As its name - in Arabic, "the Great Enclosure" - suggests, KSAR EL KEBIR , 36km southeast of Larache, was once a place of some importance. Founded in the eleventh century, it became an early Arab power base and was enlarged and endowed by both Almohads and Merenids, and perennially coveted by the Spanish and Portuguese of Asilah and Larache. It was about 12km north of here where, in August 1578, the Portuguese fought the disastrous Battle of the Three Kings , the most dramatic and devastating in their nation's history - a power struggle disguised as a crusade, which saw the death or capture of virtually the entire nobility. For the Moroccans it resulted in the fortuitous accession to power of Ahmed El Mansour, the greatest of all Merenid sultans.

 

The town fell into decline in the seventeenth century, after a local chief incurred the wrath of Moulay Ismail, causing him to destroy the walls. Neglect followed, although its fortunes revived to some extent under the Spanish protectorate, when it served as a major barracks