Morocco
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Morocco is unique among its North African neighbors for having been occupied by one group of people for all of recorded history. They are apparently hardy people, because the Berbers, or Imazighen (men of the land) have endured since arriving here millennia ago and even controlled the desert all the way to Egypt at one time. Only a fiercely independent and self-sufficient people could survive in one place for countless generations. And through the years, they’ve preserved some of Africa’s richest traditions.
This is not to say that their history is without change and struggle. Many became reluctant city dwellers when the Phoenicians built Carthage, or when Romans moved in and built their own sprawling metropolises like Volubilis. And when Christianity appeared in the third century, Berbers turned their heads.
Arab armies, fresh from Egyptian conquests, materialized out of the desert sands in the seventh century, and Islam dominated North Africa within 100 years. But their victories failed to unify the region. And as Morocco witnessed their Saharan neighbors fracturing, it inched toward unity for itself. A fundamentalist Berber movement led the charge, taking their country back from Arab forces and moving in to Spanish Andalucia as well. The Berber Almoravids established Marrakesh as the capital, but were soon overtaken by the Muslim Almohads, sometimes referred to as the Moors.
The founding of Fez and Rabat followed and they became the cultural centers of the country. But the Spanish were pushing back on Moorish dominance in Iberia, and Almohad finances were worsening. They lost control to Merenids from the countryside, and the area thrived under the new reign—until Spain fell to the Christians in 1492, inciting unrest that would send the dynasty crumbling within a century.
Rulers rose and fell over the next 140 years. In the 1630s, the Alaouite family overthrew the Sa di Sultan, establishing a line that rules to this day. In the late 1800s, France, Spain and Germany took interest in Morocco because it was strategically located at the mouth of the Mediterranean and was rich in resources. The French came in and took control of Morocco by 1912. Spain, meanwhile, hung on to a small protectorate on the coast, and Tangier was declared an international zone.
Moroccans may have expected the worst when the first French resident-general, Marshal Lyautey, stepped in. But he was far more respectful than locals anticipated. Instead of destroying the existing Moroccan towns, he built villes nouvelles (new towns) alongside them. Coastal Rabat became the new capital, and Casablanca was developed as an active port. His successors were less sensitive, and soon the people of the Rif Mountains rebelled. It took 25,000 Spanish-French troops to subdue them in 1926. Putting down the rebellion paved the way for more of the French to move to Morocco’s warm climate, and by the 1930s more than 200,000 French had arrived. Not ten years later, Allied forces became yet another foreign presence, albeit this time to drive the Axis powers out of North Africa.
Morocco gained independence in 1956 under Sultan Mohammed V, the 28th Alaouite ruler of the country. Even Tangier was reclaimed. But Spain, to this day, retains the northern towns of Ceuta and Melilla.
Mohammed V crowned himself king in 1957 and handed power to his son, Hassan II, four years later. Hassan II earned the affection of his people in 1975 when he led the Green March into the Western Sahara to force Spain to hand over the province. More than 350,000 volunteers marched that day, but a long war between Morocco and the Polisario Front has left matters unsettled.
Mohammed VI took the throne in 1999. This young king, now in his 40s, advanced some of the liberal policies that his father had started. He promised the release of 50,000 prisoners and asked his people for forgiveness for past political repressions. He fired the “Butcher Basri,” the much-feared head of security forces.
Economic development has been the government’s priority recently, although it has been hampered by the country’s challenging geography and climate. The economy is driven by agriculture, but there have been droughts. And unemployment runs high—20 percent in the cities—and creates fear of social unrest.
But there are things the king can control, and he has shown particular favor toward women's rights. In 2002, he married Salma Bennani, a computer engineer. This was not a traditional pairing in a traditional Muslim country, and many believed it symbolized the acceptance of more modern roles. And in 2004, the government imposed changes to the Moudawana, or Family Law. These changes are geared toward “lifting the inequity imposed on women, protecting children's rights, and safeguarding men's dignity.”