History

Originally occupied by Berber tribes, the coastal regions of the area now known as Morocco were under Phoenician and then Carthaginian rule from the 10th to the 3rd centuries BC. Both the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians used their bases on the Berber coast for their trade with the Iberian Peninsula.

Resistance to this encroachment came from the revival of sharifian leadership (a sharif is a descendant of the Prophet, and Morocco is still styled ‘the Sharifian kingdom’). The Portuguese were defeated and the sharifs withstood pressure from the Ottoman Turks, who had established their presence in Algeria. It was a time of prosperity, and the Moroccan court established contact with many countries in Europe, including England.

In 1664 the Alawi sharifs came to power, and their rule has continued since. Moulay Ismail (1672–1727) brought Morocco to another high point of unity and influence, and it was he who first showed preference to France.

European rivalry over Morocco
After the French conquered Algiers in 1830, Morocco helped the Algerian resistance leader, Abd al-Kader, realizing it might be next in line for conquest. In 1860 a brief war with Spain led to the cession of Ceuta and Ifni, small enclaves on the north and west coasts. But by the turn of the century European interest in Morocco had intensified beyond the power of the sultan to withstand. In 1904 Britain agreed to give up its influence in favour of France, in return for a reciprocal arrangement in Egypt, and within months Spain and France had agreed to ‘share’ Morocco: Spain would dominate the northern zone, and France the southern.

The Germans objected to the spread of French influence in Morocco, ushering in the first of the Moroccan Crises of 1905. This was diffused by the Algeciras Conference in 1906, at which an ‘open door’ policy was agreed by the European powers. However, this failed when Germany sought to force territorial concessions from France in 1911 by sending a gunboat, the Panther, to Agadir. The Agadir Incident ended in a Franco-German pact: Germany recognized France's pre-eminence in Morocco in exchange for territorial concessions in the Congo. In 1912 Morocco became a French protectorate. The Spanish kept certain rights under the authority of France, not the sultan.

Resistance to French rule
The first French resident-general, Gen Byautey, virtually ruled Morocco 1912–25. He was responsible for much modernization and for subjugating almost all of the country, notably by quelling the Riff revolt (1921–25) led by Abd al-Karim. The ‘pacification’ of the country was completed by 1934.

Nationalist parties and movements in the towns developed just as the last tribesmen were defeated. The most significant, the Istiqlal (Independence) Party, was formed in 1943, after Morocco had shown its support for the Free French movement in World War II. It was joined in its demands for constitutional government by the sultan, Muhammad bin Yousef (Muhammad V), who had been sultan since 1927. However, internal antagonism from the Berber tribesmen under Thami al-Glawi, the pasha of Marrakesh, who sought to resist all Western intrusions, brought the alliance to nothing. The sultan was forced into exile between 1953 and 1955, during which time there were demonstrations and terrorist incidents.

The struggle for independence in Morocco was shorter and less harrowing than in neighbouring French Algeria, where the revolution was well under way by this date; this was partly because Morocco's colonial ties were much looser, and partly because Moroccan independence involved no substantial change in the form of government.

The miserable state of the domestic economy aggravated unrest, and in June 1965 Hassan declared a state of emergency, assuming full legislative and executive powers. A few months afterwards, Ben Barka was kidnapped and shot in Paris by Moroccan agents, with the aid of the French secret service. Hassan's chief of security, Gen Oufkir, was wanted for arrest in connection with the disappearance, and several lesser henchmen were tried and sentenced in Paris.

Hassan's personal rule
The king's rule faltered on, sustained chiefly by the external diversion of the Arab–Israeli conflict and internal repression. Various further constitutions have since been formulated in an attempt to balance personal royal rule with demands for greater democracy. The 1970 constitution was approved by 98% of the population (despite widespread opposition and boycotting) and a new legislative assembly was elected.

The real threat to the king came from the army, however. In 1971 an unsuccessful coup was staged at the king's birthday party at his Skhirate palace. Executions and purges followed. In August 1972 another, mid-air, attempt on his life was made, apparently under the direction of his confidant and defence minister, Gen Oufkir. Nevertheless, the regime continued to harass and imprison opposition party members.

In the early 1970s King Hassan won prestige in international affairs through his chairmanship of the Organization of African Unity, hosting an Islamic conference, and his military involvement in the October 1973 Arab–Israeli War. After the attempted coups, he initiated a programme of Moroccanization of business and land ownership, and with greatly increased prices of phosphates (Morocco's chief mineral product) he was able to stimulate industrialization.

The Western Sahara dispute
Hassan's greatest acclaim at home was won in 1975 when he finally emerged victorious from a years-old campaign to annex the phosphate-rich northern sector of Spanish Sahara (Western Sahara), which was seen as historically Moroccan.

In 1975 Spain ceded its former colony to Morocco and Mauritania, leaving them to divide it. Morocco took the northern sector, and Mauritania the southern sector. The inhabitants, who had not been consulted, reacted violently through an independence movement, the Polisario Front, supported by the third neighbour, Algeria.

Less than a year later, Morocco and Mauritania were involved in a war with Polisario guerrillas. With Algerian support, Polisario set up a government in exile in Algiers, the Sahrahwi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). This prompted Hassan to sever diplomatic relations with Algeria in 1976.

In 1979 Mauritania agreed a peace treaty with Polisario, and Morocco annexed the part of Western Sahara that Mauritania had vacated. Polisario reacted by intensifying its operations. In 1983 another ceasefire mediated by the Organization of African Unity failed to hold.

Although the war was costly, it allowed Hassan to capitalize on the patriotism it generated in his country. In 1984 he unexpectedly signed an agreement with Col Khaddhafi of Libya, who had been helping Polisario, guaranteeing economic and political cooperation and mutual defence. Meanwhile, Morocco was becoming more isolated as the SADR gained wider recognition.

Towards the end of 1987 the Polisario guerrillas agreed a ceasefire, but hostilities continued. However, in August 1988 a United Nations peace plan was accepted by both sides, calling for a referendum to permit the area's inhabitants to choose independence or incorporation into Morocco. Full diplomatic relations with Algeria were restored in 1988, and with Syria in 1989.

Morocco in the 1990s
In 1990–91 Morocco officially opposed Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, although there was much popular support for Iraq.

Domestically, the surge in Islamic fundamentalism concerned the government. In August 1992 King Hassan appointed the veteran politician Muhammad Lamrani to head a government of independents. A new constitution was approved in a national referendum in September 1992, although it fell short of the democratic advances demanded by the king's opponents. In 1993, as part of the Middle East peace process, a peace accord was signed with Israel. The ruling centre-right coalition lost the first round of parliamentary elections in June 1993, but was returned to power in the second round of indirect elections in September, which gave it the most seats overall. Abd al-Latif Filali replaced Lamrani as prime minister in May 1994.

In September 1996 proposals revealed by King Hassan for a new two-chamber legislature were approved by referendum.

In 1997 further measures were taken towards the resolution of the dispute over Western Sahara. The government and rebels agreed on a plan mapping out the preparations for a referendum in which voters would decide the fate of the territory. The November 1997 assembly elections proved inconclusive and the formation of a coalition government seemed likely. After further elections in March 1998, Abderrahmane Youssoufi managed to form a centre-left coalition government. In September 1998 King Hassan formally appointed Yousoufi as the country's prime minister.

King Hassan died in July 1999 and was succeeded by his son Muhammad. Turning towards political liberalization, Muhammad sacked Driss Basri, who, for 20 years, had served as the country's all-powerful interior minister.

Social reform
In February 2000 King Muhammad embarked on a major programme of social and political reform, including strengthening the rights of women. Around 40,000 women marched in the Moroccan capital, Rabat, in 2000, to support a draft plan by the socialist government to improve women's status in the male-dominated society. The march was dwarfed by a demonstration against the plans to give women more rights. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims, many of them veiled women, protested against the reforms in Casablanca.

In July 2002, following an occupation of the uninhabited rocky outcrop of Perejil in the Strait of Gibraltar in July 2002 and the subsequent recapture of the islet by Spanish forces, the Moroccan and Spanish governments declared a truce in their ownership dispute under an accord brokered by the USA. However, the government continued to claim a number of other Spanish-held territories, including the north African city-enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.