===First Islamic expansion -
Umayyad Caliphate (8th century)=== Following the invasion of southern
Iberian Peninsula by the Umayyad Caliphate with the
Berber Commander
Tariq ibn Ziyad in 711, during the 8th century Arab and Berber armies invaded the rest of Iberia, and even went beyond to Southern France, and as far as
Poitiers and the
Rhône valley, until the turning point of the
Battle of Tours in 732. The
Rio Douro eventually became the boundary between Christian and Muslim lands. The land between the Douro and
Rio Minho was the Christian
County of Portucale, which became the
Kingdom of Portugal under
Afonso Henriques in 1139.
Almoravid and Almohad invasions of the Iberian peninsula (11th and 12th centuries) Iberian Peninsula would again be affected by the expansion of Muslim empires under the
Almoravid and the
Almohad dynasties in the 11th and 12th centuries. The Portuguese managed to recapture
Lisbon in the 1147
Siege of Lisbon.
Portuguese expansion in Morocco (1415–1515) Portugal started to invade and occupy parts of coastal
Morocco in 1415 with the
conquest of Ceuta, which was
besieged unsuccessfully three years later by the Moroccans. Then under
Afonso V of Portugal, Portugal conquered
Alcácer Ceguer (1458),
Tangiers (won and lost several times between 1460 and 1464) and
Arzila (1471). These achievements earned the king the nickname of
the African. Portugal and Spain had passed an agreement in 1496 in which they effectively established their zones on influence on the North African coast: Spain could only invade and occupy territory east of
Peñon de Velez. This restriction would only end with the dynastic union of the Portuguese and Spanish crowns under
Philip II after the 1578
Battle of Ksar El Kebir, when Spain began to take direct action in Morocco, as in the occupation of
Larache. Altogether, the Portuguese are documented to have seized six Moroccan cities and built six stand-alone fortresses on the Moroccan Atlantic coast, between the river Loukos in the north and the river of
Sous in the south. The six cities were:
Ceuta (1415–1668),
Alcácer-Ceguer (1458–1550),
Tangier (1471–1661),
Arzila (1471–1549),
Safi (1488–1541) and
Azamor (1513–1541).
Moroccan reconquest (1541–1769) of
Mogador, by
Adriaen Matham, 1641. Of the six stand-alone fortresses, four only had a short duration:
Graciosa (1489),
São João da Mamora (1515),
Castelo Real of
Mogador (1506–10) and
Aguz (1520–25). Two of them became permanent urban settlements:
Santa Cruz do Cabo de Gué (
Agadir, founded in 1505–06), and
Mazagan founded in 1514–17. (modern
El Jadida). The
Battle of Ksar El Kebir in 1578 was a landslide loss, as the Portuguese king
Sebastian of Portugal was killed in the encounter and his army eliminated by Moroccan forces in alliance with the
Ottoman Empire.
Tangier was ceded to
England in 1661 to encourage England to support Portugal in the
Portuguese Restoration War, and Ceuta was handed over to Spain in 1668 through the
Treaty of Lisbon, which recognized the
House of Braganza as Portugal's new ruling dynasty and its rule over Portugal's remaining
overseas colonies. These events essentially ended Portugal's direct involvement in Morocco. They abandoned
Mazagan under the pressure from
Mohammed ben Abdallah in 1769. Five years later, in 1774, the Governments of Morocco and Portugal concluded a Peace and Friendship Agreement, one of the oldest bilateral agreements of both nations. ==Resident diplomatic missions==