Moulay Ismail Consolidates Morocco

1681

Sultan Moulay Ismail, ruling from his new capital at Meknes, deployed his fearsome Black Guard - an army of enslaved soldiers numbering over fifty thousand - to crush tribal rebellions and unify Morocco under Alaouite rule. He built palaces of staggering opulence, kept a harem of legendary proportions, and corresponded as an equal with Louis XIV.