MACNIN

MACNIN (Cohen ben Maknin), Moroccan family of mogador which at the close of the 18th century was at first appointed "merchants of the sultan." MACʿŪD MACNIN (d. 1832) was sent to Europe in 1809 by Sultan Mulay Suleiman in order to acquire a large amount of military equipment for the defense of the Moroccan ports. In 1813 he arrived in London as minister plenipotentiary. From 1795 his brother MEIR (d. c. 1830) headed the important firm of Mogador, whose principal agencies were in Marseilles and London. From 1799 the latter agency was directed by his nephew Solomon Sebag, the father of the future Sir Joseph Sebag-Montefiore. From the beginning of his reign Mulay Abd al-Raḥmān (1822–59) granted Meir Macnin the exclusive right to export certain products and foodstuffs from Tetuán and tangier and opened on his behalf the port of Tit to the maritime commerce of cereals. The port of Mazagan was put under his authority. From 1823 the sultan named him as his representative and envoy to the Christian courts, with the right of appointing consuls wherever he found the necessity. In 1826 he left on a special mission to London, and in 1828 he was appointed minister plenipotentiary. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hirschberg, Afrikah, 2 (1965), 369; Miège, Maroc, 2 (1961), 40–41, and passim. (David Corcos)