John Windus (
fl. 1725) was a British ambassador to
Morocco
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
who wrote a popular and influential account of his travels in that country in 1725. In 1720, he accompanied a diplomatic expedition to Morocco with Commodore
Charles Stewart, who was given a small naval squadron and the authority of a
minister plenipotentiary
An envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, usually known as a minister, was a diplomatic head of mission who was ranked below ambassador. A diplomatic mission headed by an envoy was known as a legation rather than an embassy. Under the ...
. They sailed from England on 24 September 1720 and travelled to Tetuan, where they met the
Basha Hamet Ben Ali Ben Abdallah. The two sides agreed a peace treaty which was signed at
Ceuta
Ceuta (, , ; ) is an Autonomous communities of Spain#Autonomous cities, autonomous city of Spain on the North African coast. Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ceuta is one of th ...
in January 1721, under which the Moroccans undertook to prohibit piracy and release English captives. They travelled on to
Meknes
Meknes (, ) is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco, located in northern central Morocco and the sixth largest city by population in the kingdom. Founded in the 11th century by the Almoravid dynasty, Almoravids as a military settlement, Mekne ...
where they met the
King of Morocco
The king of Morocco (; ) is the monarch and head of state of Morocco. The kings of Morocco are members of the Alawi dynasty. It is one of the country's most powerful offices.
Mohammed VI ( Sidi Mohammed bin Hassan al-Alawi) is the current kin ...
,
Ismail Ibn Sharif
Moulay Ismail Ibn Sharif (, – 22 March 1727) was a Sultan of Morocco from 1672 to 1727, as the second ruler of the 'Alawi dynasty. He was the seventh son of Sharif ibn Ali, Moulay Sharif and was governor of the province of Fez and the north o ...
, and reconfirmed the
Anglo-Moroccan alliance.
Windus spent at least seven months (if he signed the treaty in January 1721, he was in the country until August, when he left with the captive English Captains and Sailors released by the treaty, according to his book) travelling in Morocco and drew on his experiences to write ''A Journey to Mequinez, the Residence of the Present Emperor of Fez and Morocco, on the Occasion of Commodore Stewart’s Ambassy Thither for the Redemption of the British Captives in the Year 1721'', published in 1725. The book was only the second published in English on the subject of Morocco and was by far the most comprehensive account of life, society, politics and the environment of a country which few Christians had at that time visited. It went through multiple editions and influenced subsequent writers, as well as providing an invaluable historical record of Morocco at that time.
It was translated into German in 1726 and into Arabic in 1993.
References
External links
Original 1725 edition of ''A Journey to Mequinez''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Windus, John
Ambassadors of Great Britain to Morocco
British travel writers
Date of birth unknown
Date of death unknown
18th-century British writers