Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

INTRODUCTION

1 THE BATTLE OF ALCAZAR

Why did the battle take place?

The main protagonists at the battle of Alcazar

2 ABD AL-MALIK AND AHMAD BEFORE THE BATTLE OF ALCAZAR

Algiers

Abd al-Malik’s propaganda

Muley Ahmad al-Mansur

3 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY MOROCCO: ITS POPULATION, CITIES, RELIGIOUS ELITES AND ARMY

The population of Morocco: Arabs and Berbers

The cities

The ‘ulama

The Sufi brotherhoods

Qadiriyya and Shadhiliyya

Sharifism

The army

4 RENEGADES, MORISCOS AND JEWS

Renegades

Andalusians or Moriscos

Jews

5 DIPLOMACY AND TRADE

The Spanish reaction to Alcazar: the captive princes

England and the cause of the Portuguese restoration

The Barbary Company

The Iberian union

Cadiz and America

The Moroccan embassy to England

The sultan’s memorandum

Ahmad and El Dorado

6 THE CONQUEST OF WESTERN SUDAN

Sudanese gold

The Sahara

The expedition

7 THE CONSTRUCTION OF AN IMPERIAL IDEOLOGY

Marrakesh: the capital city and the palace

Belief in the Mahdi

8 MESSIANISM AND THE RIVALRY WITH THE OTTOMANS

The Millennium and the conquest of Western Sudan

Moroccan rivalry with the Ottomans

Plague, hunger and war

CONCLUSION

Sources and Bibliography

Index

About the Author

Mercedes García-Arenal is Professor of Arabic Studies at the Higher Council of Scientific Research in Madrid.