European enclaves in North Africa before 1830
The earliest medieval enclaves were established in the 11th century CE by the Italian Kingdom of Sicily and Maritime republics; Spain and Portugal were the main European powers involved; both France and, briefly, England also had a presence.
Most of these enclaves had been evacuated by the late 18th century, and today only the Spanish possessions of Ceuta, Melilla, and the Plazas de soberanía remain.
[13] From West to East: The Portuguese presence in North Africa dates from the reign of King João I who led the conquest of Ceuta in 1415.
[18] It was not until the reign of Duarte's son Afonso V that Portugal was able to expand its possessions in North Africa, taking Ksar es-Seghir in 1458[16] and Arcila in 1471.
[19] Afonso was known as o Africano (the African) because of his conquests, and he was the first Portuguese ruler to take the title 'King of Portugal and of the Algarves on this side and beyond the sea in Africa'.
[31] Under siege by Muhammad III, El Jadida was evacuated on 10 March 1769, bringing an end to the Portuguese presence in North Africa.
[41] After having secured the Canary Islands off the coast of Morocco in 1496, they took a number of bridgeheads on the African mainland, first Melilla (1497), then Cazaza and Mers El Kébir (1505).
This limited success prompted the local Muslim rulers in North Africa to encourage Oruç Reis to attack Spanish positions and stage raids on Andalucia, Valencia and Alicante.
[44] However Charles was not able to retain control of the areas he had taken, and Oruç's brother Hayreddin Barbarossa secured the protection of the Ottoman Empire by making Algiers its vassal.
[45] By the time Philip II of Spain assumed the throne of Portugal in 1580 as well as of Spain, all of the Spanish possessions on the North African coast had already been lost, with the exceptions of Melilla, Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera, and Oran-Mers El Kébir (Mazalquivir)[46] while only Ceuta, Tangier, Arcila and El Jadida remained of the Portuguese territories.
Although Philip III of Spain gained Larache (1610) and La Mámora (1614) in Morocco, the rise of the Alaouite dynasty meant the loss of many former possessions to Muslim rule.
Spain's first Bourbon ruler Philip V wished to re-establish Spanish supremacy on the Algerian coast, and in 1732 sent an expedition which retook Oran and Mers El Kebir.
In 1550 the Dey of Algiers, Turgut Reis, granted the right to fish coral on the Massacares coast, near Annaba, to Tomasino Lenche (c.1510–1568), a merchant of Marseilles.
Tomasino Lenche completed the building of the Bastion de France in 1560 and founded the Magnificent Coral Company (la Magnifique Compagnie du Corail) for the commercial exploitation of the coast's resources.
Lenche was able to re-establish himself there after a period, but in June 1604, the Bastion de France was torn down by soldiers from Annaba supported by galleys from Algiers sent by raïs Mourad.
[55]After nearly a decade, on 19 September 1628, Sanson Napollon [it], heir to the Lenche fortunes, signed a commercial treaty with Algiers and revived the trading posts at Annaba, La Calle and the Bastion de France.
[56] However Napollon was killed during a Genoese attack in 1633, and in 1637 an Algerian fleet under Ali Bitchin seized and destroyed all the French and trading posts along the coast.
French possession of the Bastion de France was confirmed for 100 years, and previous rights in La Calle, Cap Rose, Annaba, and Bejaia were restored.
In 1807 the Dey of Algiers ceded all former French rights for trading posts and bases to the United Kingdom, and they were not restored to France until the Congress of Vienna.
Nominally the Sultan of Morocco retained sovereignty over the territory as well as jurisdiction over its Moroccan inhabitants, while the administration was run jointly by Belgium, France, Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain.
