Judar Pasha

 ( 16th-century Births ) 

Judar Pasha () was a Spanish-Moroccan military leader under the Saadi Sultanate sultan Ahmad al-Mansur in the late 16th century. He led the Saadian army in the conquest of the Songhai Empire.

Born as Diego de Guevara in Cuevas del Almanzora, Castile, JudarWhile Judar is the common spelling, this is based on an assumed pronunciation by French translators of the Arabic texts Tarikh al-Sudan and Tarikh al-fattash which do not give the vowels. The name is pronounced Jawdar in the Tadhkirat an-Nisian and in the most recent English translation of the Tarikh al-Sudan by J. O. Hunwick (cited below). had been captured by Muslim slave-raiders as a young boy. His captors castrated him. As a young boy, he joined the service of Moroccan Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur, who had many other eunuch officers. Judar was often described by reference to his blue eyes.

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Battles In 1590, Ahmad al-Mansur made Judar a pasha and appointed him the head of an invasion force against the Songhai Empire of what is now Mali. In October of that year, Judar set out from Marrakesh with a force of 1,500 light cavalry and 2,500 and light infantry. Some of these men were Spaniards from Andalusia and some were "Renegats" (probably Christians from Southern Europe). He also carried eight England cannon in his supply train, and assembled eighty Christian bodyguards for his personal detail.

After an arduous crossing of the Sahara desert, Judar razed the desert of Taghaza and advanced on the Songhai capital of Gao.

Meanwhile, Songhai ruler Askia Ishaq II assembled a force of more than 40,000 men and moved north against the Moroccans; the two armies met at Tondibi in March 1591. Despite their far inferior numbers, the Moroccan gunpowder weapons easily carried the day, resulting in a rout of the Songhai troops. Ishaq offered slaves and gold if Judar would retreat; Judar refused the offer.

Judar sacked Gao and then moved on to the trading centers of Djenné and Timbuktu.John Coleman DeGraft-Johnson, African Glory: The Story of Vanished Negro Civilizations, Black Classic Press, London, 1954, , pp. 113–116 He reached Timbuktu in April 1591, carrying a letter from the Sultan al-Mansur demanding their cooperation.

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Aftermath According to Martin Meredith: "To quell resistance in Timbuktu, the Moroccans sent leading scholars to Marrakesh in chains. The wealth of Timbuktu, Gao, and Jenne was also stripped. Huge quantities of gold dust were shipped across the desert. When Judar Pasha returned to Morocco in 1599, his caravan included thirty camel-loads of gold valued by an English merchant at £600,000."

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Judar was demoted to governor because he advocated for making Timbuktu the new capital, rather than Gao, as Sultan al-Mansur wished.

Despite Judar's gains, sporadic battles continued with the Songhai army, leading to his replacement several years after his victory.

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Death Judar was executed in December 1606 on the orders of Mulay Abdallah, son of Mullay al-Shaykh, in the course of struggles over the Moroccan throne. This was mainly set up by the Battle of Tondibi.

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See also

• Tarikh al-fattash, a West African chronicle written in the late 17th century

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Notes

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External links

• The Invasion of Morocco in 1591 and the Saadian Dynasty

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