How Morocco Was Colonized: Historical Facts.

Africa, unbelievably, had gone through countless rapes that had ravaged its tentacled units–one among which was Morocco along the northern part of the continent. How morocco was colonized: historical facts is a hell of concentration on the means exploited by the European powers that dominated this mountainous location, which borders the North Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, between Algeria and the annexed Western Sahara.

It spans an area of 446,300 km2 with a population of roughly 37 million.

The official and predominant religion of Morocco is Islam, and the official languages are Arabic and Berber. Moroccan identity and culture is a vibrant mix of Berber, Arab, and European cultures. Its capital is Rabat, while its largest city is Casablanca. It has been subject to series of colonization over the years of its humble history. The English name Morocco is an anglicization of the Spanish name for the country, Marruecos.

Inhabited since the Paleolithic Era over 90,000 years ago, the first Moroccan state was established by Idris I in 788. It was subsequently ruled by a series of independent dynasties, reaching its zenith as a regional power in the 11th and 12th centuries, under the Almoravid and Almohad dynasties, when it controlled most of the Iberian Peninsula and the Maghreb until the storm of colonialism began to sweep her northern alleys.

Beginning in the 15th and 16th centuries, Morocco faced external threats to its sovereignty, with Portugal seizing some territory and the Ottoman Empire encroaching from the east. The Marinid and Saadi dynasties otherwise resisted foreign domination, and Morocco was the only North African nation to escape Ottoman dominion.

Colonialism, as read in the previous historical outline, has without doubt engaged smaller countries in Africa in a lot of ravenous adventures that have so far rendered these victim-countries as wounded lady suffering in cultural amnesia. So if the wind of colonialism has carried away reasonable people and brilliant humanist minds, giving rise to appalling theories of racial inequality, it is because it has always draped itself in a civilizing mission. Colonizing is to develop the colonized. The concept is a national doctrine in all newly industrialized European countries. To put the pill to the few recalcitrant, the idea is then to exaggerate the features of the future colony, portrayed as a rich but untapped country, dominated by barbarians without faith or law. The recipe works and public opinion espouses the views of its leaders.

How Morocco Was Colonized: Historical Facts.

The topic, How Morocco Was Colonized: Historical Facts, is concentration on historical timeline of the colonization of the Northern country in Africa. It focuses on the background, that is, how Morocco was subjected to the several turns taken by colonial masters against the original identity of the Moroccan people.

The First Colonization

In 7th and 8th Centuries AD, Arab invaded Morocco and Idris, the major Arabian leader then established the first major Muslim dynasty. Along this period, 10th to 11th centuries, dynasties and religious movements come and go, including the Almoravid movement which at its peak controlled Morocco and parts of present-day Algeria and Spain.

European Struggle of Morocco Between Spain and France 

As Europe industrialized, Northwest Africa was increasingly prized for its potential for colonization. France showed a strong interest in Morocco as early as 1830, not only to protect the border of its Algerian territory, but also because of the strategic position of Morocco with coasts on the Mediterranean and the open Atlantic. In 1860, a dispute over Spain’s Ceuta enclave led Spain to declare war. Victorious Spain won a further enclave and an enlarged Ceuta in the settlement. In 1884, Spain created a protectorate in the coastal areas of Morocco.

Spanish Domination

In 1860, dispute over Spain’s Ceuta enclave arose; then, Spain declared war, won further the enclave and an enlarged Ceuta in the settlement. It then subsequently occurred that Spain created a protectorate in coastal areas of Morocco in 1884.

As at 1904, France and Spain had carved out zones of influence all over the Moroccan state.

Colonial Economic Control
Algeciras Conference in Spain in 1906 was held where France and Spain got the go-ahead to police Moroccan ports and collect customs fees, thereby takin advantage of the economic resources of the empire. Eventually in 1912, Morocco became a French protectorate under the Treaty of Fez, administered by a French Resident-General, while Spain continued to operate its coastal protectorate. The sultan has a largely figurehead role.
The Moroccan Naivety
Tens of thousands of colonists entered Morocco. Some bought up large amounts of rich agricultural land, while others organized the exploitation and modernization of mines and harbors. Interest groups that formed among these elements continually pressured France to increase its control over Morocco – a control which was also made necessary by the continuous wars among Moroccan tribes, part of which had taken sides with the French since the beginning of the conquest. Governor general Marshall Hubert Lyautey sincerely admired Moroccan culture and succeeded in imposing a joint Moroccan-French administration, while creating a modern school system. Several divisions of Moroccan soldiers (Goumiers or regular troops and officers) served in the French army in both World War I and World War II, and in the Spanish Nationalist Army in the Spanish Civil War.
Traditionally, European penetration has involved three instruments. The sociological exploration through exploratory missions, first in the north and along the coast, then in the deep country, allowed to establish a fluoroscopy as faithful as possible of Moroccan society. The economic supremacy allowed to create a new local order and to subjugate the kingdom to a consortium of European banks. And the military strikes destroyed the few pockets of resistance and made the sultans (kings) listen to reason.
The Beginning of Resistance and the Establishment of Political Movement

Though there were many advantages by the French and Spanish troops around 1921 to 1926 where some tribal rebellion in Rif mountains was suppressed, a Moroccan political group agitated for independence, starting from 1943. The name of this group was Istiqlal, Party of Independence.

Indepedence

Finally in March, 1956, there became the end of French protectorate after unrest and strong nationalist sentiment. Morocco then regained its independence from France as the “Kingdom of Morocco”. A month later Spain forsook its protectorate in Northern Morocco to the new state but kept its two coastal enclaves, Ceuta and Melilla, on the Mediterranean coast which dated from earlier conquests. Sultan Mohammed became king in 1957.

In 1963, there was the first general elections.

The outline above unveils the how morocco was colonized: historical facts. You can always rely on the facts given above for your true understanding of the Moroccan historical background.

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