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At the end of the second millenium BC, probably during the 10th century BC, the Phoenicians created trading posts on Moroccan Mediterranean coast, what made the Berbers evolve directly into Iron Age and thus skip Bronze Age.
The 6th c BC let the Carthaginians control Moroccan coasts before they were taken over by the Sicilians at the end of the 4th c BC. The Romans finally won the latter in 236 BC and started annexing northern Morocco after the collapse of Cartage in 146 BC.
And in 33 BC, Rome imposed its government on northern Morocco called Tingitanian Mauretania, took Tingis as its capital and annexed it completely in 42 AD. During the 2nd c AD, Rome occupied territories beyond Moroccan Sahara and from the 3rd c, the Berbers who were most Jewish began partially to embrace Christianity.
Later, in 704, the Arabs who had been Muslims since 622 entered Tangier and the Berber chiefs converted to Islam, then Tariq ibn Ziyad the Berber conquered Spain starting from Gibraltar in 709. Morocco became then a simple province of the Arab Empire but the northern Muslim Berbers revolted against Umayad caliphate and got autonomous.
South of the River Sebou, the Barghwatian founded in 744 a small independent state in western Morocco that practiced an altered Islam and lasted until the end of the 11th c. However, two small Islamic states took place on the Mediterranean coast: an Arab one that lasted in Nakour from 809 to 917 and a Berber one in Sebta (Ceuta) that vanished in 931.
The first real Moroccan State is nevertheless the Islamic one founded by Idriss the Alaouite who had escaped from Abbasside tyranny and had arrived in Oualili (Volubilis) in 788. His son Idriss II founded Fez in 808 and established in it. The Idrisside State grew rapidly and welcomed many waves of emigrants from Qortoba (Cordoba) and then from Kairaouan. Afterwards, they removed the Maghrawian from Tlemcen and advanced towards the south taking Shella at northern borders of the Barghwatian State and Nfis in the Souss. The Idrissides reigned this way over most Moroccan towns: Sebta, Aghmat, Sijilmassa, Tlemcen and Fez and so controlled the roads of gold. However, they had to fight many times against the Fatimides that came from the east and the Umayads that came from Andalucy, but their enemies united and the State faded away in 959.
In 976, the Maghrawian took Sijilmassa from the Fatimides and Fez in 987 from the Umayads and then controlled the region of Aghmat. The other Zenata tribes occupied Sale, Tlemcen and Oujda. The Idrissides stayed established south of the Barghwatian State and in cities-states like Sebta.
The Almoravides, nomads originating from the Saharan Sanhaja tribe, reigned from the 9th c over the Ghana, the Senegal and most of Niger; they controlled therefore the gold trade. They took Sijilmassa in 1053 and then the whole southern Morocco from Aghmat to Taroudant. And in 1062, Youssef ibn Tachfine founded Marrakech, which gathered all the trade, and made it its capital; later, in 1069, his armies took Fez. The Almoravides finished in 1080 unifying western and middle Maghreb, from the Atlantic Ocean to Algiers and from the Mediterranean Sea to the Sahara. They won afterwards the Zallaqa battle against the Christian Spaniards in 1086, and by taking Balensa (Valencia) in 1102 and Saraqosta (Sargasso) in 1110, they dominated Andalucy of which they took Ichbilia (Seville) as the capital. Their Empire had been well organized and their tax system attractive but the armies had no longer their former great military value.
The dynasty weakening began when the Christian Spaniards took Saraqosta from them in 1117 and went on with the advent of the Almohads from 1144.
In 1124, Ibn Toumart the Soussi Berber established in Tinmel and began teaching his Islam-inspired doctrine. The Almohads, his followers originating from the Berber Masmouda tribe, took Tlemcen in 1144, Fez a year later and Marrakech in 1146. The other Moroccan towns (in Northern Africa and in Andalucy) claimed their submission ones after the others and the Almohads finally occupied all the Almoravide territories in 1151. The same year, Abd Al Mou'min (Abdelmoumen) advanced with his armies towards the east of Maghreb.
In 1158, the Almohads finished what the Almoravides had started: the unification of the Maghreb, from the Atlantic Ocean to Tripoli; their Empire had been better organized and they had important and powerful armies and navy and a strong unit of money. They controlled therefore the access to the Mediterranean Sea, on which they had great influence, and governed Western and Northern Africa and Andalucy.
However, the links between the Dynasty established in Marrakech and the provinces of Andalucy, and then of Eastern Maghreb, slackened increasingly. The east of the Empire fell first under the control of the Abbassides from 1203; but the defeat in the battle of Al Uqab against Christian Spaniards in 1212 destabilized the Dynasty that lost Andalucy in 1230. The Maghreb fragmented progressively due to many adversaries and the Almohad Empire collapsed in 1269.
Years before the fall of the last Almohad fortress, the Merinides originating from the Sahara took Fez in 1216, Meknes in 1238 and Marrakech in 1269, then Sijilmassa fell in 1274. The Merinides won several battles in Andalucy from 1275 and secured the Kingdom of Gharnata (Granada) from which they, however, disengaged in 1291. The Merinide Kingdom widened as far as Algiers from 1295 but Tlemcen resisted; Sebta was recovered in 1309, Algesiras from 1333 to 1344 and Tlemcen finally gave up in 1337. The Kingdom even widened further to Tunis for a short period.
During half a century, the Kingdom had been attacked from the north by the Portuguese, the Spaniards and Genoa armies and from the east by the Hafsides and their allies; it therefore experienced many divisions and then reunions, and many wins and defeats.
In 1420, the Wattassides, a Zenata tribe, imposed their regency on the Merinide sultan and occupied the north of Morocco in 1471. During their reign, the Wattassides had lost the whole Eastern and Southern Maghreb and many coastal towns had been taken over by the Portuguese especially after the collapse of Gharnata in 1494. The Dynasty faded away in 1550.
From 1635, the Alaouites that are cousins of the Saadians conquered and finally reunified present Morocco in 1671. Sultan Ismaïl (1672-1727) established its capital in Meknes and formed powerful and organized armies with Sudanese slaves and their descendants. Afterwards, Mohamed III (1757-1790) modernized the country (government, administration, decentralization, diplomacy, foreign affairs, foreign trade) and recognized first the nascent United States of America. Though he freed Mazagan, he failed to recover Mellilia from the Spaniards as his heir failed with Sebta and the Portuguese.
During the 19th c, Morocco sustained much outside pressure, especially that exerted by France after occupying Algeria; sultan Abderrahman then strongly supported emir Abdelkader in its resistance movement. Taking refuge frequently in Morocco from 1843, the emir provoked French military interventions; what made the sultan sign, in 1845, the Lalla Maghnia convention that stated imprecise boundaries indeed between Algeria and Morocco.
In the second half of the century, France and then the United Kingdom and Spain exerted military and economic influence that allowed them to interfere in the Dynasty's trade and next in its politics, notably because of the Madrid conference in 1880.
During its protectorate, France made first Morocco get more in debts that killed progressively its economy. It imposed many reforms that aimed mainly at weakening the impact of Islam on the Moroccan, especially the Berbers (Berber Dahir (law) in 1930) and rural communities, through removing or diminishing the Islamic laws for which they substituted the French ones, or still by arguing that it was anti-democratic. That caused Islam being assimilated into local, and in fact pagan, rites; the populations strayed increasingly from the teachings of Islam and therefore from speaking Arabic. For the same purpose, the Muslim schools were closed or abandoned, so the children were most uneducated. The agricultural and "habous" (of which the profits are reserved by their owner for socio-Islamic uses) lands were requisitioned and then shared among occupiers, and phosphates were exploited through the "Office Chérifien de Phosphates" (Phosphates Agency). And in order to satisfy expansionism needs, France modernized the infrastructure and Morocco was in works during the first half of the 20th c. The protectorate intended to create two different classes: a middle but submissive one in the towns with few taxes; and a poor, revolted and uneducated one in the countryside and in the Sahara, that was heavily taxed.
Meanwhile, neither large-scale popular revolts nor small-scale ones had stopped. In 1912, Sahara tribes led by Hiba ben Maa Al Aynayn rose up; their fight lasted until 1934. Northwards, Abdelkrim led the Berbers of the Rif to revolt against the Spaniards, beginning with the battle of Anoual in 1921; the so-called "War of the Rif" was violent and fierce, but nevertheless France allied itself to Spain to win it finally in 1926.
Thanks to these revolts, that all took place in remote areas, and to the promulgation of the Berber Dahir by France, citizens got aware of the reality of occupation. Therefore, from 1930, Moroccan intellectuals and the élite of the country, who were most graduated from French schools or from the University Al Qarawiyyin at Fez, gave birth to riots among town-dwellers, especially small shopkeepers and artisans.
The fight was yet a political one: in 1927, a nationalist press appeared but only in French, since the Arabic one was prohibited. The same year, Mohamed V, then aged 18 was enthroned; he forcefully supported popular resistance. Later, in 1934, Allal Al Fassi, Mohamed Ouazzani and Ahmed Balafrej founded the Moroccan Action Party and demanded that France respected the agreement of Fez. Moreover, they presented global reform measures: local and regional elections, Chambers of Commerce, liberties, tax equality for countrymen... However, the Action party split in 1937 into the Istiqlal (independence) Party and the Popular Movement Party, that were both forbidden and their leaders, Al Fassi and Ouazzani, exiled, the former to Gabon and the latter to Sahara. From then, the nationalists' ranks kept on growing, and they claimed independence and not only reform.
During the World War II, the Moroccan fought in Europe in return for the Allies promises; they next obtained the American support in the Anfa conference in 1943. Therefore, sultan Mohamed V showed his support for the independence movement that was even more important. The Independence Manifesto was presented to the "general resident" on January 11 1944 and claimed no-condition independence and Morocco territorial integrity. Then on April 9 1947, sultan Mohamed V delivered his historical speech in Tangier, which marked the revival of resistance to foreign occupation.
In 1951, France made Glaoui, the pasha of Marrakech, turn against the sultan. As conflicts between Moroccan sultan and France increased, Mohamed V was deposed on August 20 1953 and exiled with the royal family to Corsica and then to Madagascar, before the "general resident" imposed Ben Arafa: it was the beginning of the "Revolution of the King and the People".
In 1961, Mohammed V died and his son, Hassan II, succeeded. He began all-levels reform, especially a constitutional one, and instituted a bicameral system that failed, making the legislative power under him for few years. And from the beginning, the king led an active diplomacy indeed.
During the 60s, Morocco was in a socio-economic crisis that slowly passed away; opposition to the government kept on growing, mainly that from independence parties (notably the Istiqlal and then the National Union of Popular Forces). However, the country lived then a political pluralism and a nascent democracy, that had been yet developed in comparison with like countries. A crisis between France and Morocco arose when Mehdi Ben Barka, founder and the UNFP secretary, exiled in France and then sentenced to death, disappeared in Paris in 1965.
The liberation of the still occupied areas continued. From 1963, Morocco intervened in independent Algeria, using first diplomacy and then its armies, to recover its eastern territories, notably Tlemcen and Tindouf. But socialists ruling Algeria refused, fought and kept the Moroccan territories formerly taken over by French Algeria, forgetting the promises their predecessors had made. Finally, in 1969, Ifni territory was freed from the Spaniards and reintegrated Morocco.
King Hassan II escaped two attacks in 1970 and 1971, which were prepared by the military who intended to overthrow the government. In 1973, some Saharan Moroccan created the front Polisario in Marrakech, aiming to free the Moroccan Sahara, or so-called Western Sahara, from the Spaniards. Next, in 1975, King Hassan II called for the "Green March": on November 6,
The 80s were strengthening of the union between national forces. However, the country was being affected by drought, what caused social demonstrations quickly strangled by authorities. Morocco was led therefore to make a Structural Adjustment Program, which lasted 10 years and increased poverty but nevertheless strengthened the economy. During the SAP, human rights are ignored and civil liberties violated meanwhile the number of prisoners of conscience kept on rising and many political leaders exiled.
In 1988, Hassan II suggested to hold an auto-determination referendum on the Sahara, which was approved by the UNO and the AUO and then by the Polisario who agreed to the cease-fire. And in order to reunify the Maghreb, the king proposed an Arab Maghreb Union, which was established in February 1989 in Marrakech between Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania.
In the century last decade, Morocco finished with its SAP and King Hassan II instituted the Advisory Council for Human Rights and then the National Council for Youth and the Future. The media obtained more liberty, the prisoners of conscience were freed (destruction of Tazmamart prison camp), the constitution of 1972 was amended by referendum in 1992 and general elections were hold in 1993.
Meanwhile, the infrastructure was modernized and governments began supplying the countryside with electricity and drinkable water, and then educating rural children.
From 1994, Morocco was continuously being in works since it needed liberalization and a lot of necessary reforms that were expansive. The Golf War weakened tourism that got even worse with the attack of Marrakech in 1995, after which the Algerians were denied access to Morocco. The civil society woke up thanks to the Non-Governmental Organizations, of which the number rapidly rose, that acted in many fields (human rights, education, economy, corruption, society...). The media obtained full liberty and political parties abounded, a bilingual and quality press developed, with even newspapers and magazines in English or Spanish, and a middle class emerged.
The governments that succeeded until 1997 reviewed laws and strengthened bilateral relationship with Europe and the USA, and started on privatization.
Thanks to the constitutional reform of 1996, general elections were hold in September 1997 and the opposition won the majority of seats in Parliament, which became again bicameral. In the beginning of 1998, a socialist government was constituted, led by the old parties of Istiqlal and the SUPF, formerly the NUPF.
The socialists pursued the reforms initiated by previous governments and modernized the justice. As a sign of progress, King Hassan II declared amnesty for nearly 400 prisoners of conscience, many of them being Islamists, and the government in collaboration with human rights NGO divulged the old missing prisoners.
Nowadays, Moroccan society is advancing more and more, even though regional or social disparities will never completely disappear. However, the country is developing rapidly at all aspects: cultural, technological or human ones.
To know more about Morocco, visit my helpful links on my country.
Antiquity | Middle Ages and Islam | Modern Morocco | Protectorate | Independant Morocco
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This page was last updated on Wednesday March 31 1999 at 7:15 GMT