The Battle of Moulouya took place in may 1692 at a ford on the

Moulouya river The Moulouya River ( Berber: ''iɣẓer en Melwect'', ) is a 520 km-long river in Morocco. Its sources are located in the Ayashi mountain in the Middle Atlas. It empties into the Mediterranean Sea near Saïdia, in northeast Morocco. Water l ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

. It was fought between the armies of the

Alaouite The Alawi dynasty ( ar, سلالة العلويين الفيلاليين, translit=sulālat al-ʿalawiyyīn al-fīlāliyyīn) – also rendered in English as Alaouite, Alawid, or Alawite – is the current Moroccan royal family and reigning d ...

Sultan

Moulay Ismail Moulay Ismail Ibn Sharif ( ar, مولاي إسماعيل بن الشريف), born around 1645 in Sijilmassa and died on 22 March 1727 at Meknes, was a Sultan of Morocco from 1672–1727, as the second ruler of the Alaouite dynasty. He was the se ...

and those of the

Dey of Algiers Dey (Arabic: داي), from the Turkish honorific title ''dayı'', literally meaning uncle, was the title given to the rulers of the Regency of Algiers (Algeria), Tripoli,Bertarelli (1929), p. 203. and Tunis under the Ottoman Empire from 1671 on ...

Hadj Chabane The Hajj (; ar, حَجّ '; sometimes also spelled Hadj, Hadji or Haj in English) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried ...

Background

Hadj Chabane had just been elected Dey by the Taifa of the Raïs. He decided to declare war on the Sultan of Morocco as a result of continued efforts to ravage his territory. The borders between Ottoman Algeria and Morocco was first fixed at the

Moulouya The Moulouya River (Berber language, Berber: ''iɣẓer en Melwect'', ) is a 520 km-long river in Morocco. Its sources are located in the Jbel Ayachi, Ayashi mountain in the Middle Atlas. It empties into the Mediterranean Sea near Saïdia, in ...

upon the Tlemcen War in 1551. This was the fixed border until the city of

Oujda Oujda ( ar, وجدة; ber, ⵡⵓⵊⴷⴰ, Wujda) is a major Moroccan city in its northeast near the border with Algeria. Oujda is the capital city of the Oriental region of northeastern Morocco and has a population of about 558,000 people. It ...

was temporarily conquered by the

Sultan

Sidi Mohammed Sidi Mohammed was the Garad (chief) of the Hadiya people in the beginning of the seventeenth century. He is considered a descendant of some of the Silt'e clan originators as well as the founder of Halaba ethnic group. Garad Sidi is known for ...

in 1647. A peace treaty between the two parties then delimited the border below the Tafna (upstream of Moulouya river). Moulay Ismail had led expeditions in Algeria twice in his early reign, he was defeated on both occasions, in 1672 at Tlemcen and 1678 at Oued Za.Gheziel, Abla
"La politique des deys d'Alger à la veille de la conquête française (1730-1830)."
Al-Mawaqif (Revue des études et des recherches sur la société et l'histoire) 6 (2011): 63-74. p.1. “1672, Moulay Ismā'il lance une expédition, espérant conquérir Tlemcen: il est battu.“ The Moroccan incursions to the east of the Moulouya upstream, then Algerian territory, prompted Hadj Chabane to declare war on Sultan Moulay Ismail.

Moulay Ismaïl Moulay Ismail Ibn Sharif ( ar, مولاي إسماعيل بن الشريف), born around 1645 in Sijilmassa and died on 22 March 1727 at Meknes, was a Sultan of Morocco from 1672–1727, as the second ruler of the Alaouite dynasty. He was the sev ...

learned of his arrival to Oujda and attempted to retrace his steps, however the Algerian army reached him at a ford of the Moulouïa which lead to clashes with the Algerians. These tensions at the Algerian border occurred because Moulay Ismail wanted to have his "religious equality" with the Sultan of Istanbul recognized in the eyes of the Europeans. The alliance of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and the

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

intrigued him as he believed it could be an opportunity to counter

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

; or in case of war against the Algerians, an opportunity to bring an agreement between the Sultan of Istanbul and

Fez Fez most often refers to: * Fez (hat), a type of felt hat commonly worn in the Ottoman Empire * Fez, Morocco (or Fes), the second largest city of Morocco Fez or FEZ may also refer to: Media * ''Fez'' (Frank Stella), a 1964 painting by the moder ...

. Mouley Ismail even proposed making an alliance with the

bey of Tunis Bey ( ota, بك, beğ, script=Arab, tr, bey, az, bəy, tk, beg, uz, бек, kz, би/бек, tt-Cyrl, бәк, translit=bäk, cjs, пий/пек, sq, beu/bej, sh, beg, fa, بیگ, beyg/, tg, бек, ar, بك, bak, gr, μπέης) is ...

Battle

The dey marched against Mouley Ismail with 10,000

Janissaries A Janissary ( ota, یڭیچری, yeŋiçeri, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops and the first modern standing army in Europe. The corps was most likely established under sultan Orhan ( ...

and 3,000

spahis Spahis () were light-cavalry regiments of the French army recruited primarily from the indigenous populations of Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. The modern French Army retains one regiment of Spahis as an armoured unit, with personnel now r ...

, as well as a contingent of

Igawawen Igawawen or Gawawa, mostly known as Zwawa (in Kabyle: Igawawen, in Arabic: زواوة, and in Latin: Jubaleni''Revue archéologique, Société française d'archéologie classique'' (in French), p. 28) were a group of Kabyle tribes inhabiting the ...

Kabyles. The Algerians encountered the enemy, composed of 14,000 infantrymen and 8,000 cavalrymen. Despite the numerical inferiority, they vigorously attacked the Moroccans and killed 5,000 of their men while the Algerians suffered casualties of only a hundred. Léon Galibert gives the following account:

Aftermath

The dey pursued the fugitives to the wall of Fez, which was protected by an army of 24,000 foot soldiers and 20,000 horses. The Sultan of Morocco, Moulay Ismail commanded it in person, but was reluctant to engage in combat knowing the earlier victory that the Algerians had spread terror among his soldiers. Despite their numerical superiority they forced him to make peace proposals. The two commanders went to a tent erected between the two camps and a peace agreement was signed. Allegedly Moulay Ismail came to the conference with his hands bound in a sign of submission. Kissing the ground three times, he appealed to the protection of the

padichah Padishah ( fa, پادشاه; ; from Persian: r Old Persian: *">Old_Persian.html" ;"title="r Old Persian">r Old Persian: * 'master', and ''shāh'', 'king'), sometimes Romanization of Persian, romanised as padeshah or padshah ( fa, پادشاه; ...

of Constantinople and then said to the Algerian Dey: "You are the knife and I am the flesh that you can cut". Moulay Ismael and the Moroccan army, terrified by this hard failure, are forced to ask for peace by granting in a treaty the sovereignty of the regency of Algiers on the territories going up to Moulouya.

Jean-Baptiste Estelle Jean-Baptiste Estelle (1662, Marseille – 1723, Marseille) was French Consul in the Moroccan city of Salé in 1689–98. He was the son of Pierre Estelle, Consul at Tetuan."...the reports sent to the Government of Louis XIV by P. Estelle, Consu ...

, the French consul in Salé from 1689-1698, commented on the defeat of Moulay Ismail, meanwhile a 1692 report from consul Baker highlighted that the French and English counterparts of Estelle in Algiers rejoiced in gleeful fellowship with the Algerians.Mercer, Patricia Ann
Political and military developments within Morocco during the early Alawi Period (1659-1727)
University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies (United Kingdom), 1974 The continued Moroccan offensives against Algiers in

1693 Events January–March * January 11 – 1693 Sicily earthquake: Mount Etna erupts, causing a devastating earthquake that affects parts of Sicily and Malta. * January 22 – A total lunar eclipse is visible across North and South Ameri ...

, 1694, 1696, 1700,

1701 In the Swedish calendar it was a common year starting on Tuesday, one day ahead of the Julian and ten days behind the Gregorian calendar. Events January–March * January 12 – Parts of the Netherlands adopt the Gregorian cal ...

, 1703 and

1707 In the Swedish calendar it was a common year starting on Tuesday, one day ahead of the Julian and ten days behind the Gregorian calendar. Events January–March * January 1 – John V is crowned King of Portugal and the Algarv ...

ended in defeat.Les confins algéro-marocains
Augustin Bernard É. Larose The territory until the Moulouya river remained under Algiers for more than 100 years.E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936, Volume 1
BRILL. 1993.

References

{{reflist 17th century in Algeria 17th century in Morocco

Wars involving Algeria Wars involving Morocco 1692 in Africa