Battle of Alcácer Quibir 1578
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 1578 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | Morocco | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Africa | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Moroccan–Portuguese conflicts | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Kingdom of Portugal, Saadi dynasty | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 35.0167, -5.9000 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Alcácer Quibir (also known as "Battle of Three Kings" (Arabic: معركة الملوك الثلاثة) or "Battle of Wadi al-Makhazin" (Arabic: معركة وادي المخازن) in Morocco) was fought in northern Morocco, near the town of Ksar-el-Kebir (variant spellings: Ksar El Kebir, Alcácer-Quivir, Alcazarquivir, Alcassar, etc.) and Larache, on 4 August 1578.
A Moroccan victory, the battle has been described as "the greatest military disaster the Portuguese ever suffered in the course of their overseas expansion." It marked an end to Portuguese attempts to reconquer territories it had lost in Morocco.
The combatants were the army of the deposed Moroccan Sultan Abu Abdallah Mohammed II, with his ally, the King of Portugal Sebastian I, against a large Moroccan army under the new Sultan of Morocco (and uncle of Abu Abdallah Mohammed II) Abd Al-Malik I.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Alcácer Quibir (revision 1380183381), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Siege of Larache (1689) 1689 · 29 km
- Larache expedition 1765 · 29 km
- Battle of Wad Ras 1860 · 69 km
- Battle of Tétouan 1860 · 81 km
- Action of 16 March 1782 1782 · 95 km
- Battle of Cape Spartel 1782 · 101 km
Other battles of the Moroccan–Portuguese conflicts
- Portuguese conquest of Ceuta 1415
- Siege of Ceuta (1419) 1419
- Fall of Agadir 1541
- Siege of Mazagan (1562) 1562
- Siege of Mazagan (1769) 1769
All 6 battles of the Moroccan–Portuguese conflicts →
Browse more: battles in Morocco · Africa · Early modern battles