How Did Morocco Become the First Country to Recognize the United States?

Although French support for American independence is well known, France was actually the second country to formally recognize the United States as independent. On December 20, 1777, a month and a half before France and the United States concluded their Treaty of Alliance, Sultan Muhammad III (also called Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh) of Morocco granted de facto recognition to American independence. In the 1770s Sultan Muhammad, an enterprising ruler, was looking for ways to expand...