Mohammed ben Abdallah
Mohammed Ben Abdellah al-Khatib was Sultan of Morocco from 1757 to 1790 under the Alaouite dynasty. He was the governor of Marrakech around 1750. He was also sultan briefly during 1748. He rebuilt many cities after the earthquake of 1755, including Mogador, Casablanca, and Rabat, and Abdallah Laroui described him as the "the architect of modern Morocco." He is notable for having been the leader of one of the first nations to recognize American independence.Rule
He was the son of Sultan Abdallah IV who reigned 1745–1757. A more open-minded ruler than many of his forebears, he signed numerous peace treaties with the European powers, and curtailed the power of the Barbary corsairs. He revived the city of Essaouira and invited Jews and the English to trade there. He also built the old medina of Casablanca and renovated the kasbah of Marrakesh. Mohammed III used numerous European technicians and architects for his projects, such as Théodore Cornut and the Englishman Ahmed el Inglizi.
Mohammed ben Abdallah also took steps to remove the foreign presence on Moroccan coasts. He repulsed the French in the 1765 Larache expedition. In 1769 the Portuguese prime Minister Marques Pombal decided to abandon their last outpost in Morocco Mazagan. The Portuguese evacuated the residents of Mazagan to South Brazil and return the outpost to Morocco. Allowing for establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries for first time. However, the Siege of Melilla against the Spanish ended in defeat in 1775 when British aid failed to materialize.
to Mohammed ben Abdallah in appreciation of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship, signed in Marrakech in 1787.
In 1777, under the rule of Mohammed ben Abdallah, the Sultanate of Morocco became the first nation to recognize the United States of America as an independent nation.
