Archival Overview
Enlightened Alaouite Sultan of Morocco who modernized foreign diplomacy, founded the Atlantic port of Essaouira in 1764, and made Morocco the very first country in the world to officially recognize the independence of the United States in 1777.
Biographical Record
Sidi Mohammed ibn Abdallah (c. 1710–1790) assumed the throne in 1757 following three decades of dynastic turmoil. A man of exceptional diplomatic vision and commercial pragmatism, he abandoned corsair warfare in favor of legitimate global free trade, signing treaties with Denmark, France, Spain, and Britain.
In 1764, he hired French architect Théodore Cornut to design the fortified Atlantic port of Essaouira (Mogador), which became Morocco's premier diplomatic and trade gateway. On December 20, 1777, Sultan Mohammed III issued a historic imperial decree opening all Moroccan ports to ships of the newly declared United States, and in 1786 signed the Moroccan-American Treaty of Peace and Friendship with Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, America's oldest unbroken treaty.
Key Life Milestones
Founding of the Port of Essaouira
Constructed the walled Atlantic city of Essaouira as an international center of commerce and tolerance.
First Global Recognition of the United States
Became the first world monarch to officially recognize the United States, signing the 1786 Treaty of Peace.
Memorial Guestbook & Tributes
0 messages recordedLeave a Respectful Tribute
Final Resting Place
Perpetual MemorialRabat, Morocco