The First Friend

The year was 1777. The American Revolution was not going well. The Continental Army was losing battles, losing soldiers, losing hope. No nation on earth recognized the United States as a country. To the world's powers, the rebels were just that — rebels, soon to be crushed.

Then a letter arrived from Africa.

Sultan Mohammed III of Morocco had declared that American merchant ships could enter Moroccan ports under the protection of the Sultanate. He didn't ask permission. He didn't wait for diplomats. He simply announced that Morocco recognized the new nation.

It was the first recognition the United States ever received from any country in the world.

Why Morocco? The Sultan was a pragmatist. He wanted to break European monopolies on Atlantic trade. American ships, flying a flag no one recognized, were being captured as pirates — and Morocco's ports could offer them safe harbor in exchange for commerce. It was business. But it was also a bet on the future.

The relationship was formalized in 1786 with the Treaty of Marrakech, negotiated by Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. The document — written in Arabic, with English translation — established "firm and perpetual Peace and Friendship" between the two nations.

That treaty has never been broken. It has never been renegotiated. It remains in force today, making the Moroccan-American alliance the longest unbroken treaty relationship in United States history.

The original document is preserved in the National Archives in Washington. The building where it was negotiated still stands in Marrakech. And every American ambassador to Morocco presents their credentials with a nod to 1777 — the year when a Sultan on the edge of the Sahara looked across the Atlantic and saw something worth believing in.