Nasr II's death was sudden, in the hot summer of 1755. He was succeeded by his son thirty years old, Muhammad. Man cultured and refined, starting from his coronation would counter that sort of "crisis" cultural and scientific cooperation that had struck the kingdom of his two predecessors, represented by the ceremony in a huge canvas by the artist during Pioli. During his reign, supported many artists in search of a new cultural identity that attingesse to foreign models and under the patronage of his and a small circle of great nobles, in the 25 years when he was to the throne were founded two music colleges, 7 universities, 18 academies of arts, 22 academies of science, mathematics and natural. With a spirit that contemporaries called it "disturbingly secular, did not found any madrasa classical and even financed the establishment of private schools as alternatives to those based on religion, any religion. It was the first king of Granada to have such confidence in science.
's War Duala
Manikongo the death of the last, in 1759, William V of Orange proclaimed the annexation of the Congo, in response to conflicts arose among the nobles of the country for the succession. This annexation led to the creation of some local potentate subjected to the Netherlands, corresponding to the territories of the aristocratic families: this was largely welcomed.
was an African man who had always feared the raids of Duala on its territory, to Kribi, to convince the Dutch of the need for a war against its northern neighbor. Known
these maneuvers, the Duala leaders sought an alliance with the kingdom of Mandara, but they refused it. Then they turned to Granada: their conduct towards grenadine, despite the presence in their territory the homonymous city of Douala, founded by Yusuf Rurikovic, had always been ambiguous, partly independent, partly not. With the new threat, they came to offer their submission to Muhammad XVIII.
If the disaster was averted thanks to the vision was the new War Minister, Fernando Vaçol. He resisted at first instance to the new submission, but the opinion of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Council were against, happy to have a new war with the Netherlands. With that, he ordered the recruitment of at least one division in Africa, not relying on the Guard Askia, too sparse for the region. However, in 1760 also, when already prepared several thousand Congolese soldiers and Dutch, only three regiments were ready for battle. Faced with such a slow pace, Vaçol got the redemption of less than a thousand slaves ready for sale, provided that contribute to defense of the colony. A
Duala was sent Moroccan general ar-Ribati, a commander of cavalry of classical training. His impression of the face of African military, which often break ranks and fight in open formation and walked barefoot, was that of a rabble, worse still was the auxiliary. However, his impression was justified.
In the dry season of 1761, 12,000 armed men, led by General Tjerk Tromp, departed from Kribi and began the arduous march to Duala. Malaria struck the advancing very quickly, nevertheless, in a short time the army had invaded the territory of Granada, easily took the smaller towns and laid siege to Duala and some strongholds in the vicinity.
beginning of the siege, the small squadron to intercept the first chance and Bioko Dutch convoy that was supposed to supply the besiegers, the loot was taken to the besieged city, which benefited from a long, but the Dutch fleet, with more ships and better armed, the enemy immediately brought back to the island's defenses. Soon after, he attempted bombing of the city, but was heavily damaged by shore batteries.
Meanwhile, various diseases may affect both sides and the assaults were reaping their victims. The greatest loss was on the Dutch contingent, not accustomed to the climate and trained under the old conception in which the soldier was prolongation of the musket, while the Congolese were using tactics more flexible.
In 1762 also, when the defenders were exhausted and on the fleet of Dutch ships Guinea drew away from the block, engaging and defeating and allowed the entry of many ships in port for refueling. Realizing that this stalemate of trenches and illnesses, broken only by the conquest of some strongholds outside, needed a decisive move, Tromp attempted the final assault, unleashing the full power of its guns against the battered city's defenses. Yet, it resisted. The soldiers who ar-Ribati contempt once again the value of defending the city with his teeth and resisting an attack by two days, which was often torn between the houses. The 19 (or 21) in February, the Congolese army decimated the Dutch raised the curtains and start the march him back to the south, only gain of the war was the total destruction of slavery ports of Granada, Duala excluded. In April, the peace was signed.
Yet, this experience served the Armed Forces Dutch first anchored to an old concept of the army, faced with the regular soldiers of the enemy learned a lot, but the Congolese soldiers, in the eyes of the general Dutch gained a new reputation, impressed by the results who had obtained.
Duala A war canoe used for travel during the siege. The flag is one of the governorate of Bioko. The new French cooperation and the "blasphemous Romanization"
And with the new king's attitude towards the northern neighbors became more friendly. In the second ex-Aztec war 1763-1767, when France took much of the territory north of the border Aztecs, Granada won the directors of the Franco Territory of Tampico, a region separated for a few miles of the boundaries of two nations Mexico for most of the remainder, there was a deserted no man's land by war.
And, perhaps even behind the demands of the French king, defender of the Faith made a concession to the Pope allowed the sending of companies preaching was during his reign that many of the poorest people in Aragon, Castile and Leon returned Catholic. And Clement XIII, in 1767, canonized the first Iberian very long time, José de Calasanz.
This openness to Catholicism did not appeal to many nobles, especially the Berber area, so much so that flyers were printed satirical who spoke of the "blasphemous Romanization" and depicted the king praying before a crucifix. For the first time in decades, the king reapply press censorship.
Citizenship
The story of Husain ibn troops had already given rise to some problems, which are sharpened with the demands of the veterans of Duala.
Soldiers regular outside the nucleus of the kingdom, usually recruited among the poor and needy, seeking fortune in the army. If some, the service ended, they returned with their own people with their hoard, others often did not want to stay in the inferior position they had in their home communities, or however you want to settle where they were stationed, but legally had yet to respond to their people. The Minister of Interior in 1770 Hixota therefore proposed a change in the law, introducing the concept of citizenship, of course not forgetting that every inhabitant of the kingdom was first subject. The law approved included two classes of citizenship:
-First-class citizenship, which had all the subjects directly dependent on Granada. Garnets were to enforce the laws, pay taxes in the kingdom and had access to every theory of public office. With this citizenship, was also abolished the exemption of Jews from the lever;
-the second-class citizenship included the inhabitants of the "autonomous communities", "semi-independent populations," and so on. Those who had responded to this national law of its own people and then sottastava Granada agreed to all the traditional systems. You could not get the administration to high levels. However, with the people of noble women were allowed some people to vote together with their husbands for political representatives. It could, however
go from second to first, or through special services from the state or due to military service. After the stop, you could request to citizenship for himself and his family, as long as you move from the confines of the people. It was however possible to move from first to second if the reverse process had been carried by their grandparents. In order to prevent leakages of slaves, was inhibited their passing category.
The Industrial Revolution in the kingdom and the population boom
The second part of Muhammad's reign was marked by a commitment to making the craft more and more competitive. England, at the time the first country in this field, was a model and considerable sums were spent to ensure the introduction of numerous innovations English; in India were also put in place machinery for spinning much more efficient. It was founded on Scientific and Technical Club of Toledo, where they were invited many foreign scientists and inventors and the country were provided with incentives to those who wanted to start new businesses. In the meantime, the best living conditions and an unusually long period of relative peace, they increase the population in 25 years by 38%. However, Muhammad died in 1780, before the economic policy gave its ripe fruit.
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