Editing History of Morocco (section)

==Early history==
=== Carthage (c. 800 – c. 300 BCE) ===
[[File:Phenician plate with red slip 7th century BCE excavated in Mogador island.jpg|thumb|[[Phoenicia]]n plate with red [[Slip (ceramics)|slip]], 7th century BCE, excavated on [[Mogador Island]], [[Essaouira]]. [[Sidi Mohammed ben Abdallah Museum]].]]
The arrival of [[Phoenicia]]ns on the Moroccan coast heralded many centuries of rule by foreign powers in the north of Morocco.<ref>{{Cite web|title=North Africa - Ancient North Africa|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/North-Africa|access-date=2020-07-18|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|language=en}}</ref> Phoenician traders penetrated the western Mediterranean before the 8th century BCE, and soon after{{When|date=October 2014}} set up depots for salt and ore along the coast and up the rivers of the territory of present-day Morocco.<ref name="Pe5">Pennell 2003, p.5</ref> Major early settlements of the Phoenicians included those at [[Chellah]], [[Lixus (ancient city)|Lixus]] and [[Mogador]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=17926 |title=C. Michael Hogan, ''Mogador: Promontory Fort'', The Megalithic Portal, ed. Andy Burnham |publisher=Megalithic.co.uk |access-date=31 January 2010}}</ref> Mogador is known to have been a Phoenician colony by the early 6th century BCE.<ref>Sabatino Moscati, ''The Phoenicians'', Tauris, {{ISBN|1-85043-533-2}}</ref>

By the 5th century BCE, [[Ancient Carthage|the state of Carthage]] had extended its hegemony across much of North Africa. [[Carthage]] developed commercial relations with the Berber tribes of the interior, and paid them an annual tribute to ensure their cooperation in the exploitation of raw materials.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Cambridge history of Africa. Vol. 2, From c.500 B.C. to A.D. 1050|date=1978|publisher=Cambridge University Press|others=Fage, J. D.|isbn=9781139054560|location=Cambridge|pages=121|oclc=316278357}}</ref>

===Mauretania (c. 300 BCE – c. 430 CE)===
{{Further|Mauretania|Mauretania Tingitana}}

[[File:Roman coins excavated in Essaouira 3rd century and late Roman Empire.jpg|thumb|right|[[Ancient Rome|Roman]] coins excavated in Essaouira, 3rd century.]]
Mauretania was an independent tribal [[Berber people|Berber]] kingdom on the [[Mediterranean]] coast of north Africa, corresponding to northern modern-day [[Morocco]] from about the 3rd century BCE.<ref name=Burnham>[http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=17910 C. Michael Hogan, ''Chellah'', The Megalithic Portal, ed. Andy Burnham]</ref> The earliest known king of Mauretania was [[Baga (king)|Baga]] who lived around 225 BC and possibly belonged to an older dynasty.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://journals.openedition.org/encyclopedieberbere/1250 |title=Baga |access-date=2024-02-18 |last=Camps |first=Gabriel|journal=Encyclopédie Berbère |date=1991 |issue=9 |pages=1305–1306 |doi=10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.1250 }}</ref> Some of its earliest recorded history relates to [[Phoenicia]]n and [[Carthage|Carthaginian]] settlements such as Lixus and Chellah.<ref name=Burnham/> The Berber kings ruled inland territories overshadowing the coastal outposts of Carthage and Rome, often as satellites, allowing Roman rule to exist.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Josephy |first=Alvin M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ixb6DAAAQBAJ&dq=The+Berber+kings+allowing+Roman+rule+to+exist.&pg=PT72 |title=Africa: A History |date=2016-09-06 |publisher=New Word City |isbn=978-1-61230-978-1 |language=en}}</ref> It became a client of the Roman empire in 33 BCE, then a full province after Emperor Caligula had the last king, [[Ptolemy of Mauretania]], executed (39 CE or 40).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dmitriev |first1=Sviatoslav |title=Claudius' Grant of Cilicia to Polemo |journal=The Classical Quarterly |date=May 2003 |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=286–291 |doi=10.1093/cq/53.1.286 }}</ref>

Rome controlled the vast, ill-defined territory through alliances with the tribes rather than through military occupation, expanding its authority only to those areas that were economically useful or that could be defended without additional manpower. Hence, Roman administration never extended outside the restricted area of the northern coastal plain and valleys. This strategic region formed part of the [[Roman Empire]], governed as [[Mauretania Tingitana]], with the city of [[Volubilis]] as its capital.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Fage |first1=J. D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZTNTz3POoZUC&dq=Mauretania+Tingitana%2C+with+the+city+of+Volubilis+as+its+capital&pg=PA526 |title=The Cambridge History of Africa |last2=Clark |first2=John Desmond |last3=Oliver |first3=Roland Anthony |date=1975 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-21592-3 |language=en}}</ref>

[[File:وليلي 05 15 43 287000.jpeg|thumb|right|250px|Roman remains of [[Volubilis]]]]
During the time of the Roman emperor [[Augustus]], Mauretania was a vassal state, and its rulers, such as [[Juba II]], controlled all the areas south of Volubilis. But the effective control of Roman legionaries reached as far as the area of Sala Colonia (the castra "Exploratio Ad Mercurios" south of Sala is the southernmost discovered up to now). Some historians believe the Roman frontier reached present-day [[Casablanca]], known then as [[Anfa]], which had been settled by the Romans as a port.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hamilton |first=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SvuiDwAAQBAJ&dq=Mauretania+Roman+frontier+reached+present-day+Casablanca%2C&pg=PT48 |title=Tangier: From the Romans to The Rolling Stones |date=2019-06-27 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-78672-647-6 |language=en}}</ref>

During the reign of [[Juba II]], Augustus founded three [[Colonia (Roman)|colonies]] of Roman citizens in Mauretania close to the Atlantic coast: [[Iulia Constantia Zilil]], [[Iulia Valentia Banasa]], and [[Iulia Campestris Babba]]. Augustus would eventually found twelve colonies in the region.<ref>[http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/france-priorities_1/archaeology_2200/archaeology-notebooks_2202/europe-maghreb_2210/morocco-banasa_6428/index.html Data and map of Roman Banasa]</ref> During that period, the area controlled by Rome experienced significant economic development, aided by the construction of [[Roman roads in Morocco|Roman roads]]. The area was initially not completely under the control of Rome, and only in the mid-2nd century was a [[Limes (Roman Empire)|limes]] built south of Sala extending to Volubilis.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dfaZAAAAQBAJ&dq=Mauretania+mid-2nd+century+rome+control&pg=PA305 |title=War and Warfare in Late Antiquity (2 vols.): Current Perspectives |date=2013-08-19 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-25258-5 |language=en}}</ref> Around 278 CE the Romans moved their regional capital to [[Tangier]] and Volubilis started to lose importance.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

Christianity was introduced to the region in the 2nd century CE, and gained converts in the towns and among slaves as well as among Berber farmers. By the end of the 4th century, the Romanized areas had been Christianized,{{clarify|date=October 2014|reason=what is a "romanized" area?}} and inroads had been made among the Berber tribes, who sometimes converted en masse. [[schism (religion)|Schismatic]] and [[Heresy#Christianity|heretical]] movements also developed, usually as forms of political protest. The area had a substantial Jewish population as well.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gottreich|first=Emily|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1139892409|title=Jewish Morocco : a history from pre-Islamic to postcolonial times|date=2020|isbn=978-1-83860-361-8|location=London|oclc=1139892409}}</ref>