Battle of Tangier (1437)

Battle of Tangier
Part of Moroccan-Portuguese conflicts
Date 13 September 1437 – 19 October 1437 Location Tangier, Morocco Result Decisive Moroccan victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of Portugal	Marinid Morocco
Commanders and leaders
Henry, Duke of Viseu	Salah ibn Salah Abu Zakariya Yahya al-Wattasi
Strength
6,000–8,000 troops	100,000+
Casualties and losses
500 dead	uncertain

The 1437 Battle of Tangier, sometimes referred to as the Siege of Tangiers, refers to the attempt by a Portuguese expeditionary force to seize the Moroccan citadel of Tangier, and their subsequent defeat by the armies of the Marinid sultanate of Morocco.

The Portuguese expeditionary force, led by Prince Henry the Navigator, Duke of Viseu, set out from Portugal in August 1437, intending to seize a series of Moroccan coastal citadels. The Portuguese laid siege to Tangier in mid-September. After a few failed assaults on the city, the Portuguese force was attacked and defeated by a large Moroccan relief army led by vizier Abu Zakariya Yahya al-Wattasi of Fez. The Moroccans subsequently encircled the Portuguese siege camp and starved it to submission. To preserve his army from destruction, Henry negotiated a treaty promising to return the citadel of Ceuta (captured earlier in 1415) to Morocco, in return for being allowed to withdraw his troops. As it turns out, the terms of the treaty were never fulfilled; the Portuguese decided to hold on to Ceuta and allowed the Portuguese hostage, the king's own brother Ferdinand the Holy Prince, to remain in Moroccan captivity, where he perished in 1443.

The Tangier fiasco was a tremendous setback for the prestige and reputation of Henry the Navigator, who had personally conceived, promoted and led the expedition. Simultaneously, it was an enormous boon to the political fortunes of the vizier Abu Zakariya Yahya al-Wattasi, who was transformed overnight from an unpopular regent to a national hero, allowing him to consolidate his power over Morocco.

This was the first of four attempts by the Portuguese to seize the city of Tangier in the 15th century.

The Moroccan citadel of Ceuta, on the southern side of the Straits of Gibraltar, had been seized in 1415 in a surprise attack by the Kingdom of Portugal. (See Battle of Ceuta). The Marinid rulers of Morocco had tried to recover it in 1418–19, but failed. The assassination of the Marinid sultan in 1420 sent Morocco reeling into political chaos and internal disorder for the next few years, giving the Portuguese time to entrench themselves in Ceuta.

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