Morocco

The earliest inhabitants of Morocco were the indigenous Amazigh (Berber) peoples, whose language and culture remain central to Moroccan identity. By the third century BCE the western Maghreb was home to the kingdom of Mauretania, a Berber monarchy that traded with Carthage and, after Carthage's fall, with Rome. Its city of Volubilis, founded in the third century BCE, grew into a prosperous settlement on the fertile plain below the Zerhoun massif.

After the Roman annexation of Mauretania in the mid-first century CE, the emperor Claudius divided the region into two provinces, with the western part, Mauretania Tingitana, governed from Tingis (Tangier). Volubilis became one of its principal cities, endowed with a forum, basilica, triumphal arch, temples and the fine mosaic-floored houses whose remains survive today. The province marked the south-westernmost frontier of the Roman world.

Roman authority over the interior was always limited, and by the late third century the empire had withdrawn from much of Tingitana, though Volubilis remained inhabited for centuries afterwards. The Amazigh tribes of the mountains and plains retained their autonomy, preserving the social structures and Tamazight language that would shape every later chapter of Moroccan history.

Turning points

1. c. 3rd century BCEFormation

   Kingdom of Mauretania and Volubilis

   The Amazigh kingdom of Mauretania emerges in the western Maghreb; Volubilis, founded around the third century BCE, becomes one of its leading cities.

   [1] [2]

2. c. 40–44 CEColonisation

   Roman annexation of Mauretania

   Rome annexes the kingdom of Mauretania and the emperor Claudius organises the western part as the province of Mauretania Tingitana, governed from Tingis (Tangier).

   ↗See the data

   [2] [1]

3. c. 3rd century CECulture & Ideas

   Volubilis flourishes as a Roman city

   Volubilis reaches its height as a thriving provincial city, adorned with a basilica, triumphal arch, temples and elaborate mosaics before Rome withdraws from the interior.

   [1]

Arab armies carrying Islam reached the Maghreb in the late seventh and early eighth centuries, and over the following generations the Amazigh peoples of Morocco gradually adopted the new faith while retaining much of their language and tribal organisation. Out of this ferment emerged Morocco's first enduring Muslim state.

Around 788 Idris ibn Abdallah, a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad who had fled the Abbasid defeat of the Alids at the Battle of Fakhkh, arrived among the Awraba Berbers near Walila (ancient Volubilis), who gave him their allegiance. As Idris I he founded the Idrisid dynasty, which ruled in Morocco from about 789. His son Idris II founded the city of Fez in 808 as a capital, and it grew into a great centre of religion, learning and trade; the Qarawiyyin mosque and university trace their origins to this period.

The Idrisids were the first to organise, outside the Berber tribal system, a central government partly composed of Arabs, and they advanced the Islamisation of Morocco. After the dynasty fragmented and faded in the tenth century, the country was contested by Fatimid and Umayyad influences from east and north before a new Berber power arose from the desert in the eleventh century.

Turning points

1. c. 788Formation

   Idris I and the founding of the dynasty

   Idris ibn Abdallah, a sharif fleeing Abbasid persecution, wins the allegiance of the Awraba Berbers near Walila and founds the Idrisid dynasty, Morocco's first Muslim state.

   [3] [4]

2. 808Formation

   Idris II founds Fez

   Idris II establishes Fez as his capital; it becomes a leading political and religious centre of the western Islamic world.

   [3]

3. c. 859Religion

   Foundation of the Qarawiyyin

   The mosque and centre of learning of al-Qarawiyyin is established in Fez, later regarded as one of the oldest continuously operating institutions of higher education in the world.

   [4] [3]

Figures of the era

In the mid-eleventh century a religious reform movement among the Sanhaja Berbers of the Sahara gave rise to the Almoravids. Inspired by a strict interpretation of Maliki Islam, they united the desert tribes and conquered Morocco, founding Marrakesh around 1070 as the seat of their empire. Under Yusuf ibn Tashfin they crossed into al-Andalus, defeating the Christian advance and bringing Muslim Spain under Moroccan rule, so that an empire stretched from the Senegal River to the Ebro.

By the 1140s the Almoravids were displaced by the Almohads, another Berber movement founded on the religious teaching of Ibn Tumart. Led by Abd al-Mu'min, the Almohads took Marrakesh in 1147 and went on to unite, for the first and only time under a single indigenous authority, the whole of the Maghreb together with al-Andalus. Their reign saw a flowering of architecture and learning, exemplified by the Koutoubia mosque of Marrakesh and the Giralda of Seville, and by scholars such as the philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroes).

Almohad power was broken on the battlefield. The crushing defeat by a Christian coalition at Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 opened al-Andalus to the Reconquista and weakened the dynasty fatally. Amid mounting revolts and the loss of their Spanish and eastern possessions, the Almohads were finally extinguished when the Marinids took Marrakesh in 1269.

Turning points

1. c. 1070Formation

   Almoravids found Marrakesh

   The Almoravids establish Marrakesh as the capital of an empire uniting Morocco and the western Sahara under a reformist Islamic banner.

   [5] [6]

2. 1086War & Rupture

   Almoravids enter al-Andalus

   Yusuf ibn Tashfin leads the Almoravids into Spain, checking the Christian Reconquista and bringing Muslim al-Andalus under Moroccan rule.

   ↗See the data

   [5] [6]

3. 1147Politics & Power

   Almohads capture Marrakesh

   The Almohads under Abd al-Mu'min take Marrakesh, supplanting the Almoravids and building an empire across the whole Maghreb and al-Andalus.

   [5] [6]

4. 1212War & Rupture

   Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa

   A Christian coalition decisively defeats the Almohads in Spain, beginning the dynasty's decline and reopening al-Andalus to the Reconquista.

   ↗See the data

   [6] [5]

5. 1269Politics & Power

   Fall of the Almohads

   The Marinids capture Marrakesh, ending Almohad rule and inaugurating a new Berber dynasty centred on Fez.

   [7]

Figures of the era

The Marinids, an Amazigh dynasty from eastern Morocco, captured Fez in 1248 and Marrakesh in 1269, making Fez their capital. They could not rebuild the wider Almohad empire, but they endowed Fez with celebrated madrasas and made it a renowned centre of scholarship. By the fifteenth century, weakened by costly campaigns and internal strife, Marinid and then Wattasid power gave way as Portugal and Spain seized Moroccan ports along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts.

In response to this Iberian pressure rose the Saadians, a dynasty of sharifs from the Draa valley claiming descent from the Prophet. In 1578 the young king Sebastian of Portugal invaded Morocco in support of a deposed claimant. At the Battle of the Three Kings, fought near Ksar el-Kebir on 4 August 1578, the Saadian sultan Abd al-Malik destroyed the Portuguese army; three kings—Sebastian, the deposed al-Mutawakkil and Abd al-Malik himself—perished, and Portugal's catastrophe led within two years to its absorption by Spain.

The victory secured Moroccan independence and brought to the throne Ahmad al-Mansur, under whom the Saadian state reached its zenith. Enriched by the trans-Saharan gold and sugar trades and by ransom from the battle, al-Mansur built the sumptuous El Badi palace in Marrakesh and in 1591 sent an army across the Sahara to conquer the Songhai Empire and seize the gold and salt of the Niger bend.

Turning points

1. 1269Politics & Power

   Marinids master Morocco from Fez

   Having taken Fez in 1248 and Marrakesh in 1269, the Marinids rule Morocco from Fez, endowing the city with famous madrasas.

   [7]

2. 4 August 1578War & Rupture

   Battle of the Three Kings

   The Saadian sultan Abd al-Malik annihilates the invading Portuguese army of King Sebastian near Ksar el-Kebir; three kings die, and Morocco's independence is preserved.

   ↗See the data

   [8] [9]

3. 1591War & Rupture

   Saadian conquest of Songhai

   Ahmad al-Mansur sends an army across the Sahara that defeats the Songhai Empire at Tondibi, extending Saadian reach toward the gold of the Niger.

   ↗See the data

   [9] [8]

Figures of the era

The Alaouites, sharifs of the Tafilalt oasis claiming descent from the Prophet, rose to power in the troubled mid-seventeenth century. From a base established under Moulay Sharif around 1631, his son Moulay al-Rashid reunified the country and took Fez and Marrakesh, founding the dynasty's rule from 1666. His successor Moulay Ismail (r. 1672–1727) built a powerful centralised state, made Meknes his imperial capital, and recovered ports from European hands. Morocco maintained its independence and entered into early treaties abroad, including a treaty of peace and friendship with the young United States in 1786—one of the oldest such relationships in American diplomacy.

Through the nineteenth century, however, Morocco came under mounting European pressure as France advanced from Algeria and the powers competed for influence. Diplomatic crises over Morocco in 1905 and 1911 brought Europe to the brink of war and ended with French predominance. On 30 March 1912 Sultan Abd al-Hafid signed the Treaty of Fez, which made Morocco a French protectorate; a further agreement that year assigned a zone in the north and the far south to Spain, while Tangier was placed under an international regime.

Colonial rule was resisted from the outset. In the Rif mountains, Abd el-Krim led an uprising that destroyed a Spanish army at the Battle of Annual in 1921 and proclaimed a short-lived Republic of the Rif, before a combined Franco-Spanish offensive crushed the revolt in 1926. Nationalist sentiment grew between the wars and surged after 1945, focused increasingly on the person of the sultan, Mohammed V.

Turning points

1. 1666Formation

   Alaouite dynasty unifies Morocco

   Moulay al-Rashid reunites Morocco and establishes the rule of the Alaouite dynasty, which continues to reign today; his successor Moulay Ismail builds a strong centralised state from Meknes.

   [10] [11]

2. 1786Politics & Power

   Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship

   Morocco and the United States conclude a treaty of peace and friendship, recognised in 1786, making Morocco one of America's earliest treaty partners.

   [12]

3. 30 March 1912Colonisation

   Treaty of Fez establishes the protectorates

   Sultan Abd al-Hafid signs the Treaty of Fez, making Morocco a French protectorate; a Spanish zone in the north and south and an international zone at Tangier are settled the same year.

   ↗See the data

   [13] [12]

4. 22 July 1921War & Rupture

   Battle of Annual and the Rif War

   Abd el-Krim's Riffian fighters destroy a Spanish army at Annual and proclaim a Republic of the Rif; a Franco-Spanish coalition suppresses the rebellion by 1926.

   ↗See the data

   [14]

5. 1953Politics & Power

   Exile of Mohammed V

   France deposes and exiles Sultan Mohammed V, an act that inflames the independence movement and unites Moroccans behind the monarchy.

   [15] [10]

Figures of the era

After his return from exile in 1955 amid the upheaval remembered as the Revolution of the King and the People, Sultan Mohammed V brought the independence struggle to a successful close. On 2 March 1956 France ended its protectorate, and in April Spain relinquished most of its northern zone; the United States recognised Moroccan independence on 7 March 1956. Mohammed V took the title of king in 1957, although Spain retained the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.

His son Hassan II reigned from 1961 to 1999, ruling firmly through years that included attempted coups, opposition repression and economic difficulty. In November 1975, as Spain prepared to withdraw from the Western Sahara, Hassan II organised the Green March, in which some 350,000 unarmed Moroccans crossed into the territory to assert Morocco's claim. Morocco took control of much of the Western Sahara, but its sovereignty there is disputed by the Polisario Front and remains unresolved under international mediation.

Mohammed VI succeeded his father in 1999 and pursued cautious liberalisation, a reformed family code and large infrastructure projects. Amid the regional protests of the Arab Spring, he announced constitutional reforms in March 2011; a new constitution, approved by referendum on 1 July 2011, strengthened the powers of parliament and the head of government and recognised Tamazight as an official language, while preserving the king's pre-eminent authority over religion, security and strategic affairs.

Turning points

1. 2 March 1956Independence

   Restoration of independence

   France ends its protectorate by agreement with Morocco; Spain relinquishes most of its northern zone in April, restoring Moroccan independence under Sultan Mohammed V.

   ↗See the data

   [15] [12]

2. 1957Politics & Power

   Mohammed V becomes king

   Mohammed V adopts the title of king, formalising the modern Moroccan monarchy as the country builds its independent institutions.

   [10]

3. 6 November 1975Politics & Power

   The Green March

   King Hassan II leads the Green March, in which about 350,000 unarmed Moroccans enter the Western Sahara to assert Morocco's claim as Spain withdraws; the territory's status remains disputed.

   [16] [17]

4. 1999Politics & Power

   Accession of Mohammed VI

   Mohammed VI succeeds Hassan II and undertakes gradual reforms, including a revised family law code and major development projects.

   [18]

5. 1 July 2011Politics & Power

   Constitutional reform

   Following Arab Spring protests, a new constitution approved by referendum expands the powers of parliament and the prime minister and recognises Tamazight, while the king retains ultimate authority.

   [18] [19]

Figures of the era