Lat: 33.292381001206000, Long: -8.341516992159700

Azemmour [Azamor]

North Africa, Marocco

Historical Background and Urbanism

The Portuguese ambition to conquer Azemmour dated back to the late 15th century. In effect, the profitable shad fishing on the Oum er Rbia River between December and March served as the other side of the contract established between the city and King João II in 1486. By means of this document, the Portuguese king became suzerain of its population.
Azemmour was a city stretched along the southern bank of the river a few kilometres from its mouth, defining an imperfect rectangle and its outline defined by solid walls protected by turrets and containing some remarkable buildings, especially mosques. The Arab city, during the period of vassalage to Portugal, covered approximately the same area as the present day medina of Azemmour, about nine hectares.
The ambition to seize Azemmour was very strong, as proved by the expedition that Duarte de Armas made to the river bar in 1507 in order to map its mouth. The definitive conquest took place in 1513. Jaime, duke of Braganza, led the powerful fleet that landed in the bay of El Jadida on 29th August and five days later entered Azemmour, by then emptied of residents. Immediate occupation meant the military seizure of the main defensible areas and enabled the celebration of the Eucharist in the larger mosque which was converted into a Christian church.
From 1534 onwards, following letters from the king to his Council, able men and prelates, in which hesitation between the continuation or evacuation from Azemmour and Safi were expressed, military investment was definitively reduced. The commercial importance of the town also started to wane, due to the port being located some miles upstream from the river mouth. Once Agadir to the south was lost in 1541 and with the unsuccessful alliance with the king of Fes, King João III ordered the withdrawal from the town of Azemmour in an operation that took place in October of the same year. This brought to an end 28 years of actual Portuguese occupation, but not the end of the historical process affecting this urban centre. The Muslim reoccupation of the town under the rule of Moulay Zidan required new modifications to the fortifications, and the original perimeter that had been obstructed was restored. The present plan of the walled medina of Azemmour is the result of using and repairing the old town walls which had never been destroyed by the Portuguese captains, and Arabic details were introduced in key points such as corner-stones or doorways.
In Azemmour it was thought of building a town within the castle as the layout of the cutting enabled the maintenance of a reasonable area for the accommodation of the whole population. Simão Correia, who was captain of the settlement from 1516, proposed a plan of urban intervention on several action fronts with particular focus on the internal organization of the new walled area of the castle. The care paid to some details connected to the planning and paving of streets showed a pioneering attempt at modern hygiene, part of a Manueline line of thought that was more attentive to public space, particularly obvious when compared with the narrow alleyways inherited from the Muslim period. Nonetheless, the insistence on the demolition of the houses of the old town and the use of the discarded materials for new constructions in the new town enables us to speculate on the territorial occupation of the walled area. Inherited houses within the castellated perimeter do not seem to have been part of this plan, that is, it doesn’t seem to have included the two main Islamic structures which had determined the layout of the Portuguese barrier wall: the Moorish castle and the larger mosque. The area of the castle is described as a wasteland with hardly any buildings. Therefore, it seems likely the new town was established on a practically empty site – while the Arab residential area was concentrated south of the main pre-existing buildings.
The Portuguese town was organized around two main structures – the captain’s house on the site of the old castle, and the church that had been adapted from the mosque – sited around the town courtyard, a public area that also served the Town Gate. This was the starting point for Rua Direita which, elbow-shaped, reached the Stream Gate below. The route taken by Rua Direita gave rise to a certain regularity in the parallel and the perpendicular streets. The style of the elongated city block makes a timid appearance, emerging as it does from the existing street plan and land allocation. Fewer than three decades of the Portuguese presence in Azemmour were sufficient inject the rudiments of a regulated urbanism, still visible in what remains.
As for the construction of houses in the town within the castle, the benchmark was set by master Diogo de Arruda who was asking for land at the time. If Diogo, along with his brother Francisco, had been present in the decisions regarding the reformulation of the military architecture, as we will later see further on, including the implantation of the artillery houses and the storehouse, the two brothers would certainly have been associated with the results that Simão Correia was to put into practice. This team must therefore have outlined the plan that would correspond to royal aspirations for the population of Azemmour.
The project by Simão Correia also included the location of the Jewish quarter. The area would be sheltered by the Town’s Bastion and by the river, near the southern wall of the castle, with the possibility of escape through the streets parallel to the wall to the Town Gate in case of danger.

Jorge Correia

Religious Architecture

Military Architecture

Equipment and Infrastructures