Morocco

History

• Pre-History

  Archaeological excavations have demonstrated the presence of people in Morocco that was ancestral to Homo sapiens, as well as the presence of early human species. The fossilized bones of a 400,000-year-old early human ancestor were discovered in Salé in 1971. The bones of several very early Homo sapiens were excavated at Jebel Irhoud in 1991, these were dated using modern techniques in 2017 and found to be at least 300,000 years old, making them the oldest examples of Homo Sapiens discovered anywhere in the world. In 2007, small perforated seashell beads were discovered in Taforalt that are 82,000 years old, making them the earliest known evidence of personal adornment found anywhere in the world.

  The coastal regions of present-day Morocco shared in an early Neolithic culture that was common to the whole Mediterranean littoral. Archaeological remains point to the domestication of cattle and the cultivation of crops in the region during that period. Eight thousand years ago, south of the great mountain ranges in what is now the Sahara Desert, a vast savanna supported Neolithic hunters and herders whose culture flourished until the region began to desiccate as a result of climatic changes after 4000 B.C. The Berbers entered Moroccan history toward the end of the second millennium B. C.. when they made initial contact with oasis dwellers on the steppe who may have been the remnants of the earlier savanna people.

  The arrival of Phoenicians on the Moroccan coast heralded many centuries of rule by foreign powers in the north of Morocco. Phoenician traders penetrated the western Mediterranean before the 8th century BC, and soon after set up depots for salt and ore along the coast and up the rivers of the territory of present-day Morocco. Major early settlements of the Phoenicians included those at Chellah, Lixus and Mogador. Mogador is known to have been a Phoenician colony by the early 6th century BC.

  Phoenician traders, who had penetrated the western Mediterranean before the twelfth century B.C., set up depots for salt and ore along the coast and up the rivers of the territory that is now Morocco. Later, Carthage developed commercial relations with the Berber tribes of the interior and paid them an annual tribute to ensure their cooperation in the exploitation of raw materials. By the fifth century B.C., Carthage had extended its hegemony across much of North Africa. By the second century B.C., several large, although loosely administered, Berber kingdoms had emerged. The Berber kings ruled in the shadow of Carthage and Rome, often as satellites.

  After the fall of Carthage, the area was annexed to the Roman Empire in A.D. 40. Rome controlled the vast, ill-defined territory through alliances with the tribes rather than through military occupation, expanding its authority only to those areas that were economically useful or that could be defended without additional manpower. Hence, Roman administration never extended outside the restricted area of the coastal plain and valleys. Christianity was introduced in the second century and gained converts in the towns and among slaves and Berber farmers. By the end of the fourth century, the Romanized areas had been Christianized, and inroads had been made as well among the Berber tribes, who sometimes converted en masse. But schismatic and heretical movements also developed, usually as forms of political protest. The area had a substantial Jewish population as well.

• The Spread of Islam

  Islamic influence began in Morocco in the seventh century A.D. Arab conquerors converted the indigenous Berber population to Islam, but Berber tribes retained their customary laws. The Arabs abhorred the Berbers as barbarians, while the Berbers often saw the Arabs as only an arrogant and brutal soldiery bent on collecting taxes. In 740 AD, spurred on by puritanical Kharijite agitators, the native Berber population revolted against the ruling Ummayad Caliphate. The rebellion began among the Berber tribes of western Morocco and spread quickly across the region. Although the insurrection petered out in 742 AD before it reached the gates of Kairouan, neither the Umayyad rulers in Damascus nor their Abbasid successors managed to re-impose their rule on the areas west of Ifriqiya.

  The Barghawatas were a confederation of Berber groups inhabiting the Atlantic coast of Morocco, who belonged to the Masmuda Berber tribal division. After allying with the Sufri Kharijite rebellion in Morocco against the Umayyads, they established an independent state (CE 744 – 1058) in the area of Tamesna on the Atlantic coast between Safi and Salé under the leadership of Tarif al-Matahari. Once established as Muslims, the Berbers shaped Islam in their own image and embraced schismatic Muslim sects, which, in many cases, were simply folk religion barely disguised as Islam, as their way of breaking from Arab control.

  The eleventh and twelfth centuries witnessed the founding of several great Berber dynasties led by religious reformers and each based on a tribal confederation that dominated the Maghrib (also seen as the Maghreb; refers to North Africa west of Egypt) and Spain for more than 200 years. The Berber dynasties (Almoravids, Almohads, and Merinids) gave the Berber people some measure of collective identity and political unity under a native regime for the first time in their history, and they created the idea of an “imperial Maghrib” under Berber aegis that survived in some form from dynasty to dynasty. But ultimately each of the Berber dynasties proved to be a political failure because none managed to create an integrated society out of a social landscape dominated by tribes that prized their autonomy and individual identity.

  In 1559 the region fell to successive Arab tribes claiming descent from the Prophet Muhammad: first the Saads, who ruled for about 100 years, and then the Alawis, who founded a dynasty that has remained in power since the seventeenth century. Despite the weakness of its authority, the Alawite dynasty distinguished itself in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by maintaining Morocco’s independence while other states in the region succumbed to Turkish, French, or British domination. However, in the latter part of the nineteenth century, Morocco’s weakness and instability invited European intervention to protect threatened investments and to demand economic concessions. The first years of the twentieth century witnessed a rush of diplomatic maneuvering through which the European powers and France, in particular, furthered their interests in North Africa.

• Berber dynasties

  Morocco was at its most powerful under a series of Berber dynasties, which rose to power south of the Atlas Mountains and expanded their rule northward, replacing local rulers. The 11th and 12th centuries witnessed the founding of several significant Berber dynasties led by religious reformers, each dynasty based on a tribal confederation that dominated the Maghreb and Al-Andalus for more than 200 years. The Berber dynasties of the (Almoravids, Almohads, Marinids, and Wattasids gave the Berber people some measure of collective identity and political unity under a native regime for the first time in their history. The dynasties created the idea of an “imperial Maghreb” under Berber aegis, an idea that survived in some form from another.

  With the decline of the local Berber dynasties in the 15th and 16th centuries, the valuable coastal strip of North Africa (known because of the Berbers as the Barbary coast) attracts the attention of the two most powerful Mediterranean states of the time – Spain in the west, Turkey in the east. The Spanish-Turkish rivalry lasts for much of the 16th century, but it is gradually won – in a somewhat unorthodox manner – by the Turks. Their successful device is to allow Turkish pirates, or corsairs, to establish themselves along the coast. The territories seized by the corsairs are then given a formal status as protectorates of the Ottoman empire.

  The first such pirate establishes himself on the coast of Algeria in 1512. Two others are firmly based in Libya by 1551. Tunisia is briefly taken in 1534 by the most famous corsair of them all, Khair ed-Din (known to the Europeans as Barbarossa). Recovered for Spain in 1535, Tunisia is finally brought under Ottoman control in 1574. Piracy remains the chief purpose and main source of income of all these Turkish settlements along the Barbary coast. And the depredations of piracy, after three centuries, at last, prompt French intervention in Algeria. 

  This, at any rate, as stated by the French at the time to be the cause of their intervention. The reality is somewhat less glorious. Beginning in 1549, the region was ruled by successive Arab dynasties known as the Sharifian dynasties, who claimed descent from the prophet Muhammad. The first of these policies was the Saadi dynasty, which ruled Morocco from 1549 to 1659. From 1509 to 1549, the Saadi rulers had control of only the southern areas. While still recognizing the Wattasids as Sultans until 1528, Saadian’s growing power led the Wattasids to attack them and, after an indecisive battle, to recognize their rule over southern Morocco through the Treaty of Tadla. In 1659, Mohammed al-Hajj ibn Abu Bakr al-Dila’i, the head of the Zaouia of Dila, was proclaimed sultan of Morocco after the fall of the Saadi dynasty.

  Alaouite dynasty

  The Alaouite dynasty is the current Moroccan royal family. The name Alaouite comes from the ‘Alī of ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib , whose descendant Sharif ibn Ali became Prince of Tafilalt in 1631. His son Mulay Al-Rashid (1664–1672) was able to unite and pacify the country. The Alaouite family claim descent from Muhammad through his daughter Fāṭimah az-Zahrah and her husband ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib. The kingdom was consolidated by Ismail Ibn Sharif (1672–1727), who began to create a unified state in the face of opposition from local tribes.

• The Arrival of European 

  The successful Portuguese efforts to control the Atlantic coast in the 15th century did not affect the interior of Morocco. After the Napoleonic Wars, North Africa became increasingly ungovernable from Istanbul by the Ottoman Empire. As a result, it became the resort of pirates under local beys. The Maghreb also had far greater known wealth than the rest of Africa, and its location near the entrance to the Mediterranean gave it strategic importance. France showed a strong interest in Morocco as early as 1830. The Alaouite dynasty succeeded in maintaining the independence of Morocco in the 18th and 19th centuries, while other states in the region succumbed to Ottoman, French, or British domination. In the latter part of the 19th century, Morocco’s instability resulted in European countries intervening to protect investments and to demand economic concessions. The first years of the 20th century saw major diplomatic efforts by European powers, especially France, to further its interests in the region.

  In the 1890s, the French administration and military in Algiers called for the annexation of the Touat, the Gourara, and the Tidikelt, a complex that had been part of the Moroccan Empire for many centuries prior to the arrival of the French in Algeria. An armed conflict opposed French 19th Corps Oran and Algiers divisions to the Aït Khabbash, a fraction of the Aït Ounbgui khams of the Aït Atta confederation. The conflict ended by the annexation of the Touat-Gourara-Tidikelt complex by France in 1901.

  In 1900 France and Italy make a secret agreement assigning Morocco to France and Libya to Italy. In 1902 a similar arrangement between France and Spain provides for the proposed division between them of Moroccan territory. In 1904 France and Britain make a pact: Britain will allow France freedom of action in Morocco (provided that the coast opposite Gibraltar is not fortified) in return for France’s acceptance of Britain’s role in Egypt. The colonial consensus, amicably agreed between France, Italy, Spain and Britain, is rudely interrupted in 1905 when the German emperor William II makes a flamboyant and provocative visit to Tangier, Morocco’s most international city. Ostensibly visiting the local community of German merchants, he uses the occasion to emphasize that Morocco’s independence must be maintained.

  At a conference held in Algeciras, Spain, in 1906, 12 European nations and the United States reaffirmed their respect for Moroccan independence. The protocols of the Algeciras Conference provided that every nation would have equal access to Morocco, but they could not alter the reality that the international community had sanctioned the preeminence of French influence there. In the first decade of the twentieth century, French forces progressively occupied Morocco, and the 1912 Treaty of Fès turned most of Morocco into a French protectorate. Spain was given control of pieces of Morocco in the far north and south and of the Spanish Sahara (now Western Sahara). Tangier received special international status. From a strictly legal point of view, the treaty did not deprive Morocco of its status as a sovereign state. Theoretically, the sultan remained the sole source of sovereignty. He reigned, but he did not rule.

  The French and Spanish colonial administrations, reinforced by an influx of about half a million Europeans (many with useful specialist skills), make considerable material progress in fields such as transport, education, and health. But there is constant resistance to foreign rule – most notably, in the early stages, in the five-year rebellion of Abd-el-Krim. Abd-el-Krim wins a sensational victory at Annual, in 1921, over a Spanish army of 20,000. Thereafter he wins control of the Rif (the mountainous coastal area from Tetouan to Melilla) until his final defeat in 1926 by a massive joint French and Spanish force, numbering some 250,000 men.

• The Rise of Nationalism

  Moroccan nationalism first arose in the 1920s. In December 1934, a small group of nationalists—members of the newly formed Moroccan Action Committee (Comité d’Action Marocaine—CAM)—proposed a Plan of Reforms that called for a return to indirect rule as envisaged by the Treaty of Fès, admission of Moroccans to government positions, and establishment of representative councils. The moderate tactics used by the CAM to obtain consideration of reform—petitions, newspaper editorials, and personal appeals to French officials—proved inadequate, and the tensions created in the CAM by the failure of the plan caused it to split. The rump CAM was reconstituted as a nationalist political party to gain mass support for more radical demands, but the French suppressed the party in 1937.

  During World War II, the badly divided nationalist movement became more cohesive and informed Moroccans dared to consider the real possibility of political change in the postwar era. In 1944 the Istiqlal (Independence) party is formed, with the sultan of Morocco (now Muhammad V) giving tacit support. In January 1944, the Moroccan Istiqlal Independence) Party released a manifesto demanding full independence, national reunification, and a democratic constitution. The sultan had approved the manifesto before its submission to the French resident general, who answered that no basic change in the protectorate status was being considered.

  In December 1952, a riot broke out in Casablanca over the murder of a Tunisian labor leader; France attempts decisive action against the independence movement. The Istiqlal leaders are arrested. In 1953 the sultan is deposed and sent into exile. This event marked a watershed in relations between Moroccan political parties and French authorities. In the aftermath of the rioting, the residency outlawed the new Moroccan Communist Party and the Istiqlal. In 1953 France exiled the popular Sultan Mohammed V to Madagascar. Mohammed V’s deposition enraged not only the nationalists but also all those who recognized the sultan as the religious leader of the country.

  The result is an immediate increase in terrorism, followed by an armed uprising in 1955. This happens to coincide with the onset of France’s greater crisis in Algeria, a colony with a much higher population of French settlers. In the circumstances the French government caves in rapidly. Muhammad V is brought back from exile, and in November 1955 the French government accepts the principle of independence for Morocco. It comes into effect in March 1956, to be followed a month later by the same status for Spanish Morocco. In November agreement is reached to end the international status of Tangier, which by 1960 is fully integrated with the rest of the nation. Morocco is back to its pre-colonial borders and is ruled still by its pre-colonial dynasty.

• Independent Morocco

  After Mohammed V successfully negotiated the gradual restoration of Moroccan independence within a framework of French-Moroccan interdependence. The sultan agreed to institute reforms that would transform Morocco into a constitutional monarchy with a democratic form of government. In February 1956, Morocco acquired limited home rule. Further negotiations for full independence culminated in the French-Moroccan Agreement signed in Paris on March 2, 1956. The abolition of the Spanish protectorate and the recognition of Moroccan independence by Spain were negotiated separately and made final in the Joint Declaration of April 1956. Later that year, Morocco regained control over Tangier.

  In the months that followed independence, Mohammed V proceeded to build a modern governmental structure under a constitutional monarchy in which the sultan would exercise an active political role. He acted cautiously, having no intention of permitting more radical elements in the nationalist movement to overthrow the established order. He was also intent on preventing the Istiqlal from consolidating its control and establishing a single-party state. In August 1957, Mohammed V assumed the title of king.

  Reign of Hassan II

  Following Mohammed V’s sudden death in 1961 from complications after surgery, his 31-year-old son Mulay Hassan assumed power as King Hassan II. The new king took personal control of the government as prime minister and named a new cabinet. Aided by an advisory council, he drew up a new constitution, which was approved overwhelmingly in a December 1962 referendum. Under its provisions, the king remained the central figure in the executive branch of the government, but legislative power was vested in a bicameral parliament, and an independent judiciary was guaranteed. 

  In May 1963, legislative elections took place for the first time, and the royalist coalition secured a small plurality of seats. However, following a period of political upheaval, in June 1965 Hassan II assumed full legislative and executive powers under a “state of exception,” which remained in effect until 1970. Subsequently, a reform constitution was approved, restoring limited parliamentary government, and new elections were held. However, dissent remained, revolving around complaints of widespread corruption and malfeasance in government. In July 1971 and again in August 1972, the regime was challenged by two attempted military coups. The atmosphere in the country remained tense.

  Despite serious domestic turmoil, the patriotism engendered by Morocco’s participation in the Middle East conflict and by the events in Western Sahara contributed to Hassan’s popularity and strengthened his hand politically. The king had dispatched Moroccan troops to the Sinai front after the outbreak of Arab-Israeli War in October 1973. Although they arrived too late to engage in hostilities, the action won Morocco goodwill among other Arab states. Shortly thereafter, the attention of the government turned to the acquisition of Western Sahara from Spain, an issue on which all major parties agreed.

• Western Sahara

  Spain colonized Western Sahara at a time when Africa was being divided into spheres of influence by the major European powers; it was the only Spanish colony on the African continent. The Popular Front for the Liberation of the Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro, known as POLISARIO, declared Western Saharan independence in 1970 but Spain resisted. Four years later, the POLISARIO mustered a force composed predominately of native Saharans supported by Algeria and declared war using guerrilla tactics.

  By 1975, the Spanish relinquished control of Western Sahara. In 1975, the United Nations International Court of Justice refuted Moroccan and Mauritanian territorial claims and stated that the Saharans had a right to self-determination. Mauritania rescinded claims, but Morocco cited traditional loyalties of the Saharan elders to the Moroccan monarchy as grounds for maintaining control of the area. United Nations action caused a massive migration of Moroccans into the territory known as the “Green March” and later provoked an invasion by Moroccan forces. By 1978, Mauritania withdrew its military forces, but fighting continued between the POLISARIO and Moroccan forces.

  The POLISARIO formed the Saharan Democratic Arab Republic (SADR) in the early 1980s but has received little international recognition; its recognition by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1984 caused Morocco to withdraw its membership from the organization.
  In 1991, United Nations efforts brought a cease-fire. The SADR and Morocco agreed to monitor by the United Nations Mission for Organization of a Referendum (MINURSO). MINURSO initiated an Identification Commission in May 1993 to identify eligible voters in the SADR. The POLISARIO requested use of a 1974 Spanish-sponsored census to tabulate a voter list. This census did not include the thousands of Moroccans in the SADR, and Morocco contested the census’ use. The identification process has progressed and stalled since its inception and remains a source of tension between Morocco and the SADR.

  Accompanying efforts by MINURSO to reach an agreement over Western Sahara, King Mohammed also seeks to relieve the status of the poor. By addressing some of the human rights abuses that alleged under his father’s reign, he stands to extend his popularity into the disputed territory. He replaced the ineffective police with the army in Western Sahara. The king also officially welcomed the previous regime’s most famous political opponent, Abraham Serfaty; after 18 years in prison and exile in France, Serfaty was authorized to re-enter Morocco. In November 1999, he fired Interior Minister Driss Basri, an individual notorious for human rights abuses the previous 25 years. Despite these improvements, the voter eligibility issue continues in Western Sahara.