The Empire That Never Was: The persistence of imperial ideas and portuguese political projects on Morocco (16th–17th Centuries)

Abstract

This article analyses a set of discourses devoted to Portuguese imperial policy in Morocco, written between the mid-sixteenth and the late seventeenth centuries. Its main objective is to analyse, at the ideological level, the persistence of the ambition for conquest and territorial expansion in Morocco after the Battle of Alcácer-Quibir (1578). The central problem is to understand how and to what extent the ideal of crusade and religious war against Islam continued to structure Portuguese discourses on Morocco after this defeat, in a context in which Portuguese imperial policy became predominantly defensive under Spanish rule (1580–1640) and was later marked by a process of strategic retrenchment during the period of the Portuguese Restoration War (1640–1668). Broadly speaking, it seeks to answer the following question: during a period when Portuguese Moroccan policy was losing strength, what discourses and arguments were mobilised in defence of Portuguese territorial expansion in the region?

The study is based on an approach that combines intellectual history and the history of written culture, seeking to cross-reference the discourses of authors from the period with documents from “high politics” – related to the court, tribunals, and royal councils –produced by advisors, diplomats, and the king himself. It is based on the analysis of discourses, treatises, chronicles, memorials, and historiographical texts, considered within their contexts of production, circulation, and political function. The corpus includes printed and manuscript works written by Portuguese authors between the late sixteenth century and the last quarter of the seventeenth century, such as Amador Arrais, Diogo do Couto, D. Gonçalo Coutinho, D. Jerónimo de Mascarenhas, Manuel de Faria e Sousa, and D. Fernando de Meneses, among other speeches that circulated during the period.

The analysis shows that, despite the gradual shift of official royal policy toward strategies of containment, negotiation, and abandonment, the idea of conquering Morocco persisted over the longue durée. Furthermore, we propose that the disintegration of Portuguese imperial policy in Morocco began in the 1640s, with the new Braganza dynasty, rather than during the period when Portugal was part of the Hispanic Monarchy (1580-1640). We argue that, starting with the Restoration War (1640–1668), under the Portuguese Crown of the Braganza dynasty, there was a political orientation focused on “practical” or “pragmatic” aspects at the expense of one focused on religious, Catholic ends. Adapted to different contexts and mobilised for a variety of purposes, these discourses are the appropriation of its historical, symbolic, and religious legacy by a segment of Portuguese society and reveal the persistence of an African-oriented imperial political culture beyond the material decline of the Portuguese presence in the region.

Keywords: Portuguese Empire, Morocco, Political discourse, Hispanic Monarchy