Editing Melilla (section)

=== Early Modern period ===
During the 15th century, the city declined, like most Mediterranean cities of the [[Kingdom of Fez]], eclipsed by those on the Atlantic.{{Sfn|Bravo Nieto|1990|pp=21–22}} After the [[Catholic Monarchs]]' [[Granada War|conquest of the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada]] in 1492, their Secretary {{Interlanguage link|Hernando de Zafra|es}} gathered intelligence about the sorry state of the North African coast with territorial expansion in mind.{{Sfn|Bravo Nieto|1990|p=25}} He sent agents to investigate, and subsequently reported to the Catholic Monarchs that, as of 1494, locals had expelled the authority of the Sultan of Fez and had offered to pledge loyalty.{{Sfn|Loureiro Soto|2015|p=83}} While the 1494 [[Treaty of Tordesillas]] put Melilla and [[Cazaza]], until then reserved to the Portuguese, under the sphere of [[Kingdom of Castile|Castile]], the conquest of the city had to wait, delayed by [[Charles VIII of France|the French]] occupation of Naples.{{Sfn|Loureiro Soto|2015|pp=83–84}}

[[File:Plano de la Plaza de Melilla como está en principio de febrero de 1699.jpg|thumb|Map of the Melilla fortress by the late 17th-century.]]

The [[Duke of Medina Sidonia]], [[Juan Alfonso Pérez de Guzmán, 3rd Duke of Medina Sidonia|Juan Alfonso Pérez de Guzmán]], advocated seizing Melilla, to be headed by {{ill|Pedro de Estopiñán|es|Pedro de Estopiñán y Virués}}, and the Catholic Monarchs, [[Isabella I of Castile]] and [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]], endorsed the initiative and provided the assistance of artillery officer [[Francisco Ramírez de Madrid]].{{Sfn|Bravo Nieto|1990|p=26}} Melilla was occupied on 17 September 1497, virtually without violence as it was on the border between the [[Kingdom of Tlemcen]] and the Kingdom of Fez, and as a result had been fought over many times and left abandoned.<ref>{{Harvnb|Loureiro Soto|2015|p=85}}; {{Harvnb|Bravo Nieto|1990|p=26}}</ref><ref>{{citation |url=http://www.ayuntamiento.es/comunidades_melilla.php |title=Ayuntamientos de España |publisher=Ayuntamiento.es |access-date=7 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301210448/http://www.ayuntamiento.es/comunidades_melilla.php |archive-date=1 March 2012 }}</ref> No large-scale expansion into the Kingdom of Fez ensued, and, barring the enterprises of the [[Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros|Cardinal Cisneros]] along the Algerian coast in [[Mers El Kébir]] and [[Oran]], and the [[Vélez de la Gomera|rock of Badis]] in the territorial scope of the Kingdom of Fez, the Hispanic monarchy's imperial impetus was eventually directed elsewhere, to the [[Italian Wars]] against France, and, especially after 1519,{{Sfn|Bravo Nieto|1990|pp=17; 28}} to the newly discovered continent across the Atlantic.

Melilla was initially jointly administered by the [[House of Medina Sidonia]] and the Crown,{{Sfn|Loureiro Soto|2015|p=127}} and a 1498 settlement required the former to station a 700-man garrison in Melilla and the latter to provide the city with a number of [[maravedí]]es and wheat ''[[fanega]]s''.{{Sfn|Loureiro Soto|2015|p=125}} The Crown's interest in Melilla decreased during the reign of [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]].{{Sfn|Loureiro Soto|2015|p=131}} During the 16th century, soldiers stationed in Melilla were badly remunerated, leading to many desertions.{{Sfn|Loureiro Soto|2015|pp=127–128}} The Duke of Medina Sidonia relinquished responsibility over the garrison of the place on 7 June 1556.{{sfn|Polo|1986|p=8}}

During the late 17th century, [[Alaouite]] sultan [[Ismail Ibn Sharif]] attempted to conquer the ''[[presidio]]'',{{Sfn|Loureiro Soto|2015|p=175}} taking the outer fortifications in the 1680s and further unsuccessfully besieging Melilla in the 1690s.{{Sfn|Loureiro Soto|2015|pp=175–176; 179}}

One Spanish officer reflected<!-- when? -->, "an hour in Melilla, from the point of view of merit, was worth more than thirty years of service to Spain."<ref name="Rezette41">[[#Rezette|Rezette]], p. 41</ref>