COTRUGLI Business Museum

Museum / Lives / Jacob Rosales

No. 5489 · dated by century

Jacob Rosales

late 15th – early 16th centuryMerchant and shipownerEurope · c. 1550Most named place: Portugal (approximate)
MerchantShip-ownerRoom: Features of Jewish Community in EconomyRoom: Africa in precolonial period

Jacob Rosales was a Moroccan merchant and shipowner. He was born in Portugal and went to Fez, Morocco, after the expulsion of the Jews from Portugal in 1497. He imported textiles, spices, and resins from India for varnish, mainly to Larache and Sale-Rabat, the large port of the Kingdom of Fez.

The court of Fez benefited from Rosales’ commercial affairs and when Moulay Ahmad dethroned his uncle Moulay Ali ben-Hassan and assumed the sultanate at Fez, he chose Rosales as his confidant. Rosales was entrusted with political relations with the Christian world and was sent officially to Portugal in 1529. As a respected trader and diplomat, Rosales maintained good relations with the court of John III of Portugal (r. 1521 – 1557). He also appears to have been the initiator of diplomatic relations between Morocco and France.

More in Features of Jewish Community in Economy

ABAbraham Benwaish16th–17th centuriesASAbraham Shmoilovich16th centuryAUAbraham Usque1550ARAffras Rachmaelovich16th centuryBMBenjamin b. Mattithiah16th centuryDSDavid Sacerdote1550–1625

All 279 lives in this room