A Portuguese counter
In 1505, the Portuguese, already installed on the Moroccan coasts, founded a trading post and a fortress at the foot of the hill in front of the sea, Santa Cruz do Cabo de Aguer (Holy Cross of Cape Ghir), on the site of the district which has now disappeared. of Founti (named after the Portuguese word font which means fountain). Quickly, the Portuguese came up against the hostility of the tribes of the region. From 1530, they were stranded in Santa Cruz. The Portuguese ebb began when on March 12, 1541 the Sharif Saadien Mohammed ech-Cheikh seized the fortress of Santa Cruz de Aguer. Six hundred Portuguese survivors are taken prisoner, including Governor Guterre de Monroy and his daughter Dona Mecia. The captives are redeemed by religious, especially from Portugal. Dona Mecia, whose husband had been killed during the battle, became the wife of Mohammed ech-Cheikh but died in childbirth, in 1544. The same year, Mohammed ech-Cheikh released Governor Guterre de Monroy, whom he had befriended17.
In 1731, a severe earthquake struck the city. In 1746, the Dutch set up a counter at the foot of the Casbah, under the authority of the Sultan, and undoubtedly participated in the restoration of the city. Above the entrance door to the Casbah, one can still see the Dutch inscription, with its Arabic transcription, "Vreest God ende eert den Kooning", which means "Fear God and honor your king", and the date 1746. After a long period of prosperity under the reigns of the Saadian and Alaouite dynasties, Agadir declined from 1760, because of the preeminence granted to the competing port of Essaouira, by the Sultan Alaouite Sidi Mohammed ben Abdallah, who wanted to punish the Souss, rebellious to his authority. This decline lasts a century and a half. In 1789, a European traveler gave a brief description of Agadir: "It is now a deserted city, there are only a small number of houses falling into ruins." In 1881, Sultan Moulay Hassan again opened the harbor to trade in order to be able to supply the expeditions he was considering in the south. These expeditions intended to reaffirm his authority over the tribes of Souss and to oppose the plans of the English and the Spaniards, took place in 1882 and 188620.
