Mentioned previously on a different thread, but figured this might merit a thread of its own, so here it is.
IOTL, Moroccan settlement of the current United States began with Estebanico Al Azemmouri (also called Estevanico), the first African to explore North America- a Muslim Moroccan of Gnawa descent, who participated in Pánfilo de Narváez's ill-fated expedition to colonize Florida and the Gulf Coast in 1527. IOTL, only Azemmouri and three of his comrades survived during the long and arduous 5,000 mile journey from Florida to Texas; finally encountering other Spaniards near Sinaloa, Mexico, in 1536, then travelling to Mexico City, arriving on July 25, 1536. He subsequently accompanied Marcos de Niza as a guide in his search of the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola ahead of Coronado, and according to Marcos de Niza's account, was reportedly killed along with the large group of Sonoran Indians who'd become his personal entourage when trying to make contact with the Zuni village of Hawikuh (though modern historians believe that the Zuni did not kill Estevanico, but rather he and his friends remained among the Pueblo peoples rather than returning to the Spanish and being enslaved once more, with the Sonorans helping him fake his death so he could regain his freedom, and official account of his demise providing the cassus-belli for the Tiguex War). And it's also worth mentioning that the first American Jew to serve in the Senate was David Levy Yulee, who was of Moroccan descent and served as Florida's first Senator from 1845 to 1851 and again 1855–1861; with the Moroccan American community having historically been most significant in Florida, and comprised predominantly of Sephardic Jews. Thinking about it though, the Jews' migration to America began with the Alhambra Decree by Spain's Catholic Monarchs, in 1492; but the Portuguese equivalent, issued in 1496 by Manuel I, was an edict of expulsion for both Jews and Muslims. But what if the Spanish issued an edict of expulsion for Muslims as well, forcibly exiling them to penal colonies in the New World?
After King Philip II directed Moriscos to give up their Arabic names and traditional dress, and prohibited the use of Arabic in 1567, there was a Morisco uprising in the Alpujarras from 1568 to 1571, and in the years from 1609 to 1614, the government expelled the Moriscos, with the historian Henri Lapeyre estimating that this affected 300,000 out of an estimated total of 8 million inhabitants, and some more recent estimates going up as high as one million. IOTL, the great majority of these were transported to North Africa, though at least 5% were sent over the Pyrenees Mountains to France (with the French then sending most of them off to the port of Agde). But what if they'd followed the suggestions of the Archbishop of Valencia, Juan de Ribera, who considered the Moriscos as universally heretics and traitors, and who played in instrumental role helping The Duke of Lerma (who'd made several early proposals to King Philip III to banish or otherwise end the Morisco problem, and even recommended genocide) to eventually convince King Philip III to expel the Moriscos in the first place? Not only in order to confiscate the assets and properties of the Moorish population, thereby providing a dramatic one-time boost to the royal coffers, but to also enslave all of the Moriscos for work in Spain's galleys, mines, and abroad, since he could do so "without any scruples of conscience" (as well as lobbying against the exemption from exile for Morisco children under the age of 4, which was later increased to the age of 16- with Ribera insisting that, at the very least, the children should be separated from their parents, enslaved, and Christianized "for the good of their souls")?
These proposals were rejected IOTL, but let's say that ITTL, they weren't; with a good portion of the Spanish Moriscos (let's say, 20-50%- at least 60,000, potentially up to 500,000) being enslaved, and shipped off to work on plantations in exile colonies in the New World, instead of being ferried to North Africa (with Florida having been being the most widely touted for this purpose, but with Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California also considered as distinct possibilities as well. How much of a lasting impact might this have had?
IOTL, Moroccan settlement of the current United States began with Estebanico Al Azemmouri (also called Estevanico), the first African to explore North America- a Muslim Moroccan of Gnawa descent, who participated in Pánfilo de Narváez's ill-fated expedition to colonize Florida and the Gulf Coast in 1527. IOTL, only Azemmouri and three of his comrades survived during the long and arduous 5,000 mile journey from Florida to Texas; finally encountering other Spaniards near Sinaloa, Mexico, in 1536, then travelling to Mexico City, arriving on July 25, 1536. He subsequently accompanied Marcos de Niza as a guide in his search of the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola ahead of Coronado, and according to Marcos de Niza's account, was reportedly killed along with the large group of Sonoran Indians who'd become his personal entourage when trying to make contact with the Zuni village of Hawikuh (though modern historians believe that the Zuni did not kill Estevanico, but rather he and his friends remained among the Pueblo peoples rather than returning to the Spanish and being enslaved once more, with the Sonorans helping him fake his death so he could regain his freedom, and official account of his demise providing the cassus-belli for the Tiguex War). And it's also worth mentioning that the first American Jew to serve in the Senate was David Levy Yulee, who was of Moroccan descent and served as Florida's first Senator from 1845 to 1851 and again 1855–1861; with the Moroccan American community having historically been most significant in Florida, and comprised predominantly of Sephardic Jews. Thinking about it though, the Jews' migration to America began with the Alhambra Decree by Spain's Catholic Monarchs, in 1492; but the Portuguese equivalent, issued in 1496 by Manuel I, was an edict of expulsion for both Jews and Muslims. But what if the Spanish issued an edict of expulsion for Muslims as well, forcibly exiling them to penal colonies in the New World?
After King Philip II directed Moriscos to give up their Arabic names and traditional dress, and prohibited the use of Arabic in 1567, there was a Morisco uprising in the Alpujarras from 1568 to 1571, and in the years from 1609 to 1614, the government expelled the Moriscos, with the historian Henri Lapeyre estimating that this affected 300,000 out of an estimated total of 8 million inhabitants, and some more recent estimates going up as high as one million. IOTL, the great majority of these were transported to North Africa, though at least 5% were sent over the Pyrenees Mountains to France (with the French then sending most of them off to the port of Agde). But what if they'd followed the suggestions of the Archbishop of Valencia, Juan de Ribera, who considered the Moriscos as universally heretics and traitors, and who played in instrumental role helping The Duke of Lerma (who'd made several early proposals to King Philip III to banish or otherwise end the Morisco problem, and even recommended genocide) to eventually convince King Philip III to expel the Moriscos in the first place? Not only in order to confiscate the assets and properties of the Moorish population, thereby providing a dramatic one-time boost to the royal coffers, but to also enslave all of the Moriscos for work in Spain's galleys, mines, and abroad, since he could do so "without any scruples of conscience" (as well as lobbying against the exemption from exile for Morisco children under the age of 4, which was later increased to the age of 16- with Ribera insisting that, at the very least, the children should be separated from their parents, enslaved, and Christianized "for the good of their souls")?
These proposals were rejected IOTL, but let's say that ITTL, they weren't; with a good portion of the Spanish Moriscos (let's say, 20-50%- at least 60,000, potentially up to 500,000) being enslaved, and shipped off to work on plantations in exile colonies in the New World, instead of being ferried to North Africa (with Florida having been being the most widely touted for this purpose, but with Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California also considered as distinct possibilities as well. How much of a lasting impact might this have had?