EnglishFort
Azrou Maheli, North Africa, Marocco
Military Architecture
According to Patrice Cressier, who based on responses to an archeological survey of 1948 for the location and identification of several places in northern Morocco, vestiges of a fortified structure built by the Portuguese were found in Azrou Maheli. The town is set in the vicinities of Tafarsit, north of Medir, a city located on the N2 road which runs through the interior, between the cities of Al Hoceima and Melilla.
Cressier identified this structure as being of Portuguese origin as he did with others (Meccó, Dahar Entegusef, Azrou Udqueden and Towers of Alcalá – Beni Boufrah), based on archaeological criteria, namely the comparison of construction materials, the analysis of the shapes of towers and plans and the observation of the modes of implementation, aspects in which he is an acknowledged expert.
The allusion, in the survey of 1948, to a fortim, that is, a small fort, tends to give weight to the idea that the structures could have been simple lookout towers, part of a defensive scheme, except in the case of Towers of Alcalá because it is a true fort which plan we know.
In the present state of our knowledge, we still cannot provide a completely satisfactory response regarding the ensemble of the above mentioned defensive structures said to have been of Portuguese origin. There are two reasons for that: the first is connected to the fact that many Portuguese with sufficient technical knowledge to direct the construction of fortifications had served the kingdom of Fes since the first stage of the Portuguese presence in North Africa and continued to do so after the abandonment of settlements by the Portuguese.
On the other hand, as the dating criteria is important, more research and even excavations need to be done in order to clarify the doubts about the power systems they served.
The second reason is that there are many indications that until 1509 the Portuguese maintained a significant presence in the region of Nador in the area around Velez de la Gomera and Melilla. Through the reading of the treaties of Alcáçovas (1479), Tordesillas (1494) and Sintra (1509), we understand the concern of the kings of Portugal and Castile in establishing the limits of the kingdom of Fes, aimed at defining corresponding areas of influence, since, starting with Alcáçovas, Portugal had rights of conquest over the kingdom of Fes. In 1509, according to the treaty document, the Portuguese maintained their rights, but promised to abandon all the points they controlled in a region that stretched from Velez de la Gomera to Melilla and Caçaça. Damião de Góis knew this situation and witnessed as follows: In this year of 1508 ... King Manuel launched the conquest that was part of these Kingdoms, from Belez da Gomeira, to Melila, & Caçaça, with all villages on that coast ... (Góis, II, p. 92).
Other places, namely Meccó, Dahar Entegusef, Azrou Udqueden and Beni Boufrah, seem to belong to the ensemble of structures that existed in the region.