itself.
Concern was initially expressed by Christian leaders; rumors of a new crusade, seeking to evict the new conquerors from Jerusalem, drifted around the Old World like a plague. Eventually, however, Ahmad wisely conceded, allowing Christian pilgrims and communities free practice within that contested region.
Little did the Sultan anticipate that his next enemy would arise from the interior of Africa itself. The Songhai Empire of Central Africa watched Morocco's successes with mistrust and contempt. They were primitives, advocates of a false Islamic faith involving the worship of animistic idols alongside Allah, the One and Almighty. Conflict erupted suddenly and without warning, though the Padishah was adequately prepared.
Ahmad sought no conquest of the pagan realms, for, he presumed, they would wither and die as a result of gluttony and disorder, like the once-mighty Mamluks before them. Instead, he requested a simple admission of defeat, further glorifying his status as emperor. The wary tribesmen begged no extent of diplomatic persuasion before agreeing to his terms.
History lends various titles Padishah Ahmad of House Marinid. Berbers and Moroccan subjects, who's freedom and opulence is the fruit of the emperor's judgement, know him as 'Ahmad the Magnificent'; generations of nationalists and heretics have conferred to him an ill-merited nickname, 'The Scourge' or 'Ahmad the Bloody'. In all good impartiality, scholars at the grand libraries of Alexandria and Marrakech refer to him as 'Ahmad the Belligerent', and this moniker summarises the Sultan's divisive character perfectly. It must be noted that Ahmad inherited all of these nicknames as a result of his actions between 1495-1510 - the 'Years of Blood and Plenty'. During this period, Morocco was locked in a state of near-constant conflict not only with its neighbours, but with her own citizens, as nationalists and aristocratic elements rose up against the court's sturdy thrall. Whatever the outcome, one cannot deny the extent to which Ahmad has shaped Moroccan history.
In 1496, word reached Ahmad's court of a Portuguese colonial expedition to the south, in the land known to Europeans as Arguin. This news alarmed the Padishah, who dreaded interference with his own territorial ambitions in West Africa. A month later, drunken Portuguese sailors, docking at Melilla, assaulted and maimed a daughter of Morocco. The outraged Sultan, apparently perceiving this act as an embodiment of Christian excess and immorality, called for a personal jihad against Portugal.
Loyal Moslems poured into Arguin, overwhelming a Portuguese force of far greater technological means. They promptly moved on to Trarza, a smaller colony, where little resistance was faced. Both settlements were seized; Portugal, having lost much naval capability some years prior, could not reclaim the ventures.
It was only four tentative years later that Ahmad was called to arms again, this time against an old enemy. The Mamluks were critcally weakened by bankruptcy and chaos, relying on their allies for defensive measure. A reconquest of Syria, it transpired, had been poorly-judged. The hardened Moroccan armies marched for Cairo, the Holy Land and beyond.
Once and for all, the Mamluk hordes - scourge of the Moslem world for centuries untold - had been crushed. Ahmad had fulfilled the dream of his fathers. His realm now consolidated all North Africa, as well as the Judaeo-Christian heartland itself.
Concern was initially expressed by Christian leaders; rumors of a new crusade, seeking to evict the new conquerors from Jerusalem, drifted around the Old World like a plague. Eventually, however, Ahmad wisely conceded, allowing Christian pilgrims and communities free practice within that contested region.
Little did the Sultan anticipate that his next enemy would arise from the interior of Africa itself. The Songhai Empire of Central Africa watched Morocco's successes with mistrust and contempt. They were primitives, advocates of a false Islamic faith involving the worship of animistic idols alongside Allah, the One and Almighty. Conflict erupted suddenly and without warning, though the Padishah was adequately prepared.
Ahmad sought no conquest of the pagan realms, for, he presumed, they would wither and die as a result of gluttony and disorder, like the once-mighty Mamluks before them. Instead, he requested a simple admission of defeat, further glorifying his status as emperor. The wary tribesmen begged no extent of diplomatic persuasion before agreeing to his terms.
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