Coast of Gharb

The Atlantic coast of Morocco's Gharb includes the river mouths of the Loukkos and Sebou. Larache, at the Loukkos, and Mehdia at the Sebou offered harbors sought by rival maritime powers. Spain occupied Larache in 1610, after which corsairs shifted south to the shelter of the Sebou estuary. The Spanish took Mehdia in 1614 and built the fortress of San Miguel de Ultramar; in 1681 Moulay Ismaïl recovered the place and incorporated it into Morocco's coastal defenses.