Azemmour

In 1486 the people of Azemmour accepted João II of Portugal as overlord, and the shad paid for the bargain: under a treaty confirmed in 1497 the town owed Portugal 10,000 of the fish a year. When its governor refused the tribute in 1513, the Duke of Braganza landed nearby with a great fleet, Ferdinand Magellan among his soldiers, and entered a town its people had already left. The great mosque became a church, but the garrison never prospered. It was here in 1522 that an Arabic-speaking African was sold as a slave to a Spanish nobleman; as Estevanico he later crossed the North American southwest on foot, one of the four survivors of the Narváez expedition. After the loss of Santa Cruz do Cabo de Guer in 1541, João III abandoned Azemmour, twenty-eight years after its capture.