France–Africa relations participant France
Morocco
In 1533, Francis I sent as ambassador to Morocco, colonel Pierre de Piton, thus initiating official France-Morocco relations. In a letter to Francis I dated August 13, 1533, the Wattassid ruler of Fes, Ahmed ben Mohammed, welcomed French overtures and granted freedom of shipping and protection of French traders.
France started to send ships to Morocco in 1555, under the rule of Henry II, son of Francis I. France established a Consul in Fez, Morocco, as early as 1577, in the person of Guillaume Bérard, and was the first European country to do so. He was succeeded by Arnoult de Lisle and then Étienne Hubert d'Orléans in the position of physician and representative of France at the side of the Sultan. These contacts with France occurred during the landmark rules of Abd al-Malik and his successor, Moulay Ahmad al-Mansur.
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