Early reign Upon ascension, the sultan's finances were in shambles. With the country in disarray, the central government (the
Makhzen) was unable to collect much customary taxation. Abd al-Rahman turned to foreign trade, which had been cut off by the prior sultan, as a way to reap in
customs revenue, and began to negotiate a series of trade treaties with various European powers. Moulay Abd al-Rahman was an enthusiastic advocate of foreign trade. As governor of
Essaouira he had encouraged European merchants, and after he became sultan, consul after consul trekked down to
Marrakesh; the
Portuguese in 1823, the
British in 1824, the
French and the
Sardinian in 1825. Each signed a trade treaty, although Morocco had little to export because in 1825 the country began another cycle of poor rainfall and famine. To recoup his expenses Moulay Abd al-Rahman decided to revive the institution of
Barbary piracy and reestablish his corsairing fleet. In 1828 it captured some British ships and an
Austrian one. This created confrontations with the British as they blockaded
Tangier, and the Austrians bombarded
Larache,
Asilah and
Tetouan He was always successful at placating the nobles and malcontents though.
Franco-Moroccan War (1844), and aftermath (1844) The French then demanded that Morocco cease its support of Abd al-Qadir and cede its eastern frontier lands to French control and, in 1844, launched the
First Franco-Moroccan War. The war did not go well for the sultan. The French navy
bombarded Mogador (Essaouira) and
Tangier, while the Moroccan army, under Abd al-Rahman's son Moulay
Muhammad, was defeated by the French at the
Battle of Isly in August 1844. Abd al-Rahman consented to the
Treaty of Tangier in October 1844, withdrawing support for al-Qadir, and reducing border garrisons. This prompted the eventual surrender of Abd el-Qadir to the French on the 20th of December 1847.
Bombardment of Salé (1851) On 25 November 1851, French ships anchored off
Rabat and
Salé. Moroccan soldiers in those cities prepared to repel the French attack and armed themselves with artillery. At 10:00 a.m, the French fleet opened fire on the forts of Salé, while the Moroccans retaliated instantly with forty batteries of artillery weapons. An hour later, the batteries in Salé were destroyed, while the artillery in Rabat were damaged to the point where they became almost useless, however Moroccan reinforcements arrived. The damaged batteries were removed from the cities by Moroccan forces who continued to resist. By the end of the bombardment, the Moroccans had 18 to 22 men killed and 47 of them wounded, with many fortifications damaged. On the other hand, the French had losses of 4 killed and 18 wounded, as well as two of their battleships damaged. Both sides claimed victory, as the bombardment ended in a French military victory but also in a Moroccan political victory.
Anglo-Moroccan Treaty (1856) In 1856,
Britain persuaded the sultan to sign a treaty in
Tangier on 9 December 1856, after long negotiations between
John Hay Drummond Hay, a representative of
Queen Victoria, and
Muhammad al-Khatib, a representative of the sultan Abd al-Rahman. Moroccan trade was freed from almost all its monopolies, custom duties were reduced to ten percent of value, Morocco's door was opened to a larger volume of overseas trade, and British subjects could own property in Morocco. == Construction ==