spanish presence in north africa

Because the locals hated them, which made it a pain in the ass to advance beyond the ports. Because the Turks, Moroccans and corsairs were a force to be reckoned with. Because by the time North Africa became an easy target for colonialism Spain was mostly out of the game.
 

boredatwork

Banned
1. Because most of northern africa was scrub, unsuitable for farming, with a hostile populace.

2. Because The original spanish goal was to seize ports to prevent/reduce slave taking raids on spanish territory, not conquer/settle africa.

It later expanded into a half arsed attempt to begin conquering the med, but they never really seemed to decide whether the goal was to conquer and hold territory, or just deny ports to the Ottomans to help secure spanish holdings on the isles/italian peninsula.
 
In the late XVIII century there was an spanish secret agent, Domingo Badía (aka Ali Bey), that reached an agreement with a claimant to the Moroccan throne by which Spain would get Northern Morocco in exchange for military help. However Charles IV had signed a treaty with the moroccan king and thought this would be backstabbing him.
 
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