The plague that killed half the population of Morocco
The plague1799-1800
The plague struck the fighting of Morocco during the reign of the Alawi Sultan Suleiman between 1799-1800, killing about half of the population of Morocco. The accounts differed about its source, between those who say that it came from sailors coming from Europe towards the Moroccan coasts, and between those who say that the Moroccan pilgrims were the ones who carried it from the Arabian Peninsula, and another version, which is more likely to say that the epidemic affected Algeria and entered Morocco through the city of Oujda.
Before the year 1799, Morocco experienced a wave of locusts, followed by drought, which greatly affected the lives and livelihoods of Moroccans. The year 1799 came and the plague entered the country across the eastern borders of Morocco. This coincided with the military campaigns undertaken by Sultan Alawi Suleiman to annex the rebellious tribes or the so-called country Siba. The epidemic also affected the Sultan's army, which contributed to its spread among the tribes significantly.
When the Sultan's men carried the plague to all parts of Morocco
The European consuls in Morocco tried to advise the Sultan to take quarantine measures before it was too late, but he refused, claiming that it was against the laws of the Islamic religion, and thus the Sultan bears responsibility for the spread of the disease because most of his army is infected with the infection in addition to his refusal to establish quarantine on the affected areas, so the epidemic began From the east towards the countryside, then Tangiers and Tetouan, then Meknes, Fez and Marrakesh. So many lives were reaped behind him that in Fez alone he kills 1,000 people per day and in Marrakesh 1,800 people per day, and the plague reached its crawl until it reached the Souss areas.
Historians reported that this plague killed between a quarter or half of the population of Morocco, according to different accounts.
Mawla Suleiman (1760-1822)
One of the results of this epidemic is that the Makhzen benefited greatly from it, as the plague destroyed most of its political opponents from opposing tribes and even the brothers of the Sultan who disputed the rule were killed by the plague. Among its results is also the abundance of the food crop and money because people perished and left all their money, gold, valuables and real estate, so the Sultan’s men were not even able to collect these enormous wealth left by rich families and senior officials who were decimated by the plague, so the state of the store at that time became the first beneficiary, financially and politically.
After about sixteen years, another plague will strike Morocco, but it is not as severe as the first plague, so it was called the
Great Plague or the Black Plague.
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