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Pré-publication, Document de travail Année : 2015

The “oldest modern” colonization in Africa

Résumé

In 1415, after some failed assaults, an army from Portugal took over the Northern Africa town of Ceuta. It was the first act of the modern globalization act known as “colonization”. Starting from the nowadays Spanish town, the Portuguese carried out a chain of trading posts along the African and Asian coasts toward the far East. In Northern Africa, they were presents up to the 1769 when the Saadian’ ended the experience after a long siege to the town of Mazagão (nowadays El Jadida). In between these two dates, Lusitanian built several fortresses and fortified cities in order to control the territories and the local sailing routes. Existing towns were modified and fortified while new ones were founded. The result which is totally understanding up to nowadays, is a sort of handbook about the history of western way to install fortified settlements from the late Middle Age to the Renaissance, all of them actually keeping the Portuguese’s peculiarity. The abandoned settlement of Ksar S’ghir – nowadays an archaeological camp – shows the strait city walls used before the introduction of the artillery in the art of fight. In Asilah (Arzila) a Middle Age symbolical tower (the Al Kamra tower, Torre de Menagem) and one of the first gun powered tower are together included in the city fortification. The former fishermen village of Suira Kedima, nowadays a holiday resort, hosts the Aguz fortress: a really early Renaissance’s stronghold probably linked to Leonard de Vinci drawing while the town of Safi shows the rests of a cathedral together with transitional walls. The masterpiece, enrolled by the Moroccan institution inside the Unesco World Heritage List, is the walled city of Mazagão. Founded in 1541 around a simple watch tower, it is a Renaissance town protected by a bulwark provided with a sequence of bastions designed for the modern gun powered fighting way. Actually, Portuguese former presence in Northern Africa is a register of the way used to protect settlements during three centuries but also the nowadays process of heritage valorisation.
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halshs-01257887, version 1 (18-01-2016)

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  • HAL Id : halshs-01257887 , version 1

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Romeo Carabelli. The “oldest modern” colonization in Africa. 2015. ⟨halshs-01257887⟩
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Dernière date de mise à jour le 18/05/2024
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