Ever so often, tensions flare up between Morocco and Spain over a few rocks in the Mediterranean or the towns of Ceuta and Melia. Newspaper stir up national pride, people demonstrate in front of Embassies, troops are put on alert and a few Spanish vessels steam to the North African coast until reason prevails and everybody cools down. The few square miles of land are not worth the life of a single soul. But they are the living witness of events that took place 500 years ago.
The expansion of the Kingdom of Aragon into the Mediterranean required safe lines of communication along the shores of North Africa where the winds blow west – east for most of the year. Anybody who wants to sail from Valencia to Sicily needs to chart a course along these shores. Since sailing at night was dangerous and avoided when possible, the Kingdom of Aragon established a string of fortified harbors from Gibraltar to Tunis – the same way Venice and Genoa did to protect their trade routes.
El Penon de Velez de la Gomera – the border between Morocco and Spain runs right through the middle of the beach
Establishing strong points and fortresses along the North African coast was not easy. These lands were populated by well-organized Berbers and Arabs who resisted the conquest of their ports. Also, the Aragon policy of Reconquista was severely counter-productive. Whenever a town was taken, the population was put to the sword with a brutality that matched the behavior of Turgut Reis, the Ottoman Admiral and Corsair. The local people would not forget. Contrary to Genoa or Venice who integrated the territories they acquired by making concessions and gaining the support of the locals, Spanish rule was based on force and heavily resented. Anybody surprised that the conquered towns were mostly isolated and the Spanish garrisons never able to expand inland? The string of towns on the North African shore was totally dependent on support from the motherland.
The Fleet of Charles V attacking and conquering Tunis 1535
Maintaining and defending these fortresses became a huge drag on Spain’s finances. Charles V’s campaign to conquer Tunis cost 1 million gold ducats alone - the equivalent of one year of fighting against the Turks in Hungary. Deploying 300 ships, lots of siege artillery and 30’000 soldiers was not cheap. Had the Spanish crown not received 2 mio gold ducats from Pizarro for ransoming Inka Emperor Atahualpa, it could not have been financed. Whilst the attack on Tunis was successful, the attack on Algiers six years later ended in complete disaster. Launched when the autumn storms already gathered, the Spanish fleet was scattered and the disembarked army destroyed piece by piece. It was a very expensive disaster.
Towns in Spanish possession in the 16th century – hand-drawn map by HBA
It was thus only a matter of time until most of these towns would be taken back either by local Berber rulers or Turgut Reis. By the 17th centuries, almost all of them except Oran Melilla and Ceuta were back in Muslim hands.
What is really interesting is that nobody talks or writes about it. You can clearly see Spanish fortresses on Google Maps but there is no mentioning of their history or why they were there. Since I speak no Spanish I do not know for sure but there is not much research on the Spanish side either. That Algeria and Morocco do not want to talk about their colonial history is kind of understandable – who wants to admit that there were once foes which could beat your own army. But Spain? Ashamed that they lost these towns? Spain is very proud of its colonial ties with Latin America – so why is it different?
The forgotten Spanish Fort in Arzew about 20 miles west of Oran – discovered it by chance
Sometimes an excursion into alternative history is an interesting mind game. What if Spain had not discovered Latin America and thus focused its energy on reconquering Northern Africa. Would Spain have succeeded? Nobody knows. It would definitely have made the Mediterranean a Mare Nostrum again. But Spain had a knack of alienating the local population and without local support no empire can be built. Maybe a North African focus would just have led to more wars without changing the course of history.