Moroccan–Portuguese conflicts refer to a series of battles between Morocco and Portugal throughout history including Battle of Tangier, Fall of Agadir and other battles and sieges in the Moroccan coast.
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The first military conflict, in 21 August 1415, took the form of a surprise assault on Ceuta by 45,000 Portuguese soldiers who traveled on 200 ships.[1][2] It was later followed by the Siege of Ceuta in 1419. These events marked the beginning of the decline of the Marinid Sultanate and the start of the Portuguese Empire.
Portugal and Spain had passed an agreement in 1496 in which they effectively established their zones of influence on the North African coast: Spain could only occupy territory east of Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera. This restriction would only end with the dynastic union of the Portuguese and Spanish crowns under Philip II after the 1578 Battle of Alcácer Quibir, when Spain began to take direct action in Morocco, as in the occupation of Larache in 1610.[8]
Altogether, the Portuguese are documented to have seized six Moroccan cities and built six stand-alone fortresses on the Moroccan Atlantic coast, between the Loukkos River in the north and the Sous River in the south.
The Battle of Alcácer Quibir in 1578 was a landslide loss, as the Portuguese King Sebastian was killed in the encounter and saw his army eliminated by Moroccan forces.[11]
Five years after the recapture of Mazagan, in 1774, the Governments of Morocco and Portugal concluded a Peace and Friendship Agreement, one of the oldest bilateral agreements of both nations.