Alawi Dynasty in Morocco

Alawi Dynasty in Morocco

The Alawi dynasty of Morocco, also known as Filalis or Filalians, first appeared in Morocco sometime in the 13th century. Its members claimed they could trace their lineage directly to the prophet Muhammad (571–632).

The dynasty’s name was derived from the name of its ancestor, Mawlay Ali al-Sharif of Marrakesh. Mawlay Rashid (667–722), the first Alawite ruler of Morocco, is considered to be the founding father of the dynasty.

The name Alawi is also used in Morocco in a more general sense to identify all descendents of Ali, who was the cousin and son-in-law of the prophet Muhammad. At the time the Alawi surfaced in Morocco, sultan kings with absolute power had ruled Morocco for almost four centuries.

In the 16th century, Morocco’s sultan kings had been forced to make decisions about foreign trade. While the rulers wanted the gunpowder and arms that trading with Europe could bring, they were hesitant to trade with the continent that Moroccans knew as the “land of infidels.”


Weapons were particularly important for Morocco at that time, because the country was facing Iberian expansion along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts. Members of the Alawi dynasty were also cognizant of the possibility of their becoming a target of European colonialism.

The rulers not only wanted to protect Morocco from foreign invaders, but they were also determined to maintain the purity of their Muslim society. In the past, they had accomplished this goal by banning foreign travel and restricting contact with all foreigners. Yet, the likelihood of continuing such practices was diminishing since foreign trade had become an essential economic activity.

In 1666, Mawlay Rashid of the Alawi dynasty seized power after the death of Ahmad al-Mansur of the Sa’did dynasty. Rashid came to power by outmaneuvering Ahmad al-Mansur’s three sons. Rashid also killed his own brother, Mawlay Mohammad, who challenged him for the right to rule Morocco.

Once in power, Rashid appointed the ulema (a group of learned religious men) and noted scholars as his advisers, and he celebrated his victory by holding elaborate ceremonies that combined elements of Moroccan politics, religion, and culture. These rituals were designed to introduce the Moroccans to their new leader and to demonstrate the right of the Alawi to rule Morocco because of its strong connection with the past.

In 1672, Mawlay Isma’il succeeded his brother as the ruler of Morocco after Rashid was killed in a riding accident. Isma’il became known as the greatest sovereign of the early Alawi period. He established a form of government that survived until the 20th century.

Isma’il also reached out to the French, with whom he formed an alliance against the Spanish. The partnership resulted in a steady supply of weaponry into Morocco and in a number of construction projects for new palaces, roads, and forts.

To finance these projects, Isma’il levied heavy taxes and demanded ransoms for imprisioned Europeans. Rashid had great respect for scholarship, and he built Madrasa Cherratin in Fez and an additional college in Marrakesh. Rashid also reformed the monetary system and ensured that wells were dug in the eastern deserts.

In the 17th century, Alawi nationalists launched a jihad (holy war) designed to strip local Christians of all land located on the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of Morocco. The Alawi dynasty continued to rule Morocco from the mid-17th century until 1912, when the country became a protectorate, with Spain controlling northern Morocco and France ruling the southern part of the country.

In 1956, Morocco reestablished its independence, and the Alawi monarchy again rose to power under the rule of King Mohammed V. Since that time, the Alawi dynasty has continued to rule Morocco.

In the 21st century, Moroccan members of the Alawi dynasty continue to practice close adherence to Sunni Islam. Moroccan scholars have scientifically documented the Alawi claim to be directly descended from the prophet Muhammad. As a result, the Alawi dynasty continues to hold wide legitimacy in contemporary Morocco.

The Alawi are credited with bringing economic prosperity to the country by growing the economy, establishing foreign trade links, and improving the overall standard of living. A Syrian branch of the Alawi dynasty, which practices the Shi’i school of thought, follows the teachings of Muhammad ibn Nusayr. More liberal than the Moroccan Alawi, the Syrians celebrate both Muslim and Christian festivals.

Akbar - Emperor of India

Akbar - Emperor of India

Jalal ud-din Akbar was born in 1542 to Humayun, in India, while the latter was a fugitive ruler. Akbar succeeded to a very shaky throne at age 13 but went on to enjoy a long and successful reign, becoming the greatest ruler of the Mughal (Moghul) Empire founded by his grandfather Babur and his followers, who were Muslims from Central Asia.

Akbar spent much of his difficult childhood on the run. Consequently, he never learned to read or write. However, he was a brilliant man with an inquisitive mind and phenomenal memory who had others read to him throughout his life.

Akbar’s leadership highlighted his diverse achievements. He was a good general who expanded his empire after personally leading troops to defeat the powerful Hindu Rajput warriors. Then he married a Rajput princess, daughter of the ruler of Amber; she would become the mother of his heir.

His lenient treatment of the defeated Rajputs, whom he kept as his vassals, foreshadowed his policy toward other Hindu subjects. In 1572, he conquered Gujrat, thereby gaining access to the sea. When he encountered the Portuguese, he grew to admire their ships, arms, and European merchandise.


In 1573, he signed a treaty with the Portuguese viceroy ensuring safe passage for Indian Muslims crossing the Indian Ocean on pilgrimages to Mecca. Later he added Bengal, Baluchistan, Afghanistan, Kashmir, and part of the Deccan region to his empire.

Like his grandfather Babur, Akbar was a builder. In Delhi, the tomb he built for his father was constructed of red sandstone and adorned with white marble, the precursor of the mature Indo-Islamic style of the taj mahal. He also built a fort at Agra from red sandstone.

Above all, he was noted for building a new palace city at Fatehpur Sikri near Agra, close to the retreat of a Muslim holy man and his mentor. Built of white marble, it became his head-quarters until 1585, when he moved away and the palaces were never occupied again.

Mughal Troops

Akbar’s national policies aimed at uniting his subjects. The centerpiece was religious tolerance, partly the result of his disillusionment with Sunni Islam’s rigidity and intolerance and partly to conciliate his Hindu subjects. Thus he abolished the poll tax on non-Muslims and the special tax on Hindu pilgrims.

He hosted religious debates of Hindu, Muslim, Parsi (Zoroastrian), and Christian (Jesuit) scholars at Fatehpur Sikri and concluded that no religion held the exclusive truth. Attracted by mysticism he also took up Sufi Islam and Hindu yogi practices. Akbar eventually established a new religion called Din-I ilahi, or Divine Faith, in 1582.

With Akbar himself as spiritual guide, Din-I tuhan was drawn mainly from Hinduism, Jainism, and Zoroastrianism. Orthodox Muslims were offended and accused him of heresy. He ruled as an autocrat served by ranked officials who were given salaries.

Diwan-i-Khas constructed by Akbar

However, 70 percent of his officials were foreigners, mostly Afghans and Persians, and Persian was the official language of his empire. The rest were Indians, both Muslim and Hindu. The employment of some Hindus in government service was an improvement in the status of Hindus from previous Muslim dynasties.

He abolished tolls, made roads safe, and kept dues low to encourage commerce. Akbar was a patron of the arts, and culture flourished during his reign, enormously impressing the Europeans who visited India at the time.

His last years were saddened by the death of two sons from drinking and drugs, and by the revolt of his eldest son and heir, Selim (Salim). Similar troubles also plagued his successors, who faced revolts by their sons and civil wars among them.

Abbas the Great of Persia

Abbas the Great of Persia

Shah Abbas the Great reigned from 1588 to 1629 during the zenith of Safavid glory and power. He effectively unified all of historic Persia and centralized the state and its bureaucracy.

Using loyal slave soldiers (ghulam) recruited among Caucasians, Abbas successfully destroyed the influence of the Qazilbash princes and extended Crown-owned land taken from defeated local rulers. With English advisers, he moved to reform the army into a successful fighting force.

In the Ottoman-Safavid Wars, Abbas was generally successful. He conquered northwest Persian and in 1623 took Baghdad and then Basra in southern present-day Iraq from the Ottomans. His forces seized Hormuz in the Persian Gulf in 1622, thereby extending Safavid power along this important seafaring trade route.


By the time Abbas came to power, the majority of the people in Safavid Persia, who had previously been Sunni Muslims, had become Shi’i. Qom and Mashad, sites holy in Shi’i tradition, were enlarged into centers for pilgrimages, and the veneration of Shi’i imams became widespread.

The martyrdom of Husayn, Ali’s son, was annually commemorated in massive passion plays and ceremonies; pilgrimages to Kerbala, in present-day Iraq, where Husayn had been killed, became a major event for devout Shi’i.

However, unlike many of his predecessors, Abbas encouraged religious tolerance. He encouraged foreign traders, especially Christian Armenians, who were known as skilled silk producers, to move to Iran. Although the sale of silk became a royal monopoly, Abbas provided Armenians financial inducements, including interest-free loans for building houses and businesses, to move to the outskirts of Isfahan.

In 1592, Abbas made Isfahan his new capital and turned it into a center for Safavid arts, culture, and commerce. Under Abbas, Isfahan’s population grew to more than one-half million people and became a major trading center.

He sent envoys to Venice, the Iberian Peninsula, and eastern Europe to encourage trade in luxury textiles and other goods; he also provided tax incentives to foreign traders. By 1617, the East India Trade Company had established trading posts along Persian Gulf, and Bandar Abbas became a major port. Along northern routes, the Safavids also enjoyed a lively trade with Russia.

As befitted 16th- and 17th-century monarchs, Abbas presided over a lavish court. He was the patron to numerous court poets and painters, even allowing portraits of himself and members of his court to be painted.

Like Suleiman I the Magnificent of the rival Ottoman Empire, Abbas, who had killed or blinded several of his sons, left no able successor. After his death, the Safavid empire entered into a century-long period of decline. It is a tribute to Abbas’s abilities as an eksekutif and leader that the empire survived as long as it did.

Suleiman I the Magnificent - Ottoman Sultan

Suleiman I the Magnificent

Suleiman (r. 1520–66) ruled the Ottoman Empire when it was the most powerful empire on earth. He came to the throne after his father, Selim I (the Grim), had expanded Ottoman territories to the east and west. Although he was only in his 20s when he became the sultan, Suleiman already had experience in the field as a military commander and as an able direktur in Balkan and Crimean territories.

Suleiman was known as “the Magnificent” in Europe, and among his subjects as Kanuni (the lawgiver) for his codification of Ottoman laws. Known for his fairness and honesty, Suleiman granted extensive local autonomy to his far-flung provinces, maintaining close regulation only over taxes and the regulation of trade.

Victory Over European Rivals

In 1527, Suleiman had over 80,000 trained men in military service and with better guns and horsemen than his European rivals, the Ottomans quickly seized Belgrade after the Battle of Mohács and moved on to lay siege to Vienna in 1529.


But Suleiman failed to defeat his main rival Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, or to take Vienna. As the Ottoman troops retreated from the city they were reputed to have left sacks of coffee, already popular among the Ottoman urban elite and a commodity that would soon enjoy widespread favor in the west as well.

Although Suleiman also failed in the attempt to take Malta, he ruled all of the Balkans and Hungary, as well as most of the territory around the Black Sea, the eastern Mediterranean, Egypt, and much of North Africa. He rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, parts of which still stand.

Suleiman I the Magnificent in the Battle of Mohács

The Austrian diplomat Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq described in lavish detail the grandeur of the Ottoman court under Suleiman. Europeans praised Suleiman’s serious demeanor and culture, as well as his ability to discuss literature and philosophy in several languages.

A contemporary of the other great monarchs of the age, Charles V of Spain, Francis I of France, and Henry VIII of England, Suleiman made practical alliances with Francis I to counter the power of Charles V and was a major participant in European diplomacy.

Marriage

Suleiman married a favorite slave from Russia, Hurrem Haseki (The Joyous One), known in Europe as Roxelana. Suleiman was deeply in love with Hurrem, and he wrote her moving love poems under the penname of muhibbi (beloved).

However, Hurrem, as well as her mother-in-law and a rival wife, became powerful political forces in their own right and plotted ruthlessly for their particular favorites to become Suleiman’s successor. Hurrem outmaneuvered her rivals so that her favorite son, Selim II, would become sultan. Believing Hurrem’s allegations about intrigues by his more capable sons, particularly Mustapha, Suleiman ordered their murders.

Suleiman was devastated when Hurrem died and had the famed Ottoman architect Abdul-Menan Sinan build a magnificent mausoleum in her memory. Sinan also designed the massive Suleimaniya complex in Istanbul as a lasting monument to the great sultan.

Hurrem Haseki

Although already in his 70s, Suleiman again led his troops into battle in what became another failed attempt to take Vienna in 1566. After the ailing Suleiman died on the battlefield, his commander kept the death a secret from the troops, who kept on fighting, until Suleiman’s son, Selim II, had been safely installed as the new sultan. Selim inherited an empire at its zenith of power but failed to equal his father’s distinction as either an direktur or military leader.

Songhai Empire

Jenne mosque

The Songhai Empire was the largest empire in the history of western Sudan. It grew from the small state of Gao, which was founded between 500 and 700 a.d. However the empire did not become a major force in the history of empire building and territorial expansion until 1464 when Sunni Ali, also known as Ali Beer, became the king.

In 1469 and 1470, his military campaigns led to the incorporation of Timbuktu and Azawad, located northward and northeast, respectively. In 1473, he attacked Jenne, a great Islamic center located southward, and in 1483, he was able to drive the Mossi out of Walata-Baghana.

Within 28 years of his ascendancy, Sunni Ali had converted the little state of Gao into a magnificent empire stretching from the Niger in the east to Jenne in the west, and from the Timbuktu in the north to Hombori in the south. He was said to be a ruthless ruler who maltreated all those who opposed his administration and did all that was possible to keep vassal states under firm administrative control by appointing governors who administered his orders.


Payment of tributes, which were in form of goods and contribution of workforce for further territorial expansion, placed the empire on a powerful economic and political footing.

The death of Sunni Ali in 1492 was followed by a 40-month reign by his son Sunni Baru, who was deposed in 1493 by Askia Muhammad Touré. Askia Muhammad Touré, popularly known in history as Muhammad the Great, completed the process of nation building and conquest initiated by Sunni Ali by extending territories of Songhai Empire to Baghana and Taghaza, a significant caravan route and salt producing area.

While Sunni Ali’s reign was characterized by ruthlessness and dislocation of commerce, that of Askia Muhammad the Great was known for the pacification of the subjugated people and the promotion of commerce, Islamic scholarship, and general tranquility.

Songhai people

His 1496 pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca had far-reaching consequences for the promotion of Islam as it attracted Muslim clerics and commerce to the empire. Islamic religion flourished in the great Islamic centers such as Timbuktu and Sankore. The University of Sankore produced the likes of Mahmoud Kati and Abdulrahman As Sadi, whose books are valued sources for the reconstruction of the history of Songhai and western Sudan in general.

Askia Muhammad the Great relied on the advice of Muslim clerics in governing the empire and made Islamic law the instrument of political and administrative machinery in western parts. In the eastern territories of Gao and Kikiya he allowed traditional religion to exist by granting non-Muslims of the region the freedom they needed to practice their religion.

As had his predecessor, Askia Muhammad divided the entire kingdom into provinces administered by governors, or kio. The central administration consisted of a council of ministers predominantly from his immediate and extended families. While Jenne controlled internal commerce, Gao and Timbuktu served as link to other economic centers in the east and northeast and west and northwest, respectively.

Songhai map

Short-lived Prosperity

The prosperity of the empire was however short-lived. Starting in the middle of the 16th century, internal problems hindered the government and provided an enabling condition for its invasion and destruction by the Moroccans in 1651. At the top of the list of the internal factors that led to the fall of Songhai Empire was the succession dispute among the sons of Askia Muhammad the Great.

Aside from allowing hitherto subjugated states to assert their independence, this development inhibited economic prosperity and further territorial expansion. The Civil War of 1588 had its origin in poor internal control exemplified in the succession dispute between Ishaq and Sadiq, two sons of Askia Daud, and the crises between the western parts, which was under strong Islamic influence, and the east, under the firm control of the non-Muslims.

The last straw was the Moroccan invasion of 1591. The defeat by the Moroccans can only be appreciated against the backdrop of the fact that the empire on the eve of the invasion was in the throes of an internal convulsion. Al-Mansur, the sultan of Morocco, who had failed in two early expeditions, wasted no time to invade the empire during its most turbulent period.

View of Timbuktu

In 1591, he attacked Songhai with 4,000 professional soldiers and another 2,000 armed with arquebus, a gun with three legs. Askia Ishaq II raised an army of 18,000 cavalry and 9,700 infantry to resist the invasion of the Moroccan army.

The overwhelming numbers of the Songhai army could not defeat their Moroccan counterparts in the battle, known to history as the Battle of Tondibi; the Moroccan army was more professional, disciplined, and equipped with sophisticated weaponry.

The Moroccan invasion led to the demise of the Songhai, the largest empire to have emerged in western Sudan. The guerrilla warfare initiated after 1591 was not formidable enough for the reassertion of political freedom.

The invasion led to loss of lives and property and the extension of Moroccan political hegemony over Songhai. Islamic scholars and clerics fled to other parts of the western Sudan and the great Islamic centers of Timbuktu and Sankore lost their hitherto prime position.

Abdul-Menan Sinan - Ottoman Architect

Abdul-Menan Sinan

Sinan was born in Kayseri in central Anatolia to a Greek Orthodox family. When he was in his early 20s, older than was customary, he was recruited in the devshirme levy to be educated in Istanbul.

He was selected for the elite Janissaries and served in several military campaigns, where he became a noted engineer building bridges and other structures.

He served as the major architect for sultans Suleiman I the Magnificent and Selim II (the sot) and became the empire’s chief architect (mimbar bashi). During his long and productive life, Sinan designed more known buildings than any other architect in history.


He built mosques, hammams, Byzantine church.

Sinan’s Suleimaniya complex in Istanbul has a mosque with a huge central dome supported by two half-domes giving the appearance of soaring in the air; the mosque, with tall needle shaped minarets, opens onto a courtyard with a portico, a style much favored in Ottoman architecture. The vast complex, with over 400 domes in total, also includes schools, a hospice, a soup kitchen, and commercial shops to support the social work of the complex.

Abdul-Menan Sinan statue

Sinan also built the elaborately decorated Rustem Pasha mosque for the grand vizier as well as the tombs for Suleiman’s son Mehmed and Suleiman’s beloved wife, Hurrem Sultan (Roxelana); these are adorned with brightly colored Iznik tiles in deep blues and reds. In his autobiography, Sinan rated the Selimya mosque in Edirne, outside Istanbul, as his masterpiece owing to its huge central dome, which seems to float over a vast open interior space.

Sinan died in 1574 at the age of 99 and is buried in a simple tomb close to one of his greatest accomplishments, the Suleimaniya complex.

Abdul-Menan Sinan greatest accomplishments, the Suleimaniya complex

Shah Jahan - Mughal Emperor

Shah Jahan - Mughal Emperor

Mughal emperor Jahangir’s death and the following succession struggle ended in the triumph of his son, Prince Khurram, who took the title Shah Jahan, which means “emperor of the world.”

He killed his male relatives and forced Jahangir’s powerful widow, Nur Jahan, to retire. He is best remembered for building the Taj Mahal, a mausoleum for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. He was the fifth ruler of the Mughal (Mogul, Moghul) Empire and his reign marked the zenith of Mughal power and splendor.

Anticipating his father’s death, the future Shah Jahan openly rebelled in 1623 and seized power upon Jahangir’s death in 1628, putting to death all his brothers and other possible rivals. Shah Jahan was a devout orthodox Muslim. Intolerant of other faiths, he ordered the destruction of new Hindu temples and Christian churches in 1632.


In the same year, he attacked the Portuguese settlements at Hoogley and Chittagong in Bengal. Both trading outposts were far from Goa, the Portuguese viceroy’s seat, and he could send no help. Portuguese prisoners were taken to Agra and kept until 1643, when they were repatriated to Goa.

Shan Jahan also campaigned against the Shi’i ruled Muslim states in the Deccan and subdued them to vassalage. However he had to give up Kandahar in Afghanistan to the Persians in 1653 because they possessed superior artillery and guns, and he also lost control of previous Mughal holdings in Central Asia.

Shah Jahan ruled the Mughal Empire at its height and was noted for the extravagance and opulence of his court. He was famous for the buildings he commissioned, most notably the Red Fort in Delhi with its mosque and sumptuous palaces, especially for the gem encrusted Peacock Throne.

Shah Jahan is accompanied by his three sons

Although he had a harem of 5,000 women, he was known for his devotion to his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, whose name means “light of the palace.” She died giving birth to the last of their 14 children. He expressed his grief for her by assembling 20,000 workers, who labored for 20 years to complete her mausoleum in Agra.

Designed by Persian architects it was a synthesis of Persian Muslim and Indian styles called Indo-Islamic and remains a wonder of the world. Most of his other monuments also remain. The demands of his campaigns and projects resulted in huge tax increases that weakened the economy.

As Shah Jahan aged, his adult sons began to conspire for the throne. He kept his eldest and favorite son, Dara Shikuh, in Agra so he could begin acquiring military and administrative experience. Fearing that he was near death, his remaining three ambitious sons revolted in 1657.

They fought with one another, against their father, and against their oldest brother. Aurangzeb, the third and most ruthless, was the victor. He killed his brothers and imprisoned his aged father in an apartment in Agra fort with a view of the Taj Mahal until his death in 1666. Meanwhile Aurangzeb proclaimed himself Emperor Alamgir in 1658.

Seville and Cádiz

Seville and Cádiz in Andalusia (in the south of Spain) played a vitally important role in the Spanish empire in the Americas, with the empire being administered from Seville, making it one of the most important cities in Europe in the 16th and early 17th centuries.

Parts of Andalusia had been the first areas of Spain captured by the Moors in the eighth century, and by the early 13th-century, Seville, inland port on the Río Guadalquvir, was the leading city in Muslim Spain.

It was captured from the Moors in 1248 by Ferdinand III in the Reconquest (Reconquista), and soon afterward, 24,000 Castilian settlers arrived in Seville, transforming the place into a Castilian city. It also became the location of a favorite residence of kings of Spain. Ferdinand III and his son Alfonso X were both buried in Seville.


Cádiz on the coast is, by tradition, the oldest continuously inhabited city in Europe, said to have been settled by the Phoenicians in 1100 b.c.e. It then became a Roman naval base and later went into decline and was occupied by the Moors. In 1262, it was captured from the Moors by King Alfonso X.

When Christopher Columbus sailed to the Americas in 1492, he left from the port of Huelva, west of Seville and Cádiz. However his second expedition was fitted out and left from Cádiz, as did his fourth expedition. It was Seville, and not Cádiz, that was to profit massively from the Americas.

The kings of Spain gave Seville the monopoly of trade with the Americas, quickly making it one of the wealthiest cities during the 16th century. Vast Renaissance and baroque buildings were constructed, the most famous of which was the new cathedral. It had been a mosque but was converted into what later became one of the biggest cathedrals in the world.

The famous architect Hernán Ruiz designed the belfry for La Giralda, formerly the minaret of the mosque, and the Cabildo—chapter house—which was constructed between 1558 and 1592. It is decorated by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1618–82), one of Spain’s greatest painters and the first to gain widespread fame outside Spain.

Murillo may have been the most famous painter associated with the city at this time, but he certainly was not the only one. Francisco de Zurbarán (1598–1664) had been apprenticed in Seville and many of his paintings were for the Spanish Americas.

In his last years, he was heavily influenced by Murillo, and the style of many of his later paintings shows this. Juan de Valdés Leal (1622–90) was born in Seville but worked in Córdoba before returning to his native city, where he was president of the Seville Academy.

When Murillo died, Valdés Leal became the most prominent painter in the city. Diego Velázquez (1599–1660) was also born in Seville but moved to Madrid, where he executed his most famous paintings. There were also a number of sculptors drawn to Seville.

Juan Martínez Montañés (1568–1649) moved there in 1287 and remained in Seville for the rest of his life; Pedro Roldán (1624–1700) was responsible for the main altarpiece in Seville, along with Valdés Leal. The tomb of Columbus is also in Seville—but his body was not taken from Cuba until 1899, and it is possible that the real body was lost before this.

With Seville protected, being so far up the Río Guadalquivir, one of the main reasons for choosing it as the city from which to administer Spanish America, some traders also used the more accessible port city of Cádiz, close to the mouth of the Río Guadalquivir. It also grew wealthy during the 16th century but never achieved the fame of Seville. However the wealth of Cádiz also attracted raids from the English and the Dutch.

In 1587, Sir Francis Drake attacked Cádiz to “singe the king of Spain’s beard” and this delayed the fitting out of the famous Spanish Armada, which set sail in the following year. In 1596, an Anglo-Dutch expedition attacked Cádiz again, burning down much of the city.

During the 17th century, the administering of the Americas from Seville became far more difficult. The larger vessels of the period had trouble navigating the Río Guadalquivir, which had started to silt up badly. As well as this, Seville was struck by a massive plague in 1649, which wiped out probably half the population of the city.

This did lead to a greater interest in public health, and the Hospital de la Caridad (Charity Hospital) was built in 1676 and still has paintings by Murillo in its chapel. After years of indecision and prevarication, finally it was decided to move the Casa de la Contratación from Seville to Cádiz in 1717. Based on this, a series of large public buildings were commissioned in Cádiz.

In 1716, plans had been started for a large cathedral for the city. Although work started quickly, it was not in fact finished until 1838. During the 18th century, nearly three-quarters of Spanish trade with the Americas went through Cádiz, making the city hugely wealthy.

Near Cádiz, the famous 18th-century stone fountain La Fuente de las Galeras, with its four spouts to provide water for ships going to the Americas, can still be seen at El Puerto de Santa María. Many of the paintings from the time when Seville was one of the richest cities in Europe are displayed at the city’s Museo de Bellas Artes. Seville also has the oldest surviving bull ring, dating from 1758.

The 15th-century building that had served as Seville’s Lonja (Exchange) for the American trade is now the Archivo de Indias, where, since 1785, most of the archival records connected with Spanish America are held. Hundreds of scholars from all around the world still use it every week for research into Spanish and Latin American history and genealogy.