Samuel Pallache

Samuel Pallache (* around 1550 in Fes, † February 4, 1616 in The Hague) was a Moroccan businessman, diplomat, spy, double agent, Pirate and allegedly co-founded the first Jewish community of Amsterdam.

Life

Pallache Samuel was born around 1550 in Fes, the son of the Spanish -born Jewish rabbis Isaac Pallache. His family was probably fled in 1492 on the occasion of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain to Morocco. His ancestors should have acted in Cordoba as a rabbi. In Morocco, Jews as well as Christians, tolerated as long as they accepted Islam as the official religion. This allowed a vibrant Jewish community in Morocco act as a bridge between the Islamic, Christian and Jewish world.

After a Dutch delegation Morocco has visited to negotiate a joint alliance against Spain and the corsairs of the Barbary States, Sultan Zaydan appointed an Nasr 1608 the dealer Samuel Pallache to his envoy to be represent him in The Hague with the Dutch government. Officially, Pallache mediator, not ambassadors of the Sultan.

On June 23, 1608 Pallache met with governor Prince Maurice of Orange and the States General in The Hague to negotiate an alliance of mutual assistance against Spain. On 24 December 1610, the two nations signed a treaty of recognized the free flow of trade between the Netherlands and Morocco, and allowed the Sultan to acquire ships, weapons and ammunition from the Dutch. It was the first treaty between a European and a non- Christian state after the treaties of the Franco- Ottoman alliance of the 16th century.

Research has revealed that Pallache secretly working as a double agent. He had close ties with the Spanish court and sent secret information about the Dutch- Moroccan relations with the Spaniards. He also provided information about the Spaniards, the Dutch and Moroccan. When this became known eventually he lost the favor of the sultan.

In addition to his diplomatic duties, he continued working as a trader between the Netherlands and Morocco. He was also of Maurice of Orange empowered for privateering. The goods which he captured during these trips were sold along the Moroccan coast.

In 1614, he seized on a Portuguese ship and sailed so as not to get in a position the cargo on the coast of Morocco to the Netherlands. A severe storm forced him to seek refuge in an English port; there he was, by request of the Spanish ambassador, captured and imprisoned. Finally he Maurice of Orange came to the rescue and brought him back to the Netherlands. However, he lost all his money up to this point and was a short time later ill. On February 4, 1616, died in The Hague and was buried at the Jewish cemetery Beth Haim Sephardic in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel near Amsterdam. Maurice of Orange, with the Pallache well was in close contact, was present at the funeral.