Everything about Spanish Morocco totally explained
Spanish Morocco, was the area of
Morocco (
Protectorado español de Marruecos in
Spanish) under
colonial rule by
Spain, established by the
Treaty of Fez in
1912 and ending in
1956, when both
France and Spain recognized Moroccan
independence.
Territorial borders
The territories of Spanish Morocco included northern Morocco (the territory in between the cities of
Ceuta and
Melilla, which have been Spanish since the 16th century and 15th century respectively), the
Tarfaya Strip, and
Ifni. The capital of Spanish Morocco was
Tetuán (
Tétouan).
The rest of the country was ruled by
France, under the name of
French Morocco, also from 1912 to 1956.
The city of
Tangier was declared an
international zone, though this status was suspended during World War II when it was provisionally occupied by Spanish troops, from 14 June 1940, on the pretext that an Italian invasion was imminent.
The
Republic of the Rif led by the guerilla leader
Abd El-Krim was a breakaway state that existed in the
Rif region from 1921 to 1926, when it was dissolved by joint expedition of the
Spanish Army of Africa and French forces.
Spanish historical claims
Ceuta had been
Portuguese before becoming Spanish in 1580. The city of
Melilla had been part of Spain since 1497. As for the rest of territories other than these
plazas de soberanía, most of them they were only gained after by the middle of the 19th century and, specially, after 1912 and the
First Moroccan Crisis.
In the late 19th century, Queen
Isabella II of Spain encouraged the officers of southern Spain to curb the migration of unauthorized poor Spaniards to the new territories.
The protectorate
The Protectorate system was established during the
Second Spanish Republic, technically it didn't include the cities of Ceuta and Melilla, which had been part of Spain from an early moment of its history and so were regarded as Spanish proper territory.
The legal Islamic
qadis system was formally maintained.
The Moroccan
Sephardi Jews—many of them living in this part of the Maghreb after being expelled from Spain and Portugal in 1492 and 1497 respectively after the end of the
Reconquista process—flourished in commerce, profiting from the similarity of
Spanish and
Ladino language and benefitting from the
tax-exempt area in Tangier and a flourishing trading activity in the area.
Spanish Morocco had a key role at the inception of the
Spanish Civil War. The uprising against the Republican Government started there, with the Spanish troops stationed in Spanish Morocco becoming the core of the Nationalist Army. The Nationalists also recruited a consierable number of Moroccan troops who were sent over to the battlefields in Spain.
The radical
POUM Party advocated an anti-colonialist policy whereby the Republican Government would support the independence of Spanish Morocco and in this way touch off a rebellion at Franco's back and disaffection among the Moroccan troops fighting in Spain. However, the Republican Government rejected any such idea - which would have likely resulted in conflict with France, the colonial ruler of the other portion of Morocco - and the Arab troops remained loyal to the Nationalist cause.
After
Francisco Franco came to power in Spain, paradoxically, the protectorate enjoyed more political freedom than
Franco-era Spain proper, allegedly because local Muslim troops were loyal from the very beginning to Franco, who was serving in
África—as the Protectorate was informally known in the Spanish military parlance. Franco was the military commander of the Spanish Morocco at the time of his uprising and from there he started it. He was backed by a noticeable number of Moroccan Muslim troops in the following
Spanish Civil War. Franco was based in
Tetouan.
Thus, there were political parties in the Protectorate—unlike in the rest of Spain—and the Moroccan nationalist press would criticize the Spanish authorities, contrasting with the
Spanish single party and state-controlled press in the rest of the country.
Morocco gains sovereignty
In 1956, when
French Morocco became independent, Spain discontinued the Protectorate and surrendered most of its occupied territories to the newly independent Morocco but retained control of certain regions, including: Ceuta, Melilla and the rest of
plazas de soberanía,
Sidi Ifni,
Tarfaya and the
Spanish Sahara (
Saguia el-Hamra and
Rio de Oro regions). The
Moroccan Army of Liberation waged a war against Spanish forces, that started from Ifni and spread south to Rio de Oro. As a result of this war, Spain in 1958 returned Tarfaya to Morocco. Morocco continued to lay claim over the remaining regions, and in 1969, it obtained the region of Ifni.
Morocco claims Ceuta and Melilla as integral parts of the country, considering them to be under foreign
occupation, comparing their status to that of
Gibraltar, while Spain regards them as constituent parts of its territory.
List of High Commissioners
- Felipe Alfau y Mendoza (April 3, 1913 to August 15, 1913)
- José Marina Vega (August 17, 1913 to July 9, 1915)
- Francisco Gómez Jordana, 1st term (July 9, 1915 to January 1919)
- Dámaso Berenguer (January 1919 to July 13, 1922)
- Ricardo Burguete Lana (July 15, 1922 to January 22, 1923)
- Luis Silvela y Casado (February 16, 1923 to September 14, 1923)
- Luis Aizpuru (September 25, 1923 to October 16, 1924)
- Miguel Primo de Rivera (October 16, 1924 to November 1925)
- Jose Sanjurjo Sacanell Buenrostro, 1st term (November 1925 to 1928)
- Francisco Gómez Jordana, 2nd term (1928 to 1931)
- Jose Sanjurjo Sacanell Buenrostro, 2nd term (April 19, 1931 to June 20, 1931)
- Luciano López Ferrer (June 20, 1931 to May 1933)
- Juan Moles Ormella, 1st term (May 1933 to January 23, 1934)
- Manuel Rico Avello (January 23, 1934 to March 1936)
- Juan Moles Ormella, 2nd term (March 1936 to July 1936)
- Arturo Álvarez-Buylla, acting (from July 18, 1936)
- Eduardo Sáenz de Buruaga (1936)
- Francisco Franco (1936)
- Luis Orgaz y Yoldi, 1st term (1936 to 1937)
- Juan Beigbeder y Atienza (August 1937 to 1939)
- Carlos Asensio Cabanillas (February 1940 to May 12, 1941)
- Luis Orgaz y Yoldi, 2nd term (May 12, 1941 to March 4, 1945)
- José Enrique Varela Iglesias (March 4, 1945 to March 24, 1951)
- Rafael García Valiño y Marcén (March 1951 to April 7, 1956)
Further Information
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