[7][8][9] The dynasty's rise to power started in 1510, when Muhammad al-Qa'im was declared leader of the tribes of the Sous valley in southern Morocco in their resistance against the Portuguese who occupied Agadir and other coastal cities.

[10] During the long reign of Ahmad al-Mansur in the late 16th century, Morocco established itself as an ambitious regional power that expanded into West Africa and pursued relations with Europe, including a potential alliance with England against Spain.

[10][13] In 1505 the Portuguese occupied Agadir (on the coast, near the mouth of the Sous river), which they called Santa Cruz do Cabo de Aguer, and from their territory here other European merchants also operated, notably the Genoese.

[13][10] According to one recorded tradition, this impetus was made clear when the Portuguese took some tribal warriors captive and demanded that the local tribes choose a leader or representative with whom they could negotiate their release.

[10]: 211  While famine[13] or plague in 1520-1521[11] interrupted military efforts, Saadian power continue to grow across much of southern Morocco and began expelling the Europeans (Portuguese and Spanish) from their posts in the region.

Muhammad al-Burtuqali's successor, Ahmad al-Wattasi, attacked it twice, unsuccessfully: he besieged the city in 1527 but was forced to withdraw early, and he failed again in an indecisive battle in 1529 at Animay, near Demnate.

They installed 'Ali Abu Hassun, an uncle of Ahmad al-Wattasi who had taken refuge in Spain, as ruler and Ottoman vassal in what was the final attempt by the Wattasids to regain power.

[3] Immediately after this, Muhammad al-Shaykh entered into negotiations with Count Alcaudete, the governor and general of the Spanish forces occupying Oran and other positions on the Algerian coast, to secure an anti-Ottoman alliance with Spain.

While Moroccan sources exaggerate the size of his army, there was no doubt that it was impressive, with the Portuguese king promoting his campaign to the rest of Europe as a crusade and hiring a large force of mercenaries.

[11]: 189  The Saadian army, led by Abd al-Malik, accompanied by his brother Ahmad (yet another son of Muhammad al-Shaykh), met the Portuguese at Wadi al-Makhazin near Ksar al-Kebir on August 4.

The capture of a large number of Portuguese knights and nobility resulted in a flurry of ransoms which drained Portugal's finances while filling the coffers of the Saadian state.

Some Muslim scholars also criticized him for the elaborate ceremonialism he introduced at court, where he often remaining concealed behind a veil when receiving guests, imitating the seclusion of the old Abbasid caliphs.

He was a patron of culture, sponsoring poets, musicians, scholars, and elaborate ceremonies for religious festivals such as the Mawlid (birthday of the Prophet) and Eid al-Fitr.

[10] Immediately after his accession in 1578 he began the construction of a monumental reception palace in the Kasbah of Marrakesh known as El Badi (Arabic: البديع, translated as "the Incomparable"[27][13]), which was famous for its lavishness and expensive materials (including imported Italian marble) and which he likely continued to work on until his death.

[24]: 196  Despite the evident limits of his rule, he officially proclaimed himself caliph in the later part of his reign, seeing himself as the rival, rather than subordinate, of the Ottomans, and even as the rightful leader of the Muslim world.

John Williams, the first English merchant to buy saltpeter in Morocco, was initially unable to obtain permission to provide the Moroccans with ammunition as Queen Elizabeth worried that this would invite resentment from other Christian states.

However, after Spain's annexation of Portugal in 1580 the Queen accorded more importance to securing cordial relations with the Saadian sultan and in 1581 she allowed English naval timber to be exported to Morocco in return for saltpeter.

Earlier that century the Saadians occupied the oasis area of Touat for a time and Ahmad al-'Araj had asked Askia Ishaq I (r. 1539–1549), emperor of the Songhai Empire, to grant him control of the Taghaza salt mines.

In the end, Moroccan control was tenuously established over a large region stretching between Kukiya (also spelled Koukya or Koukiya) and Djenné, around the northern curve of the Niger River.

[2][3] In the period around 1606 Marrakesh changed hands especially frequently – as many as six times according to one source[11] – but Abdallah al-Ghalib II, a son of Al-Ma'mun who now also claimed the throne, managed to hold it between 1606 and 1609.

[2] Al-Ma'mun attempted to make a comeback by agreeing to cede the northern port city of Larache to Spain in return for Spanish military assistance.

He was about to leave Morocco for Spain but was spared from doing so when he received the support of Yahya ibn Abdullah al-Hahi, a chieftain from the High Atlas Mountains, who helped him regain Marrakesh in 1613 with a coalition of Arab and Berber tribes.

[2] After the scandal of Al-Ma'mun's collusion with Spain, however, Moulay Zaydan was the only Saadian ruler left with any credibility in the country and he was recognized as Sultan of Morocco by multiple foreign powers.

On the western coast, recent Morisco (Andalusian) exiles had arrived in Salé and Rabat in 1609 and eventually founded the Republic of Bou Regreg, becoming one of the most important bases of piracy in the region.

Abu Hassun fought with the forces of Moulay Zaydan's ally, Yahya ibn Abdullah al-Hahi, until the latter's death in 1626 left him uncontested in the Sous.

The existing population was joined by large waves of emigrants and refugees from the Iberian Peninsula after the fall of Granada in 1492, the last Muslim emirate of Al-Andalus, and the subsequent expulsion of the Jews from Spain and soon after from Portugal.

The word makhzen itself literally meant "warehouse" or storage, referring to the role the traditional state played as a guarantor of food and provisions in times of famine or crisis.

[12] Other major examples of this Saadian style which survive today include the ornate Ben Youssef Madrasa in Marrakesh and the ablutions pavilions in the courtyard (sahn) of the Qarawiyyin Mosque in Fes.

Ahmad al-Mansur famously constructed the extremely lavish reception palace known as El Badi, for which he also imported significant quantities of Italian marble.

[12][51] A panel constituting another fine example of this style, originating from the Badi Palace, is also preserved today in the collection of the Dar Batha Museum in Fes.