Murad III was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1574 until his death in 1595. His rule saw battles with the Habsburgs and exhausting wars with the Safavids. The long-independent Morocco was for a time made a vassal of the empire but regained independence in 1582. His reign also saw the empire's expanding influence on the eastern coast of Africa. However, the empire was beset by increasing corruption and inflation from the New World which led to unrest among the Janissary and commoners. Relations with Elizabethan England were cemented during his reign as both had a common enemy in the Spanish. He was also a great patron of the arts, commissioning the Siyer-i-Nebi and other illustrated manuscripts.
Life-size portrait, attributed to a Spanish artist, 17th century
Miniature painting of a parade of two riding Gazi (veterans from Rumelia) in front of Sultan Murat III (from the Surname-i hümayun, 16th century)
The Saadi Sultanate, also known as the Sharifian Sultanate, was a state which ruled present-day Morocco and parts of West Africa in the 16th and 17th centuries. It was led by the Saadi dynasty, also known as the Zaydanids, an Arab Sharifian dynasty from southern Morocco.
Extent of the Saadian empire at the beginning of the 17th century
The Zawiya and mausoleum of Al-Jazuli today, founded in Marrakesh after Ahmad al-Araj moved Al-Jazuli's body here around 1524
The Bab Doukkala Mosque, built between 1557 and 1571 with the sponsorship of Lalla Mas'uda, during the reign of Moulay Abdallah al-Ghalib
Portuguese depiction of the corpse of King Sebastian I before Ahmad al-Mansur, Caetano Moreira de Costa Lima, 1886