ABSTRACT
Mly Amad clearly felt that he was at a disadvantage in dealing with the European powers. He was aware that he could not resist Spain militarily, and that this powerful empire was located dangerously close to his borders, to the extent that the Spanish even possessed military strongholds on the Moroccan coast. Morocco's relationship with the English was somewhat different. During the early Sa'd period, England had established an active trading partnership with the Moroccan dynasty, and this continued throughout al-Manr's reign. English merchants traded cloth, wood, and even firearms for Moroccan sugar and saltpeter, much to the chagrin of the Catholic European powers, who rightly assumed that the English were indirectly responsible for providing Morocco with the wherewithal to win the Battle of Wd al-Makhzin. An extensive diplomatic correspondence remaining from al-Manr's reign testifies to his ongoing interactions with the European powers.
