Morocco

A

Early History

The first of the invaders well known to history were the Phoenicians (see Phoenicia), who in the 12th century bc established trading posts on the Mediterranean coast of the region. They founded a settlement known as Rusaddir, now modern Melilla. The Phoenician colonies in North Africa were later taken over and extended by the Carthaginians (see Carthage). The Carthaginians founded towns on the Atlantic coast at Tangier, Larache, and as far south as Essaouira. Carthaginian inscriptions have been found at Volubilis, the Roman capital of western North Africa, near Meknès.

The conquest of Carthage by Rome, in the 2nd century bc, led to Roman dominance of the Mediterranean coast of Africa. About ad 42 the northern portion of what is now Morocco was incorporated into the Roman Empire as the province of Mauretania Tingitana. Tingis was the name of the town that became Tangier. In the Germanic invasions that attended the decline of the Roman Empire, the Vandals in 429 occupied Mauretania Tingitana. The Byzantine general Belisarius defeated the Vandals in 533 and established Byzantine rule in parts of the country.

B

Muslim Conquest

Byzantine rule was ended by the Arabs, who invaded Morocco in 682 in the course of their drive to expand the power of Islam. Except for the Jews, the inhabitants of Morocco, both Christian and pagan, soon accepted the religion of their conquerors. Berber troops were used extensively by the Arabs in their conquest of Spain, which began in 711.

The first Arab rulers of the whole of Morocco, the Idrisid dynasty, held power from 789 to 926. The dynasty was named after Idris I, a refugee from the east who was the great-great-grandson of Fatima, daughter of the prophet Muhammad. In 793 Idris died—poisoned, it is said, by an emissary of the Abassid caliph Harun ar-Rashid, from whose usurpation he had fled. Idris I was succeeded by his son, Idris II, who made Fès his capital. This city was to become a center of Islamic and Arab culture throughout the centuries, thanks largely to the settlement there in the 9th century of two large contingents of refugees—one from Kairouan (present-day Al Qayrawān)in Tunisia, the other from Córdoba, cities that were the centers of Muslim civilization in Africa and Spain respectively. The Idrisid dynasty thus gave Morocco a capital, a tradition, and its patron saints in the two founders, Idris I and II.

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C

Almoravids, Almohads, and Merinids

The Idrisid was succeeded by other dynasties, both Arab and Berber. Not until the 11th century can we speak of an independent kingdom of Morocco within its 20th-century frontiers. The unification of the country was the work of Berbers from south of the Tlas, nomads from the country now known as Mauritania. The Berbers were reforming Muslims; their first great leader, Yusuf ibn Tashfin, was an austere Muslim, living on camel flesh and milk and wearing only woolen garments. His followers were known as Almoravids, from the Arabic al-murabit, meaning “hermits.” Yusuf ibn Tashfin extended his rule over all North Africa as far as Algiers (in what is now Algeria), and also into Muslim Spain. The Almoravids ruled from 1062 to 1147.

In the 12th century, after a civil war lasting more than 20 years, the Almoravids were succeeded by another great Berber dynasty, the Almohads. Their name comes from the Arabic al-muwahhid, meaning “those who proclaim the unity of God,” and they ruled from 1147 to 1258. They also extended Moroccan rule and came to control not only Muslim Spain but all North Africa, including Tunisia, from which they expelled the Normans. In 1195 they won a great victory over the Christians in Spain at Alarcos.

The Almohad Empire began to disintegrate after the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212, in which the Spanish defeated the Moroccans. By midcentury its power was gone. A third Berber dynasty, the Merinids, followed, but it failed to keep a foothold in Spain or to maintain Moroccan rule in North Africa beyond the frontiers of Morocco. A period of disorder and almost incessant civil war followed the collapse of the Merinids in 1358. Rulers of various dynasties reigned briefly and ineffectually over parts of the country. The Portuguese and Spanish captured a number of Moroccan ports.

The period of these three Berber dynasties—the Almoravids, the Almohads, and the Merinids—was a great age for Moroccan architecture. The finest monuments in Morocco are the mosques, minarets, and gateways built by the Almohads in the Atlas, at Marrakech, and in Rabat, and the madrasas (colleges) of Fès built by the Merinids. These magnificent constructions were the work of Muslim architects from Andalusia in southern Spain, for the Moroccan rulers rapidly adopted the culture of their new subjects and brought craftsmen and artists to Morocco from Spain. Two of Morocco’s great minaret towers—the Koutoubiya in Marrakech and the Hassan Tower in Rabat—were built by a Muslim architect from Spain. The absorption of Spanish Muslims had in fact begun even before the time of the Almoravids, when disturbances in Muslim Spain first led Muslims to seek refuge on the southern shores of the Mediterranean. The process continued until the beginning of the 17th century, with the expulsion of Moriscos (Christian converts from Islam) from Spain.

D

Sharifian Dyanasties

Morocco experienced a revival under the Saadians, known as the first Sharifian dynasty (1554-1660). The Saadian rulers were sharifs—that is, rulers who claimed descent from the prophet Muhammad. They had reclaimed a number of ports from the Portuguese by 1578. The reign (1579-1603) of Ahmed I al-Mansur is regarded as the golden age of Morocco. It was unified and relatively prosperous; its native arts and architecture flourished.

Al-Mansur not only successfully resisted Turkish attacks on the eastern frontier but also sent an expedition to the south that captured Tombouktou (in Mali) and put an end to the Songhai kingdom. He became master of the gold route from West Africa, and encouraged the cultivation of sugarcane. Morocco became one of the chief suppliers of sugar to England and other parts of western Europe.

The Saadians were succeeded by the second Sharifian dynasty, who have ruled since 1660 and remain on the Moroccan throne to this day. For 55 years, from 1672 to 1727, the able and ambitious Ismail al-Hasani ruled the country. He expanded relations with the European powers, regained the port of Tangier, and built a capital at Meknès. Al-Hasani’s reign was followed by a long period of disorder, which was punctuated with brief interludes of relative peace and prosperity.

E

European Intrusion

In 1415 Portugal had captured the port of Ceuta. This intrusion initiated a period of gradual extension of Portuguese and Spanish power over the Moroccan coastal region. The Moroccans inflicted a severe defeat on the Portuguese in 1578, and by the end of the 17th century they had regained control of most of their coastal cities. In the 18th and early 19th centuries pirates from Morocco and other so-called Barbary states of North Africa preyed on the shipping that plied the Mediterranean Sea (see Barbary Coast). Because of the depredations of the Barbary pirates and because Morocco shared control of the Strait of Gibraltar with Spain, the country figured with increasing weight in the diplomacy of the European maritime powers, particularly Spain, Britain, and France. Spain invaded Morocco in 1859 and 1860 and acquired Tétouan.

In April 1904, in return for receiving a free hand in Egypt from France, Britain recognized Morocco as a French sphere of interest. Later that year France and Spain divided Morocco into zones of influence, with Spain receiving the much smaller part of Morocco and the region south of Morocco, which would become Spanish Sahara. Germany soon disputed these arrangements, and a conference of major powers, including the United States, met in Algeciras, Spain, in January 1906, to conclude an agreement (see Algeciras Conference). The resultant Act of Algeciras guaranteed equality of economic rights for every nation in Morocco.

In July 1911, the Germans sent a gunboat to the Moroccan port city of Agadir, in a move designed to encourage Moroccan resistance to French dominance. This incident provoked French mobilization and brought Europe to the brink of war, but in later negotiations Germany agreed to a French protectorate over Morocco in return for French territorial concessions elsewhere in Africa.

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