Safi, Morocco The Portuguese fortress built to protect the city is still there today. After 1541, the city played a major role in Morocco as one of the safest and biggest seaports in the country. Many ambassadors to the Saadian and Alaouite kings during the 16th–18th centuries came to Morocco via Asfi; its proximity to Marrakech, then capital of Morocco, helped expand the maritime trade in the city. Louis De Chénier, consul of the French court in Morocco in 1767, reported that the city was the only usable seaport at the time. A French Navy captive, Bidé de Maurville, who wrote the
History of the Jews in Morocco Jewish life in the Muslim interior of Morocco became dominated by the Sephardic plutocracy that continued to maintain control of the Moroccan Jewry up until modern times. Each local community had a "rigid", or "shaykh al-Yahud", who was appointed by the government. The chief figure in the larger Jewish community was the "Nagid" of the capital, who was invariably a court Jew. Throughout the Moroccan Jewish community, there were famous Sephardic "dayyanim" such as the Ibn Danans whose authority was largely recognized by Jews within the whole country. However, the influx of refugees also caused overcrowding in the larger cities