A significant part of David Lopes’ scientific activity concerns historical and philological studies on North Africa and the Portuguese presence in Morocco, especially in the 15th to 17th centuries. His first work is entitled Textos em Aljamia portuguesa, Documentos para a Historia do domínio português em Safim extrahidos dos originais da Torre do Tombo (1897). The publication was included in the contributions of the Lisbon Geographical Society to the 400th anniversary of the discovery of India, copying the texts written in Arabic characters into Portuguese. This is of historical and philological interest as it allows the study of a local community linked to Portuguese activity and the phonetics of its oral and written expression. A few years later, when the Section historique du Maroc de Paris wanted to photograph these manuscripts, it was found that humidity had destroyed the lower part of the folios. David Lopes also prepared a new edition, with more extensive research, under the title Textos em Aljamia Portuguesa. Estudo filológico e histórico (1940).

Professor David Lopes’ personal relationship with Robert Ricard and Marcel Bataillon – two former French lecturers at the Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa [School of Arts and Humanities of Lisbon] at a time when France was the protectorate of Morocco (1912) and sought to learn about the country’s historical past – contributed to David Lopes’ dedication to this work until the end of his life. His main publications were Anais de Arzila, História de Arzila, his contribution to Les sources inédites de l’Histoire du Maroc and the series of articles Os Portugueses em Marrocos, included in História de Portugal, edited by Damião Peres, in volumes III and IV (1928). He had previously written the chapter “O domínio árabe” (The Arab rule) in the first volume of the same História de Portugal.

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