Editing History of Morocco

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{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{History of Morocco}}
The history of human habitation in [[Morocco]] spans since the Lower Paleolithic, with the earliest known being [[Jebel Irhoud]]. Much later Morocco was part of [[Iberomaurusian]] culture, including [[Taforalt]]. It dates from the establishment of [[Mauretania]] and other ancient [[Berbers|Berber]] kingdoms, to the establishment of the Moroccan state by the [[Idrisid dynasty]]<ref name="Moroccan dynastic shurfa"/> followed by other Islamic dynasties, through to the colonial and independence periods.

Archaeological evidence has shown that the area was inhabited by [[hominidae|hominids]] at least 400,000 years ago.<ref name="Hublin" /><!--Until the arrival of the Phoenicians, the region was inhabited by hunter-gatherers, who eventually evolved both the [[Berber language]] as well as agriculture.--[[WP:OR]]--> The recorded history of [[Morocco]] begins with the [[Phoenicia]]n colonization of the Moroccan coast between the 8th and 6th centuries [[Common Era|BCE]],<ref name="Pe5" /> although the area was inhabited by [[Berbers|indigenous Berbers]] for some two thousand years before that. In the 5th century BCE, the [[Ancient Carthage|city-state of Carthage]] extended its hegemony over the coastal areas.<ref name="Pe7-9">Pennell 2003, pp.7–9</ref> They remained there until the late 3rd century BCE,<ref name="Pe9-11">Pennell 2003, pp.9–11</ref> while the hinterland was ruled by indigenous monarchs.<ref name="Pe7-9" /> Indigenous Berber monarchs ruled the [[Mauretania|territory]] from the 3rd century BCE until 40 CE, when it was [[Mauretania Tingitana|annexed]] to the [[Roman Empire]]. In the mid-5th century CE, it was overrun by [[Vandals]], before being recovered by the [[Byzantine Empire]] in the 6th century.

The region was [[Muslim conquest of the Maghreb|conquered by the Muslims]] in the early 8th century CE, but broke away from the [[Umayyad Caliphate]] after the [[Berber Revolt]] of 740. Half a century later, the Moroccan state was established by the [[Idrisid dynasty]].<ref>"tradition (...) reaches back to the origins of the modern Moroccan state in the ninth century Idrisid dynasty which founded the venerable city of. Fes", G Joffe, ''Morocco: Monarchy, legitimacy and succession'', in : Third World Quarterly, 1988</ref><ref name="Moroccan dynastic shurfa">{{cite journal |title=Moroccan dynastic shurfa' -hood in two historical contexts: idrisid cult and 'Alawid power |journal=The Journal of North African Studies |date=June 2001 |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=81–94 |doi=10.1080/13629380108718436 |s2cid=219626270 }}</ref> The [[Saadi dynasty]] ruled the country from 1549 to 1659, followed by the [[Alawi dynasty|Alawis]] from 1667 onwards, who have since been the ruling dynasty of Morocco.<ref name=":6">"The CBS News Almanac", Hammond Almanac Inc., 1976, p.783: "''The Alaouite dynasty (Filali) has ruled Morocco since the 17th century''"</ref><ref>Hans Groth & Alfonso Sousa-Poza, "Population Dynamics in Muslim Countries: Assembling the Jigsaw", Springer, 2012 ({{ISBN|9783642278815}}). p.229: "''The Alaouite dynasty has ruled Morocco since the days of Mulai ar-Rashid (1664–1672)''"</ref><ref>Joseph L. Derdzinski, "Internal Security Services in Liberalizing States: Transitions, Turmoil, and (In)Security", Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 2013 ({{ISBN|9781409499015}}). p.47: "''Hassan in 1961, after the death of his father Mohammed V , continued the succession of Alaouite rule in Morocco since the seventeenth century''"</ref>

==Prehistoric Morocco==
{{See also|List of prehistoric sites in Morocco}}
Archaeological excavations have demonstrated the presence of people in Morocco that were ancestral to ''[[Homo sapiens]]'', as well as the presence of early human species. The fossilized bones of a 400,000-year-old early human ancestor were discovered in [[Salé]] in 1971.<ref name="Hublin">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Hublin|first=Jean Jacques|editor1-first=Lawrence|editor2-first=Kate|editor1-last=Barham |editor2-last=Robson-Brown|editor2-link=Kate Robson Brown|encyclopedia=Human Roots: Africa and Asia in the middle Pleistocene|title=Northwestern African middle Pleistocene hominids and their bearing on the emergence of Homo Sapiens|url=http://www.eva.mpg.de/evolution/staff/hublin/pdf/human_roots.pdf|access-date=14 January 2014|year=2010|publisher=Western Academic and Specialist Press|location=Bristol, England|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924004207/http://www.eva.mpg.de/evolution/staff/hublin/pdf/human_roots.pdf|archive-date=24 September 2015}}</ref> The bones of several very early ''[[Homo sapiens]]'' were excavated at [[Jebel Irhoud]] in 1991, these were dated using modern techniques in 2017 and found to be at least 300,000 years old, making them the oldest examples of ''Homo sapiens'' discovered anywhere in the world.<ref name=":7">{{Cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-40194150 | title='First of our kind' found in Morocco| work=BBC News| date=7 June 2017| last1=Ghosh| first1=Pallab}}</ref> In 2007, small perforated seashell beads were discovered in Taforalt that are 82,000 years old, making them the earliest known evidence of personal adornment found anywhere in the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090505163021.htm |title=World's Oldest Manufactured Beads Are Older Than Previously Thought |publisher=Sciencedaily.com |date=7 May 2009 |access-date=22 November 2013}}</ref>

In [[Mesolithic]] times, between 20,000 and 5000 years ago, the geography of Morocco resembled a [[savanna]] more than the present arid landscape.<ref name="Lubell 1984">1984 D. Lubell. [http://watarts.uwaterloo.ca/~dlubell/Lubell_1984.pdf Paleoenvironments and Epi Paleolithic economies in the Maghreb (ca. 20,000 to 5000 B.P.)].  In, J.D. Clark & S.A. Brandt (eds.), ''From Hunters to Farmers: The Causes and Consequences of Food Production in Africa''.  Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 41–56.</ref> While little is known of settlements in Morocco during that period,{{update inline|date=March 2023}} excavations elsewhere in the [[Maghreb]] region have suggested an abundance of game and forests that would have been hospitable to Mesolithic hunters and gatherers, such as those of the [[Capsian culture]].<ref name=":8">D. Rubella, ''Environmentalism and Pi Paleolithic economies in the Maghreb (c. 20,000 to 5000 B.P.)'', in, J.D. Clark & S.A. Brandt (eds.), ''From Hunters to Farmers: Causes and Consequences of Food Production in Africa'', Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 41–56</ref>

During the [[Neolithic]] period, which followed the Mesolithic, the savanna was occupied by hunters and herders. The culture of these Neolithic hunters and herders flourished until the region began to desiccate after 5000 BCE as a result of climatic changes. The coastal regions of present-day Morocco in the early Neolithic shared in the [[Cardium pottery]] culture that was common to the entire [[Mediterranean]] region. Archaeological excavations have suggested that the [[domestication]] of cattle and the cultivation of crops both occurred in the region during that period.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nelson |first=Harold D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pqxf5uJMBvkC&dq=morocco+Neolithic+domestication+of+cattle+and+the+cultivation+of+crops&pg=PA4 |title=Morocco, a Country Study |date=1985 |publisher=Headquarters, Department of the Army |language=en}}</ref> In the [[Chalcolithic]] period, or the copper age, the [[Beaker culture]] reached the north coast of Morocco.<ref name=":11">{{Cite book |last=Davies |first=O. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sh0hBQAAQBAJ&dq=morocco+copper+age%2C+the+Beaker+culture&pg=PA174 |title=West Africa Before the Europeans: Archaeology & Prehistory |date=2014-10-30 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-60532-4 |language=en}}</ref><ref>https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10437-025-09621-z  Cemeteries, Rock Art and Other Ritual Monuments of the Tangier Peninsula, Northwestern Africa, in Wider Trans-Regional Perspective (c. 3000–500 BC)</ref>

==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>

==Early Islamic Morocco (c. 700 – c. 743)==
[[File:Morocco and the Maghreb after the Berber Revolt.PNG|thumb|right|240px|The Maghreb after the Berber Revolt<ref name="Duby" />]]

=== Muslim conquest (c. 700) ===
{{Main|Muslim conquest of the Maghreb}}
The [[Muslim conquest of the Maghreb]], that started in the middle of the 7th century CE, was [[Muslim conquest of the Maghreb#Completion of the conquest|achieved]] in the early 8th century. It brought both the Arabic language and [[Islam]] to the area. Although part of the larger [[Caliphate|Islamic Empire]], Morocco was initially organized as a subsidiary province of [[Ifriqiya]], with the local governors appointed by the Muslim governor in [[Kairouan]].<ref name="AN33">Abun-Nasr 1987, p.33</ref>

The indigenous Berber tribes adopted Islam, but retained their [[customary law]]s. They also paid taxes and tribute to the new Muslim administration.<ref>Abun-Nasr 1987, pp.33–34</ref>

=== Berber Revolt (740–743) ===
{{Main|Berber Revolt}}
In 740 CE, spurred on by puritanical [[Kharijite]] agitators, the native Berber population [[Berber Revolt|revolted]] against the ruling [[Umayyad Caliphate]]. The rebellion began among the Berber tribes of western Morocco, and spread quickly across the region. Although the insurrection petered out in 742 CE before it reached the gates of [[Kairouan]], neither the Umayyad rulers in Damascus nor their [[Abbasid]] successors managed to re-impose their rule on the areas west of [[Ifriqiya]]. Morocco passed out of Umayyad and Abbasid control, and fragmented into a collection of small, independent Berber states such as [[Berghwata]], [[Sijilmassa]] and [[Emirate of Nekor|Nekor]], in addition to [[Tlemcen]] and [[Tahert]] in what is now western [[Algeria]].<ref name="Duby">Georges Duby, ''Atlas Historique Mondial'', Larousse Ed. (2000), pp.220 & 224 ({{ISBN|2702828655}})</ref> The Berbers went on to shape their own version of Islam. Some, like the [[Banu Ifran]], retained their connection with radical puritan Islamic sects, while others, like the [[Berghwata]], constructed a new [[Syncretism|syncretic faith]].<ref name="AN42">Abun-Nasr 1987, p.42</ref><ref>G. Deverdun, [http://encyclopedieberbere.revues.org/1294 "Bargẖawāṭa"], Encyclopédie berbère, vol. 9, Edisud, 1991, pp.1360–1361</ref>

== Barghawata (744–1058) ==
{{Main|Barghawata}}
The [[Barghawata]]s were a confederation of Berber groups inhabiting the Atlantic coast of Morocco, who belonged to the [[Masmuda]] Berber tribal division.<ref name="Duby"/> After allying with the [[Sufri]] [[Kharijite]] rebellion in [[Morocco]] against the [[Umayyad]]s, they established an independent state (CE 744 – 1058) in the area of Tamesna on the Atlantic coast between [[Safi, Morocco|Safi]] and [[Salé]] under the leadership of [[Tarif al-Matghari]].

== Emirate of Sijilmasa (757–976) ==
{{Main|Sijilmassa|Midrarid dynasty}}
The [[Midrarid dynasty]] or Banu Midrar were a Berber dynasty that ruled the Tafilalt region and founded the city of [[Sijilmasa]] in 757.<ref>{{EI2|title=Midrār|last=Pellat|first=Charles|author-link=Charles Pellat|volume=6|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/midrar-SIM_5181|page=1038}}</ref>[[File:Trans-Saharan routes early.svg|thumb|The Berber entrepot [[Sijilmassa]] along the trade routes of the Western Sahara, c. 1000–1500. Goldfields are indicated by light brown shading.]]
Sijilmasa was a medieval Moroccan city and trade [[entrepôt]] at the northern edge of the Sahara desert. The ruins of the town lie for {{convert|5|mi|km|order=flip|0}} along the [[Ziz River|River Ziz]] in the [[Tafilalt]] oasis near the town of [[Rissani]]. The town's history was marked by several successive invasions by [[Berber people|Berber]] dynasties. Up until the 14th century, as the northern terminus for the western [[trans-Saharan trade|trans-Sahara trade route]], it was one of the most important trade centres in the [[Maghreb]] during the Middle Ages.<ref>{{citation | last1=Lightfoot | first1=Dale R. | last2=Miller | first2=James A. | year=1996 | title=Sijilmassa: The rise and fall of a walled oasis in medieval Morocco | journal=Annals of the Association of American Geographers | volume=86 | pages=78–101 | url=http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/archaeology/Publications/Remote%20sensing/Sijilmassa%20The%20Rise%20and%20Fall%20of%20a%20Walled%20Oasis%20in%20Medieval%20Morocco.pdf | doi=10.1111/j.1467-8306.1996.tb01746.x | access-date=10 October 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120723195600/http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/archaeology/Publications/Remote%20sensing/Sijilmassa%20The%20Rise%20and%20Fall%20of%20a%20Walled%20Oasis%20in%20Medieval%20Morocco.pdf | archive-date=23 July 2012 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

== Kingdom of Nekor (710–1019) ==
{{Main|Kingdom of Nekor}}
The [[Kingdom of Nekor]] was an [[emirate]] centered in the [[Rif]] area of Morocco. Its capital was initially located at [[Temsaman (region)|Temsaman]], and then moved to [[Nekor]]. The polity was founded in 710 CE by [[Salih I ibn Mansur]] through a [[Caliph]]ate grant. Under his guidance, the local [[Berbers|Berber]] tribes adopted [[Islam]], but later deposed him in favor of one az-Zaydi from the Nafza tribe. They subsequently changed their mind and reappointed Ibn Mansur. His dynasty, the Banū Sālih, thereafter ruled the region until 1019.

In 859, the kingdom became subject to a 62 ship-strong group of [[Vikings]], who defeated a Moorish force in Nekor that had attempted to interfere with their plunderings in the area. After staying for eight days in Morocco, the Vikings went back to Spain and continued up the east coast.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.northvegr.org/lore/history_viking/046.php |title=Northvegr – A History of the Vikings |access-date=10 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090817193003/http://www.northvegr.org/lore/history_viking/046.php |archive-date=17 August 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== Idrisid dynasty (789–974) ==
{{Main|Idrisid dynasty}}
[[File:Idrisids-eng.PNG|thumb|Idrisid state, around 820 [[Common Era|CE]], showing its maximal extent.]]
The [[Idrisid dynasty]] was a Muslim polity centered in Morocco,<ref>{{Citation |last=Hodgson |first=Marshall |year=1961 |title=Venture of Islam |location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press |pages=262}}</ref> which ruled from 788 to 974. Named after the founder [[Idriss I]], the great-grandchild of [[Hasan ibn Ali]], the Idrisids are considered by historians to be the founders of the first Moroccan state.<ref name="Moroccan dynastic shurfa"/>

=== Founders of the Idrisid state: Idris I and Idris II ===
By the second half of the 8th century the westernmost regions of the [[Maghreb]], including present-day Morocco, had been effectively independent of the [[Umayyad Caliphate]] since the [[Kharijites|Khariji]]-led [[Berber Revolt|Berber revolts]] that started in 739–740.<ref name=":15" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Blankinship|first=Khalid Yahya|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jz0Yy053WS4C&q=morocco&pg=PA207|title=The End of the Jihad State: The Reign of Hisham Ibn 'Abd Al-Malik and the Collapse of the Umayyads|publisher=State University of New York Press|year=1994|isbn=9780791418277|pages=207|quote=At this point, the rebels had control of all modern Morocco, most of which was not to see rule by the universal caliphate again.}}</ref> The [[Abbasid Caliphate]] after 750 had no more success in re-establishing control over Morocco.<ref name=":15" />{{Rp|41}} The overthrow of eastern authority meant that Morocco was controlled by various local Berber tribes and principalities which emerged around this time, such as the [[Barghawata|Barghwata Confederacy]] on the Atlantic coast and the [[Midrarid dynasty|Midrarid Emirate]] in [[Sijilmasa]].<ref name=":15" /><ref name=":0" />

The founder of the Idrisid dynasty was [[Idris ibn Abdallah]] (788–791),<ref name="Eustache1031">''Idris I'', D. Eustache, '''The Encyclopaedia of Islam''', Vol. III, ed. B.Lewis, V. L. Menage, C. Pellat and J. Schact, (Brill, 1986), 1031.</ref> who traced his ancestry back to [[Ali ibn Abi Talib]] (died 661)<ref name="Eustache1031" /> and his wife [[Fatimah]], daughter of the Islamic prophet, [[Muhammad]]. He was the great-grandchild of [[Hasan ibn Ali]].<ref>{{EI2 | last = Eustache | first = D. | title = Idrīsids | volume = 3 | pages = 1031 |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_3495 }}</ref><ref name=":0" />{{Rp|81}} After the [[Battle of Fakhkh]], near [[Mecca]], between the [[Abbasids]] and supporters of the descendants of the [[Muhammad|prophet Muhammad]], Idris ibn Abdallah fled to the Maghreb. He first arrived in [[Tangier]], the most important city of Morocco at the time, and by 788 he had settled in [[Volubilis]] (known as Walili in Arabic).<ref name=":15" />{{Rp|51}}

The powerful [[Awraba|Awraba Berbers]] of Volubilis took in Idris and made him their '[[imam]]' (religious leader).<ref name=":15">{{Cite book|last=Abun-Nasr|first=Jamil|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jdlKbZ46YYkC&q=A%20history%20of%20the%20Maghrib%20in%20the%20Islamic%20period&pg=PP1|title=A history of the Maghrib in the Islamic period|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1987|isbn=0521337674|location=Cambridge}}</ref>{{Rp|51}}<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Rivet|first=Daniel|title=Histoire du Maroc: de Moulay Idrîs à Mohammed VI|publisher=Fayard|year=2012}}</ref>{{Rp|81}} The Awraba tribe had supported [[Kusayla]] in his struggle against the [[Ummayad]] armies in the 670s and 680s. By the second half of the 8th century they had settled in northern Morocco, where their leader Ishak had his base in the Roman town of Volubilis. By this time the Awraba were already Muslim, but lived in an area where most tribes were either Christian, Jewish, [[Khariji]] or pagan. The Awraba seem to have welcomed a Sharifi imam as a way to strengthen their political position. Idris I, who was very active in the political organization of the Awraba, began by asserting his authority and working toward the subjugation of the Christian and Jewish tribes. In 789 he founded a settlement south east of Volubilis, called ''[[Fes|Medinat Fas]]''. In 791 Idris I was poisoned and killed by an Abbasid agent. Even though he left no male heir, shortly after his death, his wife Lalla Kanza bint Uqba al-Awrabi, bore him his only son and successor, Idris II. Idris' loyal Arab ex-slave and companion Rashid brought up the boy and took on himself the regency of the state, on behalf of the Awraba. In 801 Rashid was killed by the [[Abbasids]]. In the following year, at the age of 11 years, Idris II was proclaimed imam by the Awraba.<ref name=":15" />{{Rp|51}}

Even though he had spread his authority across much of northern Morocco, as far west as [[Tlemcen]], Idris I had been completely dependent on the Awraba leadership. Idris II began his rule with the weakening of Awraba power by welcoming Arab settlers in Walili and by appointing two Arabs as his ''vizier'' and ''qadi''. Thus he transformed himself from a protégé of the Awraba into their sovereign. The Awraba leader Ishak responded by plotting against his life with the [[Aghlabids]] of Tunisia. Idris reacted by having his former protector Ishak killed, and in 809 moved his seat of government from the Awraba dominated Walili to Fes, where he founded a new settlement named Al-'Aliya. [[Idris II of Morocco|Idris II]] (791–828) developed the city of [[Fes|Fez]], established earlier by his father as a Berber market town. Here he welcomed two waves of Arab immigration: one in 818 from Cordoba and another in 824 from [[Aghlabid]] Tunisia, giving Fes a more Arab character than other Maghrebi cities. When Idris II died in 828, the Idrisid state spanned from western Algeria to the [[Sous]] in southern Morocco and had become the leading state of Morocco, ahead of the principalities of [[Sijilmasa]], [[Barghawata]] and [[Nekor]] which remained outside their control.<ref name=":15" />{{Rp|51–52}}<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|86}}

=== The successors of Idris II ===
[[File:Idrisids coin minted at Al Aliyah Morocco 840 CE.jpg|thumb|170px|[[Idrissid dirham|Idrisid dirham]], minted at al-'Aliyah ([[Fez, Morocco|Fes]]), [[Morocco]], 840 CE. The coin features the name of [[Ali]]: a son-in-law of [[Muhammad]], the fourth [[Ali as Caliph|Caliph]], and an ancestor of the Idrisids.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Discover Islamic Art - Virtual Museum - object_ISL_ma_Mus01_F_2_en|url=http://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;ma;Mus01_F;2;en|access-date=2020-07-25|website=islamicart.museumwnf.org}}</ref>|alt=]]
[[File:University karawiyine.jpg|thumb|Present-day courtyard of the [[University of al-Qarawiyyin|Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque]] in [[Fes]], established by [[Fatima al-Fihri]] in the 9th century]]

The dynasty's power would slowly decline following Idris II's death. Under his son and successor [[Muhammad ibn Idris|Muhammad]] (828–836) the kingdom was divided amongst seven of his brothers, whereby eight Idrisid statelets formed in Morocco and western Algeria.<ref>''Idrisids'', D. Eustache, '''The Encyclopaedia of Islam''', Vol. III, 1035.</ref> Muhammad himself came to rule Fes, with only nominal power over his brothers. His brother Isa, who was given control of the coastal [[Tamasna|Tamesna]] regions near the [[Bou Regreg]] from his base at [[Chellah]], quickly revolted against him. Muhammad entrusted his brother Umar, who had received the territories around the Rif, to punish Isa. Umar successfully drove Isa from power, who was forced to take refuge in Chellah, and then turned north to punish his other brother al-Qasim at Tangier because he had earlier refused to join him and Muhammad against Isa. Al-Qasim fled to [[Asilah]] and settled nearby, while Muhammad gave Umar governorship of Tangier as a reward. Upon Umar's death in September or October 835 his son [[Ali ibn Umar]] was granted all of his father's domains in turn. Muhammad himself died seven months later in the March or April 836. His son [[Ali ibn Muhammad]] inherited his position and ruled for 13 years (836–849) in a competent manner, ensuring the stability of the state. After his death in 849 he was succeeded by his brother [[Yahya ibn Muhammad]] (or Yahya I), who also enjoyed a peaceful reign.<ref name=":052">{{Cite book|last=Eustache|first=D.|title=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition|publisher=Brill|year=2012|editor-last=Bearman|editor-first=P.|chapter=Idrīsids|editor-last2=Bianquis|editor-first2=Th.|editor-last3=Bosworth|editor-first3=C.E.|editor-last4=van Donzel|editor-first4=E.|editor-last5=Heinrichs|editor-first5=W.P.}}</ref>

During this time [[Islam]]ic and [[Arabic culture]] gained a stronghold in the towns and Morocco profited from the [[trans-Saharan trade]], which came to be dominated by Muslim (mostly Berber) traders. The city of Fes also flourished and became an important religious center.<ref name=":15" />{{Rp|52}} During Yahya's reign more Arab immigrants arrived and the famous mosques of [[University of al-Qarawiyyin|al-Qarawiyyin]] and [[Andalusian Mosque|al-Andalusiyyin]] were founded.<ref name=":052" /> Even so, the Islamic and Arabic culture only made its influence felt in the towns, with the vast majority of Morocco's population still using the [[Berber languages]] and often adhering to Islamic heterodox and heretical doctrines. The Idrisids were principally rulers of the towns and had little power over the majority of the country's population.<ref name=":15" />{{Rp|52}}

=== Decline of the Idrisids and rise of Zenata dominance ===
After the death of Yahya I in 863 he was succeeded by his less competent son, Yahya II, who divided up the Idrisid realm yet again among the extended families. Yahya II died in uncertain circumstances in 866 after fleeing his palace. After an episode of disorder in Fes his cousin Ali ibn Umar took over power.<ref name=":052" /> In 868, under the leadership of the Abd al-Razzaq the Berber [[Khariji]] [[Sufri]] tribes of Madyuna, Ghayata and [[Miknasa]] of the Fes region formed a common front against the Idrisids. From their base in [[Sefrou]] they were able to defeat Ali ibn Umar and occupy Fes. Fes refused to submit, however, and another [[Yahya ibn al-Qasim|Yahya]], the son of al-Qasim, was able to retake the city and establish himself as the new ruler, Yahya III. Thus the ruling line had passed from the sons of Muhammad to the son of Umar and now the sons of al-Qasim.<ref name=":15" />{{Rp|52}}<ref name=":052" />

Yahya III ruled over the entire Idrisid realm and continued to attack the Sufris. In 905 however he died in battle against another family member, [[Yahya ibn Idris ibn Umar]] (a grandson of Umar), who then took power as Yahya IV.<ref name=":052" /> At this point, however, the [[Fatimid Caliphate|Fatimids]] in the east began to intervene in Morocco, hoping to expand their influence. In 917 the [[Miknasa]] and its leader Masala ibn Habus, acting on behalf of their Fatimid allies, attacked Fes and forced Yahya IV to recognize Fatimid suzerainty, before deposing him in 919<ref name=":052" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Bosworth|first=Clifford Edmund|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mKpz_2CkoWEC&q=new+islamic+dynasties|title=The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|year=2004|isbn=9780748621378}}</ref> or 921.<ref name=":15" />{{Rp|63}} He was succeeded by his cousin Musa ibn Abul 'Afiya, who had already been given charge over the rest of the country. The Idrisid [[Hassan I al-Hajam]], a grandson of al-Qasim, managed to wrest control of Fez from 925 but in 927 Musa returned, captured Hassan and killed him, marking the last time the Idrisids held power in Fes.<ref name=":052" />

From Fes, the Miknasa began pursuing the Idrisid family across Morocco. The family took refuge at the fortress of [[Hajar an-Nasar|Hajar an-Nasr]] in northern Morocco, where the Miknasa besieged them.<ref name=":052" /> Soon after, however, civil war broke out among the Miknasa when Musa switched allegiance to the [[Caliphate of Córdoba|Umayyads of Cordoba]] in 931 in an attempt to gain more independence. The Fatimids sent Humayd ibn Yasal (or Hamid<ref name=":15" />), the nephew of Masala ibn Habus, to confront Musa, defeating him in 933 and forcing him to fall back into line.<ref name=":052" /><ref name=":15" />{{Rp|63}} The Idrisids took advantage of the situation to break the siege of their fortress and defeat the Mikanasa Zenata troops. Once the Fatimids were gone, however, Musa once again threw off their authority and recognized the Umayyad caliph. The Fatimids sent their general Maysur to confront him again, and this time he fled. He was pursued and killed by the Idrisids.<ref name=":052" />

After this Idrisids settled among the [[Jbala]] tribes in the Rif region of north-west Morocco where they partially rebuilt their power base from Hajar an-Nasr, alternately acknowledging either the [[Caliphate of Córdoba|Umayyads of Cordoba]] (under [[Abd al-Rahman III|Abd ar-Rahman III]]) or the Fatimids as overlords.<ref name=":052" /> [[Al-Qasim Guennoun|Al-Qasim al-Gannoun ibn Muhammad]] ruled here from 938 until 948 in the name of the Fatimids.<ref name=":052" /><ref name=":1" /> His son and successor, Ahmad, known as [[Abul-Aish Ahmad|Abul-'Aysh]], recognized the Umayyads instead but ran afoul of them when he refused to let them occupy Tangier. He was besieged there and forced to retreat, retaining only the areas around [[Basra, Morocco|al-Basra]] and Asilah while the Umayyads occupied the rest of northern Morocco.<ref name=":052" /> He eventually left for Al-Andalus, leaving his brother [[Al-Hasan ibn Kannun|Hasan ibn al-Qasim al-Gannoun]] as the new leader in 954.<ref name=":052" /><ref name=":1" /> In 958 the Fatimids sent a new general, [[Jawhar (general)|Jawhar]], to invade Morocco. His success forced the Idrisids to again accept Fatimid overlordship.<ref name=":052" /><ref name=":15" />{{Rp|75}} Soon afterwards, however, when Jawhar and the Fatimids were busy taking control of Egypt, the Umayyads made a comeback. In 973 their general, Ghalib, invaded Morocco.<ref name=":15" /> The Idrisids were expelled from their territories and al-Hasan, along with many other Idrisids or their sons, were taken as hostages to Cordoba in 974.<ref name=":052" /> The remaining Idrisids in Morocco acknowledged Umayyad rule.<ref name=":15" /> Al-Hasan was later expelled from Cordoba and fled to Egypt, which was now under Fatimid rule. In 979 [[Buluggin ibn Ziri]], the Fatimid governor of Ifriqiya (after the Fatimid Caliphs moved their capital to [[Cairo]]), returned to defeat the Umayyads and impose Fatimid overlordship in the western Maghreb again. In 985<ref name=":1" /> he returned to Morocco with Fatimid support, but that same year he was defeated by another Umayyad general sent by [[Almanzor|al-Mansur]] and then assassinated on the way to Cordoba.<ref name=":052" /> This brought a final end to the Idrisid dynasty. The Umayyads kept control over northern Morocco until their caliphate's collapse in the early 11th century. Following this, Morocco was dominated by various Zenata Berber tribes.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|91}}<ref name=":15" />{{Rp|82}} Until the rise of the [[Sanhaja]] [[Almoravid dynasty|Almoravids]] later in the century, the [[Maghrawa]] controlled [[Fez, Morocco|Fes]], [[Sijilmasa]] and [[Aghmat]] while the [[Banu Ifran]] ruled over Tlemcen, [[Salé]] (Chellah), and the [[Tadla]] region.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|91}}

Despite having fallen from power, the Idrisids nonetheless spawned many sharifian families which continued to be present for centuries to come. Some Moroccans today still claim descent from them.<ref name=":052" /> In the 11th century an Idrisid family descended from Umar (son of Idris II), the [[Hammudid dynasty|Hammudids]] were able to gain power in several cities of northern [[Morocco]] and southern [[Spain]].<ref name=":052" /><ref name=":0522">{{Cite book|last=Huici Miranda|first=A.|title=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition|publisher=Brill|year=2012|editor-last=Bearman|editor-first=P.|chapter=Ḥammūdids|editor-last2=Bianquis|editor-first2=Th.|editor-last3=Bosworth|editor-first3=C.E.|editor-last4=van Donzel|editor-first4=E.|editor-last5=Heinrichs|editor-first5=W.P.}}</ref> In Fes and in the town of [[Moulay Idriss Zerhoun|Moulay Idriss]] (near Volubilis), the tombs of Idris II and Idris I, respectively, eventually developed into important religious complexes and pilgrimage sites (e.g. the [[Zawiya of Moulay Idris II]]).<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Achouar|first=Amina|title=Fès, Meknès|publisher=Flammarion|year=2005}}</ref><ref name=":62">{{Cite book|last=Gaudio|first=Attilio|title=Fès: Joyau de la civilisation islamique|publisher=Les Presse de l'UNESCO: Nouvelles Éditions Latines|year=1982|isbn=2723301591|location=Paris|pages=123–131}}</ref> Several prominent sharifian families in Fez traced their lineages to Idris I,<ref name=":02">{{Cite book|last=Le Tourneau|first=Roger|title=Fès avant le protectorat: étude économique et sociale d'une ville de l'occident musulman|publisher=Société Marocaine de Librairie et d'Édition|year=1949|location=Casablanca}}</ref>{{Rp|488}} and some of these played a role in maintaining or rebuilding the Zawiya of Idris II in the city.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|last=Mezzine|first=Mohamed|title=Mulay Idris Mausoleum|url=http://www.discoverislamicart.org/database_item.php?id=monument;isl;ma;mon01;20;en|access-date=6 January 2018|website=Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers}}</ref>

== Almoravid dynasty (c. 1060 – 1147) ==
{{Cleanup section|reason=Section was likely copied directly from [[Almoravid dynasty]], but has insufficient citations and doesn't properly summarize the period, as it covers the early years in detail and nothing about the rest of the period.|date=October 2022}}{{Main|Almoravid dynasty}}
[[File:Almoravid Empire.png|thumb|left|The Almoravid empire at its height stretched from the city of [[Aoudaghost]] to the [[Taifa of Zaragoza|Zaragoza]] in Al-Andalus]]
The [[Almoravid dynasty]] (c.1060–1147) originated among the [[Lamtuna]] nomadic [[Berbers|Berber]] tribe belonging to the [[Sanhaja]]. They succeeded in unifying Morocco after it had been divided among several Zenata principalities in the late 10th century, and annexed the Emirate of Sijilmasa and the Barghawata (Tamesna) into their realm.

Under [[Yusuf ibn Tashfin]], the Almoravids were invited by the Muslim ''[[taifa]]'' princes of [[Al-Andalus]] to defend their territories from the Christian kingdoms. Their involvement was crucial in preventing the fall of [[Al-Andalus]]. After having succeeded in repelling Christian forces in 1086, Yusuf returned to Iberia in 1090 and annexed most of the major ''taifas''.<ref>Maxime RODINSON, « ALMORAVIDES  », Encyclopædia Universalis [en ligne], consulté le 23 octobre 2014. URL : http://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/almoravides/</ref>[[File:Cúpula_almorávide_(Marrakech).jpg|right|thumb|240x240px|The [[Almoravid Qubba]], built by the Almoravids in the 12th century.<ref>{{Citation|title=Empires of Gold {{!}} Hour Three {{!}} Season 1 Episode 3 {{!}} Africa's Great Civilizations|url=https://www.pbs.org/video/africas-great-civilizations-empires-gold-hour-three/|access-date=22 November 2019}}</ref>]]Almoravid power began to decline in the first half of the 12th century, as the dynasty was weakened after its defeat at the [[battle of Ourique]] and because of the agitation of the [[Almohads]]. The conquest of the city of [[Marrakech]] by the Almohads in 1147 marked the fall of the dynasty. However, fragments of the Almoravids (the [[Banu Ghaniya]]) continued to struggle in the Balearic Islands and in [[Tunisia]].

The Berbers of the [[Tamazgha]] in the early Middle Ages could be roughly classified into three major groups: the [[Zenata]] across the north, the [[Masmuda]] concentrated in central Morocco, and the Sanhaja, clustered in two areas: the western part of the [[Sahara]] and the hills of the eastern Maghreb.<ref>{{cite book|author=ʻAbd al-Wāḥid Dhannūn Ṭāhā|title=The Muslim conquest and settlement of North Africa and Spain|publisher=Routledge|year=1998|isbn=0-415-00474-8}} ({{google books|TgcOAAAAQAAJ|online}})</ref><ref>Mones (1988), p. 119; (1992), p. 228.</ref> The eastern Sanhaja included the [[Kutama]] Berbers, who had been the base of the [[Fatimid]] rise in the early 10th century, and the [[Zirid dynasty]], who ruled [[Ifriqiya]] as vassals of the Fatimids after the latter moved to Egypt in 972. The western [[Sanhaja]] were divided into several tribes: the Gazzula and the [[Lamta]] in the [[Draa valley]] and the foothills of the [[Anti-Atlas]] range; further south, encamped in the western [[Sahara]], were the Massufa, the [[Lamtuna]] and the Banu Warith; and most southerly of all, the Gudala, in littoral [[Mauritania]] down to the borderlands of the [[Senegal River]].

The western Sanhaja had been converted to [[Islam]] some time in the 9th century. They were subsequently united in the 10th century and, with the zeal of new converts, launched several campaigns against the "[[Sudan (region)|Sudan]]ese" (pagan peoples of [[sub-Saharan Africa]]).<ref>Lewicki (1988), pp. 160–61; (1992), pp. 308–09.</ref> Under their king Tinbarutan ibn Usfayshar, the Sanhaja Lamtuna erected (or captured) the citadel of [[Awdaghust]], a critical stop on the [[trans-Saharan trade]] route. After the collapse of the Sanhaja union, Awdagust passed over to the [[Ghana empire]]; and the trans-Saharan routes were taken over by the Zenata [[Maghrawa]] of [[Sijilmassa]]. The Maghrawa also exploited this disunion to dislodge the Sanhaja Gazzula and Lamta out of their pasturelands in the Sous and Draa valleys. Around 1035, the Lamtuna chieftain Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Tifat (alias Tarsina), tried to reunite the Sanhaja desert tribes, but his reign lasted less than three years.

Around 1040, [[Yahya ibn Ibrahim]], a chieftain of the Gudala (and brother-in-law of the late Tarsina), went on [[Hajj|pilgrimage]] to [[Mecca]]. On his return, he stopped by [[Kairouan]] in [[Ifriqiya]], where he met [[Abu Imran al-Fasi]], a native of [[Fes]] and a jurist and scholar of the [[Sunni]] [[Maliki]] school. At this time, Ifriqiya was in ferment. The [[Zirid dynasty|Zirid]] ruler [[al-Muizz ibn Badis]], was openly contemplating breaking with his [[Shi'ite]] [[Fatimid]] overlords in Cairo, and the jurists of Kairouan were agitating for him to do so. Within this heady atmosphere, Yahya and Abu Imran fell into conversation on the state of the faith in their western homelands, and Yahya expressed his disappointment at the lack of religious education and negligence of [[Sharia|Islamic law]] among his southern Sanhaja people. With Abu Imran's recommendation, Yahya ibn Ibrahim made his way to the ''ribat'' of Waggag ibn Zelu in the [[Sous]] valley of southern Morocco, to seek out a Maliki teacher for his people. Waggag assigned him one of his residents, [[Abdallah ibn Yasin]].

Abdallah ibn Yasin was a Gazzula Berber, and probably a convert rather than a born Muslim. His name can be read as "son of [[Ya Sin]]" (the title of the 36th [[Sura]] of the [[Qur'an]]), suggesting he had obliterated his family past and was "re-born" of the Holy Book.<ref>M. Brett and E. Fentress (1996), ''The Berbers'', Oxford: Blackwell, p. 100. Revealingly, the 36th Sura begins the salutation "You are one of messengers" and the imperative duty to set people "on the straight path". Ibn Yasin's choice of name was probably not a coincidence.</ref> Ibn Yasin certainly had the ardor of a puritan zealot; his creed was mainly characterized by a rigid formalism and a strict adherence to the dictates of the [[Qur'an]], and the [[Sunnah|Orthodox tradition]].<ref name="shilling88" /> (Chroniclers such as al-Bakri allege Ibn Yasin's learning was superficial.) Ibn Yasin's initial meetings with the Gudala people went poorly. As he had more ardor than depth, Ibn Yasin's arguments were disputed by his audience. He responded to questioning with charges of apostasy and handed out harsh punishments for the slightest deviations. The Gudala soon had enough and expelled him almost immediately after the death of his protector, Yahya ibn Ibrahim, sometime in the 1040s.

Ibn Yasin, however, found a more favorable reception among the neighboring Lamtuna people.<ref name="shilling88">{{cite book|last=Shillington|first=Kevin|title=History of Africa|year=2005|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=New York|isbn=978-0-333-59957-0|page=88}}</ref> Probably sensing the useful organizing power of Ibn Yasin's pious fervor, the Lamtuna chieftain [[Yahya ibn Umar al-Lamtuni]] invited the man to preach to his people. The Lamtuna leaders, however, kept Ibn Yasin on a careful leash, forging a more productive partnership between them. Invoking stories of the early life of Muhammad, Ibn Yasin preached that conquest was a necessary addendum to Islamicization, that it was not enough to merely adhere to God's law, but necessary to also destroy opposition to it. In Ibn Yasin's ideology, anything and everything outside of Islamic law could be characterized as "opposition". He identified tribalism, in particular, as an obstacle. He believed it was not enough to urge his audiences to put aside their blood loyalties and ethnic differences, and embrace the equality of all Muslims under the Sacred Law, it was necessary to make them do so. For the Lamtuna leadership, this new ideology dovetailed with their long desire to refound the Sanhaja union and recover their lost dominions. In the early 1050s, the Lamtuna, under the joint leadership of Yahya ibn Umar and Abdallah ibn Yasin—soon calling themselves the ''al-Murabitin'' (Almoravids)—set out on a campaign to bring their neighbors over to their cause.

== Almohads (c. 1121–1269) ==
{{More citations needed section|date=September 2021}}
{{Main|Almohad Caliphate}}
{{Multiple image
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| footer            = ''[[Aʿazzu Mā Yuṭlab]]'' compiled the teachings of Ibn Tumart, which were fundamental to [[Almohad doctrine]].
}}

The Almohad Caliphate ({{IPAc-en|IPA|ˈ|æ|l|m|ə|h|æ|d}}; {{langx|ar|خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ}} or {{lang|ar|دَوْلَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ}} or {{lang|ar|ٱلدَّوْلَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِيَّةُ}} from {{langx|ar|ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ|translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn|lit=those who profess the [[Tawhid|unity of God]]}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Definition of ALMOHAD |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Almohad |access-date=2021-01-09 |website=www.merriam-webster.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Almohad definition and meaning {{!}} Collins English Dictionary |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/almohad |access-date=2021-01-09 |website=www.collinsdictionary.com |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":152">{{cite book |last=Bennison |first=Amira K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=19JVDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA299 |title=Almoravid and Almohad Empires |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-7486-4682-1 |pages=299–300, 306}}</ref>{{Rp|246}}) was a [[North Africa]]n [[Berbers|Berber]] [[Muslim]] empire founded in present day Morocco at the 12th century. At its height, it controlled much of the [[Iberian Peninsula]] ([[Al Andalus]]) and [[North Africa]] (the [[Maghreb]]).<ref name=":623">{{Cite web |title=Almohads {{!}} Berber confederation |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Almohads |access-date=2021-05-05 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en}}</ref><ref name="BoweringCrone2013">{{cite book |author1=Gerhard Bowering |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q1I0pcrFFSUC&pg=PA34 |title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought |author2=Patricia Crone |author3=Mahan Mirza |author4=Wadad Kadi |author5=Muhammad Qasim Zaman |author6=Devin J. Stewart |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-691-13484-0 |page=34}}</ref><ref name="Oxford Bibliographies 2020">{{cite web |date=6 Jan 2020 |title=Almohads - Islamic Studies |url=https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195390155/obo-9780195390155-0217.xml |access-date=11 Feb 2020 |website=Oxford Bibliographies}}</ref> The [[Almohad doctrine]] was founded by [[Ibn Tumart]] among the Berber [[Masmuda]] tribes, a [[Berber people|Berber]] tribal confederation of the [[Atlas Mountains]] of southern Morocco.<ref name="EI2">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Ibn Tūmart |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |url=http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/ibn-tumart-SIM_3395 |last=Hopkins |first=J.F.P. |date=24 April 2012 |edition=2nd |page=958}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Hugh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NFfJAwAAQBAJ |title=Muslim Spain and Portugal: A Political History of Al-Andalus |publisher=Routledge |year=2014 |isbn=9781317870418 |pages=197 |language=en}}</ref> At the time, [[Morocco]], western [[Algeria]] and Spain ([[al-Andalus]]), were under the rule of the [[Almoravids]], a [[Sanhaja]] Berber dynasty.<ref>{{Cite book |chapter=Ibn Tumart |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095955689|title=The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions |year=2000 |doi=10.1093/acref/9780192800947.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-280094-7 }}</ref> Around 1120, Ibn Tumart first established a Berber state in [[Tinmel]] in the [[Atlas Mountains]].<ref name=":623" />

Early in his life, Ibn Tumart went to Spain to pursue his studies, and thereafter to [[Baghdad]] to deepen them. In Baghdad, Ibn Tumart attached himself to the theological school of [[al-Ash'ari]], and came under the influence of the teacher [[al-Ghazali]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Islamic reformer Ibn Tumart: The man who changed the course of Islamic history - Qantara.de |url=https://en.qantara.de/content/the-islamic-reformer-ibn-tumart-the-man-who-changed-the-course-of-islamic-history |access-date=2023-04-20 |website=Qantara.de - Dialogue with the Islamic World |date=28 December 2017 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fletcher |first1=Madeleine |title=Ibn Tūmart's teachers: the relationship with al-Ghazālī |journal=Al-Qanṭara |date=15 February 2019 |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=305–330 |doi=10.3989/alqantara.1997.v18.i2.528 |s2cid=160438130 |doi-access=free }}</ref> He soon developed his own system, combining the doctrines of various masters. Ibn Tumart's main principle was a strict unitarianism (''[[tawhid]]''), which denied the independent existence of the [[God in Islam|attributes of God]] as being incompatible with His unity, and therefore a polytheistic idea. Ibn Tumart represented a revolt against what he perceived as [[anthropomorphism]] in Muslim orthodoxy. His followers would become known as the ''al-Muwaḥḥidūn'' ("Almohads"), meaning those who affirm the unity of God.

Around 1124, Ibn Tumart erected the [[ribat]] of [[Tinmel]], in the valley of the Nfis in the High Atlas, an impregnable fortified complex, which would serve both as the spiritual center and military headquarters of the Almohad movement. For the first eight years, the Almohad rebellion was limited to a guerilla war along the peaks and ravines of the High Atlas. In early 1130, the Almohads finally descended from the mountains for their first sizeable attack in the lowlands. It was a disaster. The Almohads swept aside an Almoravid column that had come out to meet them before [[Aghmat]], and then chased their remnant all the way to [[Marrakesh]]. They laid siege to Marrakesh for forty days until, in April (or May) 1130, the Almoravids sallied from the city and crushed the Almohads in the bloody [[Battle of al-Buhayra]] (named after a large garden east of the city). The Almohads were thoroughly routed, with huge losses. Half their leadership was killed in action, and the survivors only just managed to scramble back to the mountains.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tPsUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA592|title=The Encyclopedia of Islam, Volume 6, Fascicules 107–108|publisher=Brill|year=1989|isbn=978-90-04-09082-8|series=The Encyclopaedia of Islam|page=592|access-date=2019-02-01}}</ref>[[File:Empire almohade.PNG|thumb|left|The Almohad empire at its greatest extent, c. 1180–1212<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.qantara-med.org/qantara4/public/show_carte.php?carte=carte-05&lang=en|title=Qantara|access-date=2013-02-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611222631/http://www.qantara-med.org/qantara4/public/show_carte.php?carte=carte-05&lang=en|archive-date=2016-06-11|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.qantara-med.org/qantara4/public/show_carte.php?carte=carte-06&lang=en|title=Qantara|access-date=2013-02-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611222646/http://www.qantara-med.org/qantara4/public/show_carte.php?carte=carte-06&lang=en|archive-date=2016-06-11|url-status=dead}}</ref>]]Ibn Tumart died shortly after, in August 1130. That the Almohad movement did not immediately collapse after such a devastating defeat and the death of their charismatic Mahdi, is likely due to the skills of his successor, Abd al-Mu'min.<ref name=":232">{{Cite book|last=Bennison|first=Amira K.|title=The Almoravid and Almohad Empires|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|year=2016}}</ref>{{Rp|70}} Ibn Tumart's death was kept a secret for three years, a period which Almohad chroniclers described as a ''[[Occultation (Islam)|ghayba]]'' or "occultation". This period likely gave Abd al-Mu'min time to secure his position as successor to the political leadership of the movement.<ref name=":232" />{{Rp|70}} Although a [[Zenata]] Berber from Tagra (Algeria),<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=CurSh3Sh_KMC&pg=PA4 Dictionary of World Biography: The Middle Ages - Page 4]</ref> and thus an alien among the Masmuda of southern Morocco, Abd al-Mu'min nonetheless saw off his principal rivals and hammered wavering tribes back to the fold. Three years after Ibn Tumart's death he was officially proclaimed "Caliph".<ref name=":05222">{{Cite book|last=|first=|title=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three|publisher=Brill|year=|editor-last=Fleet|editor-first=Kate|location=|pages=|chapter=Almohads|issn=1873-9830|editor-last2=Krämer|editor-first2=Gudrun|editor-last3=Matringe|editor-first3=Denis|editor-last4=Nawas|editor-first4=John|editor-last5=Rowson|editor-first5=Everett}}</ref>

===Conquests===
Abd al-Mu'min then came forward as the lieutenant of the Mahdi Ibn Tumart. Between 1130 and his death in 1163, Abd al-Mu'min not only rooted out the Murabits ([[Almoravids]]), but extended his power over all northern Africa as far as [[Egypt]], becoming amir of [[Marrakesh]] in 1149.

[[Al-Andalus]] followed the fate of Africa. Between 1146 and 1173, the Almohads gradually wrested control from the Murabits over the Moorish principalities in Iberia. The Almohads transferred the capital of Muslim Iberia from [[Córdoba, Andalusia|Córdoba]] to [[Seville]]. They founded a great mosque there; its tower, the [[Giralda]], was erected in 1184 to mark the accession of Ya'qub I. The Almohads also built a palace there called Al-Muwarak on the site of the modern day [[Alcázar of Seville]].

[[File:Sevilla Almohade.JPG|thumb|The Almohads transferred the capital of Al-Andalus to [[Seville]].]]

The Almohad princes had a longer and more distinguished career than the Murabits. The successors of Abd al-Mumin, [[Abu Yaqub Yusuf]] (Yusuf I, ruled 1163–1184) and [[Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur]] (Yaʻqūb I, ruled 1184–1199), were both able men. Initially their government drove many Jewish and Christian subjects to take refuge in the growing Christian states of Portugal, Castile, and [[Aragon]]. Ultimately they became less fanatical than the Murabits, and Ya'qub al-Mansur was a highly accomplished man who wrote a good [[Arabic language|Arabic]] style and protected the philosopher [[Averroes]]. His title of "''al-Manṣūr''" ("the Victorious") was earned by his victory over [[Alfonso VIII of Castile]] in the [[Battle of Alarcos]] (1195).

From the time of [[Yusuf II]], however, the Almohads governed their co-religionists in Iberia and central North Africa through lieutenants, their dominions outside [[Morocco]] being treated as provinces. When Almohad emirs crossed the Straits it was to lead a [[jihad]] against the Christians and then return to Morocco.<ref>{{cite book|last=Barton|first=Simon|title=A History of Spain|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2009|isbn=978-0-230-20012-8|location=London|pages=63–66}}</ref>

===Holding years===
[[File:Abu Yaqub Yusef Coin.png|thumb|300px|Coin minted during the reign of [[Abu Yaqub Yusuf]]]]

In 1212, the Almohad Caliph [[Muhammad an-Nasir|Muhammad 'al-Nasir']] (1199–1214), the successor of al-Mansur, after an initially successful advance north, was defeated by an alliance of the four Christian kings of [[Kingdom of Castile|Castile]], [[Aragón]], [[Kingdom of Navarre|Navarre]], and Portugal, at the [[Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa]] in the [[Sierra Morena]]. The battle broke the Almohad advance, but the Christian powers remained too disorganized to profit from it immediately.

Before his death in 1213, al-Nasir appointed his young ten-year-old son as the next [[caliph]] [[Yusuf II, Almohad Caliph|Yusuf II "al-Mustansir"]]. The Almohads passed through a period of effective [[regent|regency]] for the young caliph, with power exercised by an oligarchy of elder family members, palace bureaucrats and leading nobles. The Almohad ministers were careful to negotiate a series of truces with the Christian kingdoms, which remained more-or-less in place for next fifteen years (the [[Siege of Alcácer do Sal|loss of Alcácer do Sal]] to the [[Kingdom of Portugal]] in 1217 was an exception).

In early 1224, the youthful caliph died in an accident, without any heirs. The palace bureaucrats in [[Marrakesh]], led by the ''[[Vizier|wazir]]'' Uthman ibn Jam'i, quickly engineered the election of his elderly grand-uncle, [[Abdul-Wahid I, Almohad Caliph|Abd al-Wahid I 'al-Makhlu']], as the new Almohad caliph. But the rapid appointment upset other branches of the family, notably the brothers of the late al-Nasir, who governed in [[al-Andalus]]. The challenge was immediately raised by one of them, then governor in [[Murcia]], who declared himself Caliph [[Abdallah al-Adil]]. With the help of his brothers, he quickly seized control of al-Andalus. His chief advisor, the shadowy Abu Zayd ibn Yujjan, tapped into his contacts in Marrakesh, and secured the [[deposition (politics)|deposition]] and assassination of Abd al-Wahid I, and the expulsion of the al-Jami'i [[clan]].

This [[coup]] has been characterized as the pebble that finally broke al-Andalus. It was the first internal coup among the Almohads. The Almohad clan, despite occasional disagreements, had always remained tightly knit and loyally behind dynastic precedence. Caliph al-Adil's murderous breach of dynastic and constitutional propriety marred his acceptability to other Almohad ''[[sheikh]]s''. One of the recusants was his cousin, Abd Allah al-Bayyasi ("the [[Baeza, Spain|Baeza]]n"), the Almohad governor of [[Jaén, Spain|Jaén]], who took a handful of followers and decamped for the hills around Baeza. He set up a rebel camp and forged an alliance with the hitherto quiet [[Ferdinand III of Castile]]. Sensing his greater priority was Marrakesh, where recusant Almohad ''sheikh''s had rallied behind Yahya, another son of al-Nasir, al-Adil paid little attention to this little band of misfits.

=== Reconquista ===

In 1225, Abd Allah al-Bayyasi's band of rebels, accompanied by a large Castilian army, descended from the hills, besieging cities such as [[Siege of Jaén (1225)|Jaén]] and [[Siege of Andújar|Andújar]]. They [[raid (military)|raid]]ed throughout the regions of [[Province of Jaén (Spain)|Jaén]], [[Province of Córdoba (Spain)|Cordova]] and [[Vega de Granada]] and, before the end of the year, al-Bayyasi had established himself in the city of [[Córdoba, Andalusia|Cordova]]. Sensing a power vacuum, both [[Alfonso IX of León]] and [[Sancho II of Portugal]] opportunistically ordered raids into Andalusian territory that same year. With Almohad arms, men and cash dispatched to Morocco to help Caliph al-Adil impose himself in Marrakesh, there was little means to stop the sudden onslaught. In late 1225, with surprising ease, the Portuguese raiders reached the environs of [[Seville]]. Knowing they were outnumbered, the Almohad governors of the city refused to confront the Portuguese raiders, prompting the disgusted population of Seville to take matters into their own hands, raise a militia, and go out in the field by themselves. The result was a veritable massacre – the Portuguese men-at-arms easily mowed down the throng of poorly armed townsfolk. Thousands, perhaps as much as 20,000, were said to have been slain before the walls of Seville. A similar disaster befell a similar popular levy by [[Murcia]]ns at [[Aspe]] that same year. But Christian raiders had been stopped at [[Cáceres, Spain|Cáceres]] and [[Requena, Valencia|Requena]]. Trust in the Almohad leadership was severely shaken by these events – the disasters were promptly blamed on the distractions of Caliph al-Adil and the incompetence and cowardice of his lieutenants, the successes credited to non-Almohad local leaders who rallied defenses.

But al-Adil's fortunes were briefly buoyed. In payment for Castilian assistance, al-Bayyasi had given Ferdinand III three strategic frontier fortresses: [[Baños de la Encina]], Salvatierra (the old [[Order of Calatrava]] fortress near [[Ciudad Real]]) and [[Capilla, Badajoz|Capilla]]. But Capilla refused to hand them over, forcing the Castilians to lay a long and difficult siege. The brave defiance of little Capilla, and the spectacle of al-Bayyasi's shipping provisions to the Castilian besiegers, shocked Andalusians and shifted sentiment back towards the Almohad caliph. A popular uprising broke out in Cordova – al-Bayyasi was killed and his head dispatched as a trophy to Marrakesh. But Caliph al-Adil did not rejoice in this victory for long – he was assassinated in Marrakesh in October 1227, by the partisans of Yahya, who was promptly acclaimed as the new Almohad caliph [[Yahya, Almohad Caliph|Yahya "al-Mu'tasim"]].

The Andalusian branch of the Almohads refused to accept this turn of events. Al-Adil's brother, then in Seville, proclaimed himself the new Almohad caliph [[Idris I, Almohad Caliph|Abd al-Ala Idris I 'al-Ma'mun']]. He promptly purchased a [[truce]] from Ferdinand III in return for 300,000 ''[[maravedi]]s'', allowing him to organize and dispatch the greater part of the Almohad army in Spain across the [[Straits of Gibraltar|straits]] in 1228 to confront Yahya.

That same year, Portuguese and [[Leonese Country|Leonese]] renewed their raids deep into Muslim territory, basically unchecked. Feeling the Almohads had failed to protect them, popular uprisings took place throughout al-Andalus. City after city deposed their hapless Almohad governors and installed local strongmen in their place. A Murcian strongman, [[Muhammad ibn Yusuf ibn Hud al-Judhami]], who claimed descendance from the [[Banu Hud]] dynasty that had once ruled the old [[taifa of Zaragoza|taifa of Saragossa]], emerged as the central figure of these rebellions, systematically dislodging Almohad garrisons through central Spain. In October 1228, with Spain practically all lost, al-Ma'mun abandoned Seville, taking what little remained of the Almohad army with him to Morocco. Ibn Hud immediately dispatched emissaries to distant [[Baghdad]] to offer recognition to the [[Abbasid]] [[Caliph]], albeit taking up for himself a quasi-caliphal title, 'al-Mutawwakil'.

[[File:Almohads after 1212.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Almohads after 1212]]
The departure of al-Ma'mun in 1228 marked the end of the Almohad era in Spain. Ibn Hud and the other local Andalusian strongmen were unable to stem the rising flood of Christian attacks, launched almost yearly by [[Sancho II of Portugal]], [[Alfonso IX of León]], [[Ferdinand III of Castile]] and [[James I of Aragon]]. The next twenty years saw a massive advance in the Christian [[reconquista]] – the old great Andalusian [[citadel]]s fell in a grand sweep: [[Mérida, Spain|Mérida]] and [[Badajoz]] in 1230 (to Leon), [[Mallorca]] in 1230 (to Aragon), [[Beja, Portugal|Beja]] in 1234 (to Portugal), [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]] in 1236 (to Castile), [[Valencia]] in 1238 (to Aragon), [[Niebla, Huelva|Niebla]]-[[Huelva]] in 1238 (to Leon), [[Silves, Portugal|Silves]] in 1242 (to Portugal), [[Murcia]] in 1243 (to Castile), [[Jaén, Spain|Jaén]] [[Siege of Jaén (1245-46)|in 1246]] (to Castile), [[Alicante]] in 1248 (to Castile), culminating in the fall of the greatest of Andalusian cities, the ex-Almohad capital of [[Seville]], into Christian hands in 1248. Ferdinand III of Castile entered Seville as a conqueror on 22 December 1248.

The Andalusians were helpless before this onslaught. Ibn Hudd had attempted to check the Leonese advance early on, but most of his Andalusian army was destroyed at the [[battle of Alange]] in 1230. Ibn Hud scrambled to move remaining arms and men to save threatened or besieged Andalusian citadels, but with so many attacks at once, it was a hopeless endeavor. After Ibn Hud's death in 1238, some of the Andalusian cities, in a last-ditch effort to save themselves, offered themselves once again to the Almohads, but to no avail. The Almohads would not return.

With the departure of the Almohads, the [[Nasrid dynasty]] ("''Banū Naṣr''", {{langx|ar|بنو نصر}}) rose to power in [[Granada]]. After the great Christian advance of 1228–1248, the [[Emirate of Granada]] was practically all that remained of old [[al-Andalus]]. Some of the captured citadels (e.g. Murcia, Jaen, Niebla) were reorganized as tributary vassals for a few more years, but most were annexed by the 1260s. Granada alone would remain independent for an additional 250 years, flourishing as the new center of al-Andalus.

===Collapse in the Maghreb===
In their African holdings, the Almohads encouraged the establishment of Christians even in [[Fez, Morocco|Fez]], and after the [[Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa]] they occasionally entered into alliances with the kings of [[Kingdom of Castile|Castile]]. They were successful in expelling the garrisons placed in some of the coast towns by the [[Normans|Norman]] kings of [[Sicily]]. The history of their decline differs from that of the [[Almoravids]], whom they had displaced. They were not assailed by a great religious movement, but lost territories, piecemeal, by the revolt of tribes and districts. Their most effective enemies were the Banu Marin ([[Marinid]]s) who founded the next dynasty. The last representative of the line, [[Idris II, Almohad Caliph|Idris II, 'al-Wathiq']], was reduced to the possession of [[Marrakesh]], where he was murdered by a slave in 1269.

==Marinids dynasty (c. 1244–1465)==
{{Main|Marinids dynasty}}
[[File:Carte Empire Mérinide XIVe.jpg|thumb|The Marinid Sultanate in 1360]]
Although the Marinids claimed [[Arabs|Arab]] ancestry<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gerli|first=E. Michael|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QlpKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA561|title=Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia|date=2013-12-04|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-77161-3|location=|pages=|language=en|quote=North African dynasty probably of Berber origin, although they claimed Arab ancestry}}</ref> through a North Arabian tribe,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Egger|first=Vernon O.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0dEYDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT187|title=A History of the Muslim World since 1260: The Making of a Global Community|date=2016-09-16|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-315-51107-8|location=|pages=|language=en|quote=and even contrived a family tree to establish their "descent" from a North Arabian tribe}}</ref> they were of Berber origin. Following the arrival of the Arab Bedouins in North Africa in the middle of the eleventh century, the Marinids were obliged to leave their lands in the region of [[Biskra]], in present-day [[Algeria]].<ref name="Tourneau2015">{{cite book|author=Roger Le Tourneau|title=Almohad Movement in North Africa in the 12th and 13th Centuries|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LCTWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA490|date=8 December 2015|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-7669-3|pages=490–491}}</ref><ref name="Khaneboubi2008">{{cite book|author=Ahmed Khaneboubi|title=Les institutions gouvernementales sous les Mérinides: 1258-1465|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2-IuAQAAIAAJ|year=2008|publisher=L'Harmattan|isbn=978-2-296-06644-1}}</ref> They first frequented the area between [[Sijilmasa]] and [[Figuig]], present-day [[Morocco]],<ref name=":20">{{Cite encyclopedia|year=1991|editor1-link=Peri Bearman|editor3-link=Clifford Edmund Bosworth|editor4-link=Emeri Johannes van Donzel|editor5-link=Wolfhart Heinrichs|editor1-last=Bearman|editor1-first=P.|editor2-last=Bianquis|editor2-first=Th.|editor2-link=Thierry Bianquis|editor3-last=Bosworth|editor3-first=C.E.|editor4-last=van Donzel|editor4-first=E.|editor5-last=Heinrichs|editor5-first=W.P.|isbn=9004081127|title=Marīnids|page=571|volume=VI|edition=2nd|location=Leiden, Netherlands|first=M.|last=Shatzmiller|author-link=Maya Shatzmiller|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/marinids-SIM_4966|publisher=[[Brill Publishers|E. J. BRILL]]|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia of Islam]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Powers|first=David S.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5jANDYfAV8QC|title=Law, Society and Culture in the Maghrib, 1300-1500|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=2002|isbn=978-0-521-81691-5|pages=101|language=en}}</ref> at times reaching as far as the {{Interlanguage link|Zab (Algeria)|lt=Zab|fr|Zibans|WD=}}, present-day [[Algeria]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Torremocha Silva|first=Antonio|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aoX4bsr0EEIC&pg=PA78|title=Ibn Khaldun: The Mediterranean in the 14th Century : Rise and Fall of Empires|date=2006|publisher=Fundación El legado andalusì|isbn=978-84-96556-34-8|editor-last=Viguera|editor-first=Maria Jesús|pages=78|language=en|chapter=The Nasrids of Granada and the Marinids of the Maghrib}}</ref> They would move seasonally from the Figuig oasis to the [[Moulouya River]] basin.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fromherz|first=Allen James|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_vTcCQAAQBAJ|title=Ibn Khaldun|publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]]|year=2011|isbn=978-0-7486-5418-5|pages=16|language=en|author-link=Allen James Fromherz}}</ref> Following the arrival of [[Banu Hilal|Arab]] tribes in the area in the 11th-12th centuries, the Marinids moved to the north-west of present-day [[Algeria]],<ref name=":20" /> before entering ''en-masse'' into Morocco by the beginning of the 13th century.<ref>{{cite book|last=Abun-Nasr|first=Jamil M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jdlKbZ46YYkC|title=A History of the Maghrib in the Islamic Period|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1987|isbn=978-0-521-33767-0|pages=103|language=en}}</ref>

The Marinids took their name from their ancestor, Marin ibn Wartajan al-Zenati.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qVYT4Kraym0C&q=marinids+rif&pg=PA421 |author=Idris El Hareir|title=''The Spread of Islam Throughout the World''|page=420|publisher=UNESCO|date=2011|isbn=9789231041532}}</ref>

===Rise===
After arriving in present-day Morocco, they initially submitted to the [[Almohad dynasty]], which was at the time the ruling house. After successfully contributing to the [[Battle of Alarcos]], in central Spain, the tribe started to assert itself as a political power.<ref name=":0" /> Starting in 1213, they began to tax farming communities of today's north-eastern Morocco (the area between [[Nador]] and [[Berkane]]). The relationship between them and the Almohads became strained and starting in 1215, there were regular outbreaks of fighting between the two parties. In 1217, they tried to occupy the eastern part of present-day Morocco, but they were expelled, pulling back and settling in the eastern Rif mountains where they remained for nearly 30 years. During their stay in the [[Rif]], the Almohad state suffered huge blows, losing large territories to the Christians in Spain, while the [[Hafsids]] of Ifriqia broke away in 1229, followed by the [[Zayyanid dynasty]] of [[Tlemcen]] in 1235.

Between 1244 and 1248 the Marinids were able to take [[Taza]], [[Rabat]], [[Salé]], [[Meknes]] and [[Fez, Morocco|Fez]] from the weakened Almohads.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/groupe-personnage/Marinides/131925 |title=Encyclopédie Larousse en ligne - Marinides ou Mérinides |publisher=Larousse.fr |access-date=2014-02-24}}</ref> The Marinid leadership installed in Fes declared war on the Almohads, fighting with the aid of Christian [[mercenary|mercenaries]]. [[Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd Al-Haqq|Abu Yusuf Yaqub]] (1259–1286) captured [[Marrakech]] in 1269.<ref>C.E. Bosworth, ''The New Islamic Dynasties'', 42.</ref>

===Apogee===
After the [[Nasrid dynasty|Nasrids]] [[Emirate of Granada|of Granada]] ceded the town of [[Algeciras]] to the Marinids, Abu Yusuf went to [[Al-Andalus]] to support the ongoing struggle against the [[Kingdom of Castile]]. The Marinid dynasty then tried to extend its control to include the commercial traffic of the [[Strait of Gibraltar]].

It was in this period that the Spanish Christians were first able to take the fighting to mainland present-day Morocco: in 1260 and 1267 they attempted an invasion, but both attempts were defeated. After gaining a foothold in Spain, the Marinids became active in the conflict between Muslims and Christians in Iberia. To gain absolute control of the trade in the Strait of Gibraltar, from their base at Algeciras they started the conquest of several Spanish towns: by the year 1294 they had occupied [[Rota, Spain|Rota]], [[Tarifa]] and [[Gibraltar]].

In 1276 they founded [[Fes Jdid]], which they made their administrative and military centre. While Fes had been a prosperous city throughout the Almohad period, even becoming the largest city in the world during that time,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hEvCpNW2qBwC&q=largest+cities+marinid&pg=PA252 |title=The Report: Morocco 2009 - Oxford Business Group - Google Boeken |publisher=Oxford Business |isbn=9781907065071 |access-date=2014-02-24}}</ref> it was in the Marinid period that Fes reached its golden age, a period which marked the beginning of an official, historical narrative for the city.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/348/1/uk_bl_ethos_426809.pdf |title=An Architectural Investigation of Marrind and Wattasid Fes Medina (674-961/1276-1554), In Terms of Gender, Legend, and Law |publisher=Etheses.whiterose.ac.uk |access-date=2014-02-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/348/1/uk_bl_ethos_426809.pdf |title=An architectural Investigation of Marinid and Watasid Fes |page=23|publisher=Etheses.whiterose.ac.uk|access-date=2014-02-24}}</ref> It is from the Marinid period that Fes' reputation as an important intellectual centre largely dates, they established the first [[madrasa]]s in the city and country.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9JQ3AAAAIAAJ&q=berber&pg=PA896 |title=E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam 1913-1936 - Google Boeken |year=1987 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=9004082654 |access-date=2014-02-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=frhUbLo7aRsC&q=Muhammad+al-Dila%27i+berber&pg=PA91 |title=The Berbers and the Islamic State - Maya Shatzmiller - Google Boeken |isbn=9781558762244 |access-date=2014-02-24|last1=Shatzmiller |first1=Maya |author-link=Maya Shatzmiller |year=2000 |publisher=Markus Wiener Publishers }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Te5QRi35W5EC&q=ibn+marzuq&pg=PA121 |title=Islamic Art and Visual Culture: An Anthology of Sources - Google Boeken |date=2011-04-25 |isbn=9781405154017 |access-date=2014-02-24|last1=Fairchild Ruggles |first1=D. |publisher=Wiley }}</ref> The principal monuments in the medina, the residences and public buildings, date from the Marinid period.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.al-hakawati.net/english/Cities/fez.asp |title=Al- Hakawati |publisher=Al-hakawati.net |access-date=2014-02-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130625053121/http://www.al-hakawati.net/english/Cities/fez.asp |archive-date=25 June 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

Despite internal infighting, Abu Said Uthman II (r. 1310–1331) initiated huge construction projects across the land. Several madrasas were built, the [[Al-Attarine Madrasa]] being the most famous. The building of these madrasas were necessary to create a dependent bureaucratic class, in order to undermine the marabouts and Sharifian elements.

The Marinids also strongly influenced the policy of the [[Emirate of Granada]], from which they enlarged their army in 1275. In the 13th century, the Kingdom of Castile made several incursions into their territory. In 1260, [[Crown of Castile|Castilian]] forces raided [[Salé]] and, in 1267, initiated a full-scale invasion, but the Marinids repelled them.

At the height of their power, during the rule of [[Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Othman|Abu al-Hasan Ali]] (r. 1331–1348), the Marinid army was large and disciplined. It consisted of 40,000 Zenata cavalry, while Arab nomads contributed to the cavalry and Andalusians were included as archers. The personal bodyguard of the sultan consisted of 7,000 men, and included Christian, Kurdish and Black African elements.<ref name="google1">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tPsUAAAAIAAJ&q=marinids&pg=PA574|title=The Encyclopedia of Islam, Volume 6, Fascicules 107-108 - Clifford Edmund Bosworth - Google Boeken|date=January 1989|isbn=9004090827|access-date=2014-02-24|last1=Bosworth|first1=Clifford Edmund|publisher=BRILL }}</ref> Under [[Abu al-Hasan 'Ali|Abu al-Hasan]] another attempt was made to reunite the [[Maghreb]]. In 1337 the [[Zayyanid dynasty|Abdalwadid]] [[kingdom of Tlemcen]] was conquered, followed in 1347 by the defeat of the [[Hafsid dynasty|Hafsid]] empire in [[Ifriqiya]], which made him master of a huge territory, which spanned from southern present-day Morocco to [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]]. However, within the next year, a revolt of Arab tribes in southern Tunisia made them lose their eastern territories. The Marinids had already suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of a Portuguese-Castilian coalition in the [[Battle of Río Salado]] in 1340, and finally had to withdraw from Andalusia, only [[Siege of Algeciras (1342–44)|holding on to Algeciras]] until 1344.

In 1348 Abu al-Hasan was deposed by his son [[Abu Inan Faris]], who tried to reconquer Algeria and Tunisia. Despite several successes, he was strangled by his own vizir in 1358, after which the dynasty began to decline.

===Decline===
After the death of Abu Inan Faris in 1358, the real power lay with the viziers, while the Marinid sultans were paraded and forced to succeed each other in quick succession. The county was divided and political anarchy set in, with different viziers and foreign powers supporting different factions. In 1359 [[Hintata]] tribesmen from the High Atlas came down and occupied [[Marrakesh]], capital of their Almohad ancestors, which they would govern independently until 1526. To the south of Marrakesh, Sufi mystics claimed autonomy, and in the 1370s [[Azemmour]] broke off under a coalition of merchants and Arab clan leaders of the Banu Sabih. To the east, the Zianid and Hafsid families reemerged and to the north, the Europeans were taking advantage of this instability by attacking the coast. Meanwhile, unruly wandering Arab [[Bedouin]] tribes increasingly spread anarchy, which accelerated the decline of the empire.
[[File:Portuguese Morocco.PNG|thumb|250px|[[Morocco-Portugal relations|Portuguese possessions in Morocco]] (1415–1769)]]
In the 15th century, it was hit by a financial crisis, after which the state had to stop financing the different marabouts and Sharifian families, which had previously been useful instruments in controlling different tribes. The political support of these marabouts and Sharifians halted, and it splintered into different entities. In 1399 Tetouan was taken and its population was massacred and in 1415 the [[Conquest of Ceuta|Portuguese captured Ceuta]]. After the sultan Abdalhaqq II (1421–1465) tried to break the power of the Wattasids, he was executed.

Marinid rulers after 1420 came under the control of the [[Wattasid]]s, who exercised a regency as [[Abd al-Haqq II]] became Sultan one year after his birth. The Wattasids however refused to give up the Regency after Abd al-Haqq came to age.<ref>Julien, Charles-André, ''Histoire de l'Afrique du Nord, des origines à 1830'', Payot 1931, p.196</ref>

In 1459, Abd al-Haqq II managed a massacre of the Wattasid family, breaking their power. His reign, however, brutally ended as he was murdered during the [[1465 Moroccan revolt|1465 revolt]].<ref>C.E. Bosworth, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=2O_BQs6Sro0C&pg=PA41 The New Islamic dynasties]'', p.42 Edinburgh University Press 1996. {{ISBN|978-0-231-10714-3}}.</ref> This event saw the end of the Marinid dynasty as [[Muhammad ibn Ali Amrani-Joutey]], leader of the [[Sharif]]s, was proclaimed Sultan in [[Fes]]. He was in turn overthrown in 1471 by [[Abu Abd Allah al-Sheikh Muhammad ibn Yahya]], one of the two the surviving [[Wattasids]] from the 1459 massacre, who instigated the [[Wattasid dynasty]].

==Wattasid dynasty (c. 1472–1554)==
{{Unreferenced section|date=September 2021}}{{Main|Wattasid dynasty}}
[[File:Wattasids - Simplified map.PNG|thumb|Map of the Wattasid sultanate (dark red) and its vassal states (light red)]]
Morocco was in decline when the Berber Wattasids assumed power. The Wattasid family had been the autonomous governors of the eastern [[Rif]] since the late 13th century, ruling from their base in Tazouta (near present-day [[Nador]]). They had close ties to the Marinid sultans and provided many of the bureaucratic elite. While the [[Marinid dynasty]] tried to repel the Portuguese and Spanish invasions and help the kingdom of [[Granada]] to outlive the [[Reconquista]], the Wattasids accumulated absolute power through political maneuvering. When the Marinids became aware of the extent of the conspiracy, they slaughtered the Wattasids, leaving only [[Abu Abd Allah al-Sheikh Muhammad ibn Yahya]] alive. He went on to found the [[Kingdom of Fez]] and establish the [[dynasty]] to be succeeded by his son, Mohammed al-Burtuqali, in 1504.

The Wattasid rulers failed in their promise to protect Morocco from foreign incursions and the Portuguese increased their presence on Morocco's coast. Mohammad al-Chaykh's son attempted to capture [[Asilah]] and [[Tangier]] in 1508, 1511 and 1515, but without success.

In the south, a new dynasty arose, the Saadian dynasty, which seized [[Marrakesh]] in 1524 and made it their capital. By 1537 the Saadis were in the ascendent when they [[Fall of Agadir|defeated]] the [[Portuguese Empire]] at [[Agadir]]. Their military successes contrasts with the Wattasid policy of conciliation towards the [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] kings to the north.

As a result, the people of Morocco tended to regard the Saadians as heroes, making it easier for them to retake the Portuguese strongholds on the coast, including Tangiers, [[Ceuta]] and [[El Jadida|Maziɣen]]. The Saadians also attacked the Wattasids who were forced to yield to the new power. In 1554, as Wattasid towns surrendered, the Wattasid sultan, [[Ali Abu Hassun]], briefly [[Capture of Fez (1554)|retook Fez]]. The Saadis quickly settled the matter by killing him and, as the last Wattasids fled Morocco by ship, they too were murdered by pirates. The Wattasid did little to improve general conditions in Morocco following the ''[[Reconquista]]''. While the Saadians managed to reestablish and curbed the expansionist ambitions of the kingdoms of the Iberian peninsula.

== Saadi dynasty (1549–1659) ==
{{Main|Saadi dynasty}}
[[File:Saadiens - Carte fin XVIe siècle (revised).jpg|thumb|left|Extent of the Saadian empire at the beginning of the 17th century<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Sluglett|first1=Peter|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XjxyBgAAQBAJ&dq=peter+sluglett+islamic+atlas&pg=PA58|title=Atlas of Islamic History|last2=Currie|first2=Andrew|date=2015-01-30|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-58897-9|pages=58|language=en}}</ref>]]
[[File:Kasbahs in Aït Benhaddou.JPG|thumb|The city of [[Aït Benhaddou]] photographed in the evening]]
Beginning in 1549, the region was ruled by successive Arab dynasties known as the Sharifian dynasties, who claimed descent from the prophet [[Muhammad]]. The first of these polities was the [[Saadi dynasty]], which ruled Morocco from 1549 to 1659. From 1509 to 1549, the Saadi rulers had control of only the southern areas. While still recognizing the Wattasids as Sultans until 1528, Saadians' growing power led the Wattasids to attack them and, after an indecisive battle, to recognize their rule over southern Morocco through the [[Treaty of Tadla]].<ref name="Bagley_102">H. J. Kissling, Bertold Spuler, N. Barbour, J. S. Trimingham, F. R. C. Bagley, H. Braun, H. Hartel, ''The Last Great Muslim Empires'', BRILL 1997, p.102 [https://books.google.com/books?id=-AznJs58wtkC]</ref>

In 1590, [[Sultan]] [[Ahmad al-Mansur]] sent an expedition to the [[Songhai Empire]], which resulted in a [[Saadian invasion of the Songhai Empire|victory]] and collapse of the empire,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fall of Africa's Greatest Empire {{!}} History Today |url=https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/fall-africas-greatest-empire |access-date=2023-04-21 |website=www.historytoday.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Black |first=Jeremy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=neUKEvaYPZYC&dq=defeat+of+the+songhai+empire&pg=PA10 |title=The Cambridge Illustrated Atlas of Warfare: Renaissance to Revolution, 1492-1792 |date=1996-03-28 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-47033-9 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Black |first=Jeremy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pyBdDwAAQBAJ&dq=defeat+of+the+songhai+empire&pg=PA163 |title=Mapping Shakespeare: An exploration of Shakespeare's worlds through maps |date=2018-05-31 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-84486-515-4 |language=en}}</ref> [[Pashalik of Timbuktu]] was established to take control over the territory centered on [[Timbuktu]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Fage |first1=J. D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q3mx8aAo6x0C&dq=pashalik+of+timbuktu&pg=PA152 |title=The Cambridge History of Africa |last2=Gray |first2=Richard |last3=Oliver |first3=Roland Anthony |date=1975 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-20413-2 |language=en}}</ref>

In 1659, [[Mohammed al-Hajj ibn Abu Bakr al-Dila'i]], the head of the [[zaouia of Dila]],<ref>E. George H. Joffé, ''North Africa: nation, state, and region'', Routledge 1993, p. 19</ref> was proclaimed sultan of Morocco after the fall of the Saadi dynasty.<ref name="EB">Michaël Peyron, [http://encyclopedieberbere.revues.org/2260 « Dila‘ »], in: Gabriel Camps (dir.), Encyclopédie berbère – Chp. XV. Édisud 1995, pp.2340–2345 ({{ISBN|2-85744-808-2}})</ref>

== Republic of Salé (1624–1668) ==
{{Main| Republic of Salé}}
[[File:Bu Regrego ziotys.jpg|thumb|left|The ancient harbor at the Bou Regreg, taken from Salé facing Rabat]]
The republic traces its origins back to the beginning of the 17th century, with the arrival of approximately 3,000 wealthy [[Moriscos]] from [[Hornachos]] in western Spain, who anticipated the 1609 [[Expulsion of the Moriscos|expulsion edicts]] ordered by [[Philip III of Spain]].<ref name="Coindreau_42">Coindreau 2006, p.42</ref> After 1609, approximately 10,000 down-and-out expelled Moriscos arrived from [[Spain]].<ref name="Coindreau_43">Coindreau 2006, p.43</ref> Cultural and language differences between the native Saletin people and the Morisco refugees led the newcomers to settle in the old [[Medina quarter|medina]] of Rabat, on the opposite bank of the [[Bou Regreg]].<ref name="Maziane2008">{{cite book|author=Leïla Maziane|title=Salé et ses corsaires, 1666-1727|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yhuv9waKc_MC&pg=PA69|year=2008|publisher=Publication Univ Rouen Havre|language=fr|isbn=978-2-87775-832-1|pages=69–70}}</ref><ref name="Maz_2009">{{in lang|fr}} Leïla Maziane, [http://cdlm.revues.org/index4941.html « Salé au XVIIe siècle, terre d’asile morisque sur le littoral Atlantique marocain »], in Cahiers de la Méditerranée, no 79, 2009</ref>

Pirates based on the western bank thrived and expanded their operations throughout the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean.<ref>{{in lang|fr}} [http://www.lemonde.fr/voyage/article/2009/09/01/rabat-sale-la-conquete-pirate_1339693_3546.html « Rabat/Salé, la conquête pirate »], in ''Le Monde'', 1 September 2009</ref> In 1624, the Dutchman [[Jan Janszoon]] (also known as Murad Reis) became the "Grand Admiral" and President of the Corsair Republic of Salé.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=SJEg0p4RCP4C&q=murad+reis&pg=PA206 "Murad Reis"], Pirate Utopias, p. 97, Retrieved 30 September 2009.</ref>

[[File:Cannon in Salé old Town.jpg|thumb|left|upright|A cannon from the republican era in Salé]]
After Janszoon left Salé in 1627, the Moriscos ceased to recognize the authority of the Sultan [[Zidan al-Nasir]], and refused to pay his [[tithe]] on their incomes.<ref name="Maziane_2007_59">Maziane 2007, p.59</ref> They proclaimed a Republic, ruled by a council or ''[[Divan|Diwan]]'', a sort of government cabinet formed by 12 to 14 notable people whose members annually elected a Governor and a ''Captain General of the Fortalesa'' during the month of May. In the early years of the republic (between 1627 and 1630), the ''Diwan'' was controlled only by Hornacheros, whose grip on power was resented by the growing population of non-Hornachero Moriscos, called Andalusians.<ref name="Coindreau_48">Coindreau 2006, p.48</ref> After bloody clashes in 1630, an agreement was reached: the election of a ''[[Qaid]]'' by Andalusians and a new ''Diwan'' of 16 members of whom 8 were Andalusians and 8 Hornacheros.<ref name="Coindreau_44_50">Coindreau 2006, p.44-45 & 49-50</ref>

In 1641 the [[Zaouia of Dila]], which controlled much of Morocco, imposed a religious hegemony over Salé and its parent republic.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=zk9kfnoFHfEC&dq=republic+of+sale%2C+morocco&pg=PA43 "Class/social stratification in Islam"], History and underdevelopment in Morocco, p. 43, Retrieved 30 September 2009.</ref> By the early 1660s the republic was embroiled in civil war with the zawiya, and eventually Sultan [[Al-Rashid of Morocco]] of the [[Alawi dynasty]], which still rules Morocco into the 21st century, seized Rabat and Salé, ending its independence. It ended up under the control of the Sultan of Morocco after 1668, when [[Al-Rashid of Morocco|Moulay al Rashid]] finally vanquished the Dilaites.<ref>Roger Coindreau, 2006, p. 53</ref>

== Alawi dynasty (since 1666) ==
{{Main|Alawi Sultanate}}
[[File:Ambassador Admiral Abelkader Perez 1723 1737.jpg|thumb|Admiral [[Abdelkader Perez]] was sent by [[Ismail Ibn Sharif]] as an ambassador to England in 1723.]]
The [[Alawi dynasty]] is the current Moroccan royal family. The name "Alawi" comes from the ''‘Alī'' of [[Ali|‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib]], whose descendant [[Sharif ibn Ali]] became Prince of [[Tafilalt]] in 1631. His son [[Al-Rashid of Morocco|Mulay Al-Rashid]] (1664–1672) was able to unite and pacify the country. The Alawi family claim descent from [[Muhammad]] through his daughter [[Fatimah|Fāṭimah az-Zahrah]] and her husband ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib.

The [[Alawi Sultanate|Alawi kingdom]] was consolidated by [[Ismail Ibn Sharif]] (1672–1727), who began to create a unified state in the face of opposition from local tribes. Since the Alawis, in contrast to previous dynasties, did not have the support of a single Berber or [[Bedouin]] tribe, Isma'īl controlled Morocco through an army of slaves. With these soldiers he reoccupied [[English Tangiers|Tangiers]] in 1684 after the [[Kingdom of England|English]] abandoned it and drove the Spanish from [[Larache]] in 1689. The kingdom he established did not survive his death&nbsp;— in the ensuing power struggles the tribes became a political and military force once again, and it was only with [[Mohammed III of Morocco|Muhammad III]] (1757–1790) that the kingdom was unified again. The idea of centralization was abandoned and the tribes allowed to preserve their autonomy.{{citation needed|date=October 2014}} On 20 December 1777,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://morocco.usembassy.gov/early.html |title=Early Relations &#124; Morocco - Embassy of the United States |access-date=7 September 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303104131/http://morocco.usembassy.gov/early.html |archive-date=3 March 2016 }}</ref> Morocco became one of the first states to recognize the sovereignty of a newly independent United States.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.globalwebpost.com/farooqm/study_res/usa/morocco_first.htm |title=Dr. Farooq's Study Resource Page |publisher=Globalwebpost.com |date=20 June 2000 |access-date=31 January 2010 |archive-date=12 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170912014138/http://www.globalwebpost.com/farooqm/study_res/usa/morocco_first.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Dolan |first=Kerry A. |title=Why Morocco Matters To The U.S. |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2013/11/21/why-morocco-matters-to-the-u-s/ |access-date=2023-04-09 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Högger |first=Daniel |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/918793836 |title=The recognition of states : a study on the historical development in doctrine and practice with a special focus on the requirements |date=2015 |isbn=978-3-643-80196-8 |location=Zürich |oclc=918793836}}</ref>

During the reigns of [[Mohammed IV of Morocco|Muhammad IV]] (1859–1873) and [[Hassan I of Morocco|Hassan I]] (1873–1894), the Alawis tried to foster trade links, especially with European countries and the United States. The army and administration were also modernized to consolidate control over the Berber and Bedouin tribes. [[Hispano-Moroccan War (1859–60)|In 1859, Morocco went to war with Spain]]. The independence of Morocco was guaranteed at the Conference of Madrid in 1880,<ref>[http://www.warflag.com/shadow/history/treaties/moroc1880.htm Convention on diplomatic protection signed in Madrid 1880]</ref> with France also gaining significant influence over Morocco. Germany attempted to counter the growing French influence, leading to the [[First Moroccan Crisis]] of 1905–1906, and the [[Second Moroccan Crisis]] of 1911. Morocco became a French [[protectorate]] through the [[Treaty of Fez]] in 1912.

==European influence (c. 1830 – 1956)==
{{See also|Scramble for Africa}}[[File:North Africa (XIX century).jpg|thumb|The Maghreb in the second half of the 19th century]]
[[File:Morocco Fez Embroidery Horse Cover.JPG|thumb|Moroccan [[fly mask]] embroidery]]
The successful Portuguese efforts to control the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] coast in the 15th century did not affect the interior of Morocco. After the [[Napoleonic Wars]], North Africa became increasingly ungovernable from [[Istanbul]] by the [[Ottoman Empire]]. As a result, it became the resort of pirates under local [[bey]]s. The Maghreb also had far greater known wealth than the rest of Africa, and its location near the entrance to the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] gave it strategic importance. France showed a strong interest in Morocco as early as 1830.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Flournoy |first1=F. R. |title=Political Relations of Great Britain with Morocco, From 1830 to 1841 |journal=Political Science Quarterly |date=March 1932 |volume=47 |issue=1 |pages=27–56 |doi=10.2307/2142701 |jstor=2142701 }}</ref> The Alawi dynasty succeeded in maintaining the independence of Morocco in the 18th and 19th centuries, in the face of [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] and European encroachment.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barnett |first=Vincent |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l6BeBAAAQBAJ&dq=alaouite+dynasty+succeeded+in+maintaining+the+independence+of+Morocco&pg=PA229 |title=Routledge Handbook of the History of Global Economic Thought |date=2014-08-27 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-64412-5 |language=en}}</ref>

In 1844, after the French [[French conquest of Algeria|conquered Algeria]], the [[Franco-Moroccan War]] took place, with the [[bombardment of Tangiers]], the [[Battle of Isly]], and the [[bombardment of Mogador]].

In 1856, Sultan [[Abd al-Rahman of Morocco|Abd al-Rahman's]] Makhzen signed the [[Anglo-Moroccan Treaty of 1856|Anglo-Moroccan treaty]], which was negotiated with the British diplomat [[John Hay Drummond Hay]]. The treaty granted several rights to British subjects in Morocco, and lowered Moroccan customs tariffs to 10%.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://eudocs.lib.byu.edu/index.php/General_Treaty_Between_Her_Majesty_and_the_Sultan_of_Morocco|title=General Treaty Between Her Majesty and the Sultan of Morocco – EuroDocs|website=eudocs.lib.byu.edu|access-date=5 March 2020}}</ref> The treaty prolonged Moroccan independence while opening up the country to foreign trade, along with reducing the [[Makhzen]]'s control over the [[Economy of Morocco|Moroccan economy]].<ref name=":32">{{Cite book|last=Miller, Susan Gilson.|title=A history of modern Morocco|date=2013|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-62469-5|location=New York|oclc=855022840}}</ref>

The [[Hispano-Moroccan War (1859–60)|Hispano-Moroccan War]] took place from 1859 to 1860, and the subsequent [[Treaty of Wad Ras]] led the Moroccan government to take a massive [[1861 British loan to Morocco|British loan]] larger than its national reserves to pay off its [[War reparations|war debt]] to Spain.<ref name=":32"/>

In the mid 19th century, [[Moroccan Jews]] started migrating from the interior to coastal cities such as [[Essaouira]], [[Mazagan]], [[Asfi]], and later [[Casablanca]] for economic opportunity, participating in trade with Europeans and the development of those cities.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gottreich, Emily R.|title=Jewish space in the Moroccan city : a history of the mellah of Marrakech, 1550–1930|pages=54|oclc=77066581}}</ref> The [[Alliance Israélite Universelle]] opened its first school in [[Tétouan|Tetuan]] in 1862.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rodrigue|first=Aron|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3NatkG7sGCkC&q=alliance+1862+morocco+school&pg=PA125|title=Jews and Muslims: Images of Sephardi and Eastern Jewries in Modern Times|date=2003|publisher=University of Washington Press|isbn=978-0-295-98314-1|language=en}}</ref>

In the latter part of the 19th century Morocco's instability resulted in European countries intervening to protect investments and to demand economic concessions. Sultan [[Hassan I of Morocco|Hassan I]] called for the [[Treaty of Madrid (1880)|Madrid Conference]] of 1880 in response to France and Spain's abuse of the [[Protégé system|''protégé'' system]], but the result was an increased European presence in Morocco—in the form of advisors, doctors, businessmen, adventurers, and even missionaries.<ref name=":32"/>

More than half of the Makhzen's expenditures went abroad to pay [[War reparations|war indemnities]] and buy weapons, military equipment, and manufactured goods.<ref name=":32" /> From 1902 to 1909, Morocco's [[Balance of trade|trade deficit]] increased 14 million francs annually, and the [[Moroccan rial]] [[Inflation|depreciated]] 25% from 1896 to 1906.<ref name=":32" /> In June 1904, after a failed attempt to impose a flat tax, France bailed out the already indebted Makhzen with 62.5 million francs, guaranteed by a portion of [[customs]] revenue.<ref name=":32" />

In the 1890s, the French administration and military in [[French Algeria|Algiers]] called for the annexation of the [[Touat]], the [[Gourara]] and the [[Tidikelt]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Trout |first1=Frank E. |title=Morocco's Boundary in the Guir-Zousfana River Basin |journal=African Historical Studies |date=1970 |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=37–56 |doi=10.2307/216479 |jstor=216479 }}</ref> a complex that had been part of the Moroccan Empire for many centuries prior to the arrival of the French in Algeria.<ref>Frank E. Trout, [https://books.google.com/books?id=IO69HppDTDgC ''Morocco's Saharan Frontiers''], Droz (1969), p.24 ({{ISBN|9782600044950}}) : « The Gourara-Touat-Tidikelt complex had been under Moroccan domination for many centuries prior to the arrival of the French in Algeria »</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Trout |first=Frank E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IO69HppDTDgC&dq=Touat+had+been+part+of+the+Moroccan+Empire+for+many+centuries+prior+to+the+arrival+of+the+French+in+Algeria&pg=PA24 |title=Morocco's Saharan Frontiers |date=1969 |publisher=Librairie Droz |isbn=978-2-600-04495-0 |language=en}}</ref> The first years of the 20th century saw major diplomatic efforts by European powers, especially France, to further its interests in the region.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Furlong |first=Charles Wellington |author-link=Charles W. Furlong |date=September 1911 |title=The French Conquest Of Morocco: The Real Meaning Of The International Trouble |journal=[[World's Work|The World's Work: A History of Our Time]] |volume=XXII |pages=14988–14999 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=rHAAAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA14988|access-date=10 July 2009 }}</ref>
[[File:La_Vie_illustrée-_Abd-el-Aziz,_Sultan_du_Maroc,_et_sa_bicyclette.jpg|thumb|Sultan [[Abdelaziz of Morocco|Abd-al-Aziz]] with his bicycle in 1901. The young sultan was noted for his capricious spending habits, which exacerbated a major trade deficit.<ref name=":32" />]]
Morocco nominally was ruled by its sultan, the young [[Abdelaziz of Morocco|Abd al-Aziz]], through his regent, [[Ba Ahmed]]. By 1900, Morocco was the scene of multiple local wars started by pretenders to the sultanate, by bankruptcy of the treasury, and by multiple tribal revolts. The French Foreign Minister [[Théophile Delcassé]] saw the opportunity to stabilize the situation and expand the French overseas empire.

General [[Hubert Lyautey]] wanted a more aggressive military policy using his French army based in Algeria. France decided to use both diplomacy and military force. The French colonial authorities would establish control over the Sultan, ruling in his name and extending French influence. The British acceded to any French designs in Morocco in the ''[[Entente Cordiale]]'' of 1904. The [[German Empire|Germans]], however, who had no established presence in the region, strongly protested against the French plan. The Kaiser's [[First Moroccan Crisis|dramatic intervention in Morocco in March 1905]] in support of Moroccan independence became a turning point on the road to the First World War. The international [[Algeciras Conference]] of 1906 formalized France's "special position" and entrusted policing of Morocco jointly to France and Spain. Germany was outmaneuvered diplomatically, and France took full control of Morocco.<ref>Dennis Brogan, ''The Development of modern France, 1870–1939'' (1940) 392–401.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Munholland |first1=Kim |title=Rival Approaches to Morocco: Delcasse, Lyautey, and the Algerian-Moroccan Border, 1903-1905 |journal=French Historical Studies |date=1968 |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=328–343 |doi=10.2307/286044 |jstor=286044 }}</ref>

Morocco experienced a famine from 1903 to 1907, as well as insurrections led by [[Bou Hmara|El-Rogui]] (Bou Hmara) and [[Mulai Ahmed er Raisuni]].<ref name=":32" /> 
[[File:Draft_constitution_1908_morocco.jpg|thumb|''[[Lissan-ul-Maghreb]]'', an early Moroccan newspaper.]]

=== French and Spanish protectorate (1912–1956) ===
{{Main|French conquest of Morocco|French protectorate in Morocco|Spanish protectorate in Morocco}}
[[File:Traité relatif à l'organisation du protectorat français dans l'empire chérifien TRA19120019 001 - France Maroc.pdf|thumb|The [[Treaty of Fes]] established [[French protectorate in Morocco]] on 30 March 1912.]]

==== Hafidiya ====
In 1907, the French took the murder of [[Émile Mauchamp]] in Marrakesh as a pretext to invade [[Oujda]] in the east, as they took an uprising against their appropriation of customs revenue in [[Casablanca]] as an opportunity to [[Bombardment of Casablanca (1907)|bombard and invade that city]] in the west.<ref name=":10">{{Cite book|title=A history of modern Morocco|last=Miller, Susan Gilson.|date=2013|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781139624695|location=New York|pages=75|oclc=855022840}}</ref> Months later, there was a brief fratricidal civil war referred to as the [[Hafidiya]], in which [[Abd al-Hafid of Morocco|Abd al-Hafid]], at first supported by southern aristocrats based in Marrakesh such as the {{Interlanguage link|Glawa|fr|Glaoua}} and later [[Conditioned Bay'ah|conditionally supported]] by the ''ulama'' of Fes, wrested the throne from his brother [[Abdelaziz of Morocco|Abd al-Aziz]], who was supported by the French.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Miller, Susan Gilson.|title=A history of modern Morocco|date=2013|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781139624695|location=New York|pages=76|oclc=855022840}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=الخديمي, علال, 1946-....|title=الحركة الحفيظية أو المغرب قبيل فرض الحماية الفرنسية الوضعية الداخلية و تحديات العلاقات الخارجية : 1912-1894|date=2009|publisher=[د. ن.]|oclc=929569541}}</ref>

The [[Agadir Crisis]] increased tensions among the powerful European countries,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Agadir Incident {{!}} European history |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Agadir-Incident |access-date=2021-04-12 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref> and resulted in the [[Treaty of Fez]] (signed on 30 March 1912), which made Morocco a [[protectorate]] of France.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Treaty of Fès {{!}} Morocco [1912] {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Treaty-of-Fes |access-date=2023-04-04 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Correspondent |first=our own |date=1956-03-03 |title=An Independent Morocco |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/1956/mar/03/fromthearchive |access-date=2023-04-04 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> In a [[Treaty Between France and Spain Regarding Morocco|second treaty]] signed by the French and Spanish heads of state, Spain was granted a Zone of influence in northern and southern Morocco on 27 November 1912. The northern part became the [[Spanish protectorate in Morocco]], while the [[Cabo Juby|southern part]] was ruled from El Aaiun as a buffer zone between the [[Spanish Sahara|Spanish Colony of Saguia El Hamra]] and Morocco.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1913 |title=Treaty Between France and Spain Regarding Morocco |journal=The American Journal of International Law |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=81–99 |doi=10.2307/2212275 |jstor=2212275 |s2cid=246007581 }}</ref> The treaty of Fez triggered the [[1912 Fes riots|1912 Fez riots]]. By the [[Tangier Protocol]] signed in December 1923, Tangier received special status and became an [[Tangier International Zone|international zone]],<ref name="Hirschberg1981">{{cite book|author=H. Z(J. W.) Hirschberg|title=A history of the Jews in North Africa: From the Ottoman conquests to the present time / edited by Eliezer Bashan and Robert Attal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=idEUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA319|year=1981|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-06295-5|page=318}}</ref> although, during World War II, it was [[Occupation of Tangier (1940–1945)|occupied from 1940 to 1945]] by [[Francoist Spain]].

<gallery mode="nolines">
File:Assassination of Dr Mauchamp in Marrakesh (1907, Petit Journal).jpg|The assassination of [[Émile Mauchamp]] March 1907, which precipitated the French invasion of [[Oujda]] and the [[French conquest of Morocco|conquest of Morocco]].
File:الدار البيضاء 1907 01.jpg|Uprisings in Casablanca in July 1907 over the application terms of the [[Algeciras Conference|Treaty of Algeciras]] led to the [[Bombardment of Casablanca (1907)|Bombardment of Casablanca]].
File:الدار البيضاء 1907 شارع.jpg|Destruction of Casablanca caused by the 1907 French bombardment.
File:Maroc preco.jpg|French artillery in Rabat in 1911. The dispatch of French forces to protect the sultan from a rebellion instigated the [[Agadir Crisis]].
File:Tritel.jpg|Destruction after the [[1912 Fez riots|Intifada of Fes]] was quelled by French artillery fire.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Miller, Susan Gilson.|title=A history of modern Morocco|date=2013|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-62469-5|location=New York|pages=88|oclc=855022840}}</ref>
</gallery>The treaties nominally assured Morocco of its legal status as a sovereign state, with the sultan as its figurehead.<ref name=":32"/><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=esfISSxc13cC&pg=PA453 Repertory of Decisions of the International Court of Justice (1947-1992), P.453]</ref> In practice, the sultan had no real power and the country was ruled by the colonial administration. French civil servants allied themselves with the French settlers and with their supporters in France to prevent any moves in the direction of Moroccan autonomy. As "pacification" proceeded, with the [[Zaian War]] and the [[Rif War]], the French government focused on the exploitation of Morocco's mineral wealth, and particularly its [[OCP Group|phosphates]]; the creation of a modern transportation system with [[ONCF|trains]] and [[Compagnie de Transports au Maroc|buses]]; and the development of a modern agricultural sector geared to the French market. Tens of thousands of ''colons'', or colonists, entered Morocco and acquired large tracts of the rich agricultural land.<ref name=":1a">{{Cite book|last=Miller, Susan Gilson.|title=A history of modern Morocco|date=2013|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-62469-5|location=New York|pages=184|oclc=855022840}}</ref>

Morocco was home to half a million Europeans,<ref>De Azevedo, Raimondo Cagiano (1994) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=N8VHizsqaH0C&pg=PA25 Migration and development co-operation.]''. Council of Europe. p. 25. {{ISBN|92-871-2611-9}}.</ref> most of whom settled in [[Casablanca]], where they formed almost half the population.<ref name="A history of the Arab peoples">Albert Habib Hourani, Malise Ruthven (2002). "''[https://books.google.com/books?id=egbOb0mewz4C&pg=PA323 A history of the Arab peoples]''". Harvard University Press. p.323. {{ISBN|0-674-01017-5}}</ref> Since the kingdom's independence in 1956, and particularly after Hassan II's 1973 [[Moroccanization]] policies, the European element has largely departed.<ref name=":1" />

The [[Spanish coup of July 1936]], which gave way to the [[Spanish Civil War]], began with the [[Army of Africa (Spain)|''Ejército de África'']] in [[Spanish protectorate in Morocco|Spanish occupied Morocco]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Othen |first=Christopher |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/794366388 |title=Franco's international brigades : adventurers, fascists, and christian crusaders in the Spanish Civil War |date=2013 |isbn=978-0-231-70425-0 |edition=[Revised and expanded edition] |location=New York |oclc=794366388}}</ref>

=== Nationalism and transnational anti-colonial resistance ===
Morocco has been a key transnational hub in the struggle against colonialism in the Middle-east region. The end of World War II that had weakened European colonial powers, the start of the US-URSS search for influence and the establishment of the United Nations in 1945  praising universal equality, represented an impetus for anti-colonial and nationalist movements in Morocco.<ref name=":6" />

Through its special international status and the French and US presence in Tangier, the city became a hub for anti-colonial activism. Fromout Tanger, a link was established between the inside resistance and activists from other countries. By creating a transnational network of supporters and public advocates (i.e. cultural elites, politicians, public figures, academics, medias), the nationalist movement aimed to bring the Moroccan cause to the forefront of the international community debate.<ref name=":7" />

In order to gain influence at a global level, Moroccan nationalist movements globalised their cause by seeking to unite with the pan-arabism movement and the Arab League, extending their activism networks to Cairo.<ref name=":8" /> Another example is Paris, that became an important European city from where cultural elites advocated for the independence cause and brought the protectorate question to the forefront of the public debate.<ref name=":11" /> The independence movement eventually managed to bring their national claim for independence to the UN for the first time in 1951, gaining a vote of 20 states in favour and 23 against.<ref name=":11" />

=== Opposition to European control ===
{{See also|French Morocco}}
[[File:Pacification.jpg|thumb|Map depicting the staged [[French conquest of Morocco|French pacification of Morocco]] through to 1934]]
Led by [[Abd el-Krim]], the independent [[Republic of the Rif]] existed from 1921 to 1926, based in the central part of the [[Rif]] (in the Spanish Protectorate), while also extending, for some months, to some parts of the tribal lands of the [[Ghomaras|Ghomara]], the Eastern Rif, Jbala, the [[Ouergha River|Ouergha valley]] and the north of [[Taza]].<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://publicaciones.defensa.gob.es/media/downloadable/files/links/R/E/REVISTAS_PDF635_1.pdf|first=Andrés|last=Sánchez Pérez|journal=Revista de Historia Militar|location=Madrid|publisher=[[Ministry of Defence (Spain)|Ministerio de Defensa]]|title=Adbelkrim|volume=XVII|year=1973|issue=34|page=123|issn=0482-5748}}</ref> After proclaiming independence on 18 September 1921, the polity developed state and governing institutions such as tax collection, law enforcement and the organisation of an army.<ref name=wolf>{{cite journal |last1=Wolf |first1=Anne |title=Morocco's Hirak movement and legacies of contention in the Rif |journal=The Journal of North African Studies |date=2 January 2019 |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=1–6 |doi=10.1080/13629387.2018.1538188 |s2cid=149496054 }}</ref> However, since 1925 the Spanish and French troops managed to quell the resistance and Abd el-Krim surrendered in May 1926.<ref name=wolf />

In December 1934, a small group of nationalists, members of the newly formed ''Comité d'Action Marocaine'', or [[Moroccan Action Committee]] (CAM), proposed a [[Moroccan Plan of Reforms|Plan of Reforms]] that called for a return to indirect rule as envisaged by the Treaty of Fez, admission of Moroccans to government positions, and establishment of representative councils. CAM used petitions, newspaper editorials, and personal appeals to French officials to further its cause, but these proved inadequate, and the tensions created in the CAM by the failure of the plan caused it to split. The CAM was reconstituted as a nationalist political party to gain mass support for more radical demands, but the French suppressed the party in 1937.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Nelson|first=Harold D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z5r7znMj44YC&q=The+CAM+was+reconstituted+as+a+nationalist+political+party+to+gain+mass+support+for+more+radical+demands,+but+the+French+suppressed+the+party+in+1937&pg=PA56|title=Morocco, a Country Study|date=1985|publisher=Headquarters, Department of the Army|language=en}}</ref>
[[File:وثيقة الاستقلال 11 يناير 1944.jpg|thumb|The [[Proclamation of Independence of Morocco|Manifesto of Independence]] presented by the [[Istiqlal Party]] on 11 January 1944 established Sultan [[Mohammed V of Morocco|Muhammad V]] as a symbol of the nationalist struggle.]]
Nationalist political parties, which subsequently arose under the French protectorate, based their arguments for Moroccan independence on declarations such as the [[Atlantic Charter]], a joint United States-British statement that set forth, among other things, the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they live.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Morocco (10/04)|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/outofdate/bgn/morocco/47514.htm|website=U.S. Department of State|access-date=2020-05-27}}</ref> The French regime also faced the opposition of the tribes&nbsp;— when the Berber were required to come under the jurisdiction of French courts in 1930, it increased support for the independence movement.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hoffman |first1=Katherine E. |title=Berber Law by French Means: Customary Courts in the Moroccan Hinterlands, 1930–1956 |journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History |date=October 2010 |volume=52 |issue=4 |pages=851–880 |doi=10.1017/S0010417510000484 |jstor=40864899 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Many [[Moroccan Goumier]]s, or indigenous soldiers in the French army, assisted the Allies in both [[Allies of World War I|World War I]] and [[Allies of World War II|World War II]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Maghraoui |first1=Driss |title=The goumiers in the Second World War: history and colonial representation |journal=The Journal of North African Studies |date=8 August 2014 |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=571–586 |doi=10.1080/13629387.2014.948309 |s2cid=144080194 }}</ref> During World War II, the badly divided nationalist movement became more cohesive. However, the nationalists belief that an Allied victory would pave the way for independence was disappointed.{{citation needed|date=October 2014}} In January 1944, the [[Istiqlal Party|Istiqlal (Independence) Party]], which subsequently provided most of the leadership for the nationalist movement, released a [[Proclamation of Independence of Morocco|manifesto demanding full independence]], national reunification, and a democratic constitution.<ref>{{Cite web |title=National celebrations |url=https://www.moroccoinaustralia.com/national-celebrations |access-date=2023-04-04 |website=Moroccoinaustralia |language=en |archive-date=4 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404233012/https://www.moroccoinaustralia.com/national-celebrations |url-status=usurped }}</ref> The Sultan [[Mohammed V of Morocco|Muhammad V]] (1927–1961) had approved the manifesto before its submission to the French resident general, who answered that no basic change in the protectorate status was being considered.{{citation needed|date=October 2014}} The general sympathy of the sultan for the nationalists became evident by the end of the war, although he still hoped to see complete independence achieved gradually. On 10 April 1947, in spite of a [[1947 Casablanca massacre|massacre]] instigated by French forces in Casablanca,<ref>{{Cite web |title=The 1947 French massacre in Casablanca |url=http://www.middleeasteye.net/video/1947-french-massacre-casablanca |access-date=2023-04-04 |website=Middle East Eye |language=en}}</ref> Sultan Muhammad V delivered a momentous [[Tangier Speech|speech in Tangier]] appealing for independence and territorial unity of Morocco, having travelled from [[French protectorate in Morocco|French Morocco]] and through [[Spanish protectorate in Morocco|Spanish Morocco]] to reach the [[Tangier International Zone]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hespress.com/histoire/85477.html|title=زيارة محمد الخامس لطنجة.. أغضبت فرنسا وأشعلت المقاومة|website=Hespress|date=31 July 2013 |language=ar|access-date=29 August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Hekking |first=Morgan |title=Remembering King Mohammed V, Morocco's Revolutionary Monarch |url=https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2020/05/301546/remembering-king-mohammed-v-moroccos-revolutionary-monarch |access-date=2023-04-04 |website=moroccoworldnews |language=en}}</ref> The ''résidence'', supported by French economic interests and vigorously backed by most of the ''colons'', adamantly refused to consider even reforms short of independence.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Miller |first=Susan Gilson |title=A History of Modern Morocco |date=2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-81070-8 |location=Cambridge |chapter=Framing the Nation (1930–1961)}}</ref>

Although [[Zionism in Morocco]] dates back to the early 20th century, the significant [[Migration of Moroccan Jews to Israel|emigration]] of [[Moroccan Jews]] only began after the [[establishment of the State of Israel]] in the [[1948 Palestine war]].<ref name=":92">{{Cite book |last=Baida |first=Jamaa |title=معلمة المغرب |title-link=Ma'lamat al-Maghrib |year=1989 |pages=5572–5574 |language=ar |trans-title=Ma'lamat al-Maghrib |chapter=الصهيونية والمغرب |trans-chapter=Zionism and Morocco}}</ref> This emigration was organized and facilitated by Zionist groups from outside of Morocco;<ref name=":22">{{Cite journal |last=Laskier |first=Michael M. |date=1985-03-01 |title=Zionism and the Jewish communities of Morocco: 1956–1962 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13531048508575875 |journal=Studies in Zionism |volume=6 |pages=119–138 |doi=10.1080/13531048508575875 |issn=0334-1771}}</ref> about 60,000 migrated through ''[[Cadima]]'' (1949–1956)<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Cadima (Morocco) |url=https://referenceworks.brill.com/display/entries/EJIO/SIM-0004780.xml |language=en |doi=10.1163/1878-9781_ejiw_sim_0004780 |url-access=subscription |access-date=2024-09-09 |website=referenceworks}}</ref> and about 90,000 in [[Operation Yachin]] (1961–1964).<ref name="Moreno-20202">{{Cite journal |last=Moreno |first=Aviad |date=February 2020 |title=Beyond the Nation-State: A Network Analysis of Jewish Emigration from Northern Morocco to Israel |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0020743819000916/type/journal_article |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |language=en |volume=52 |issue=1 |pages=1–21 |doi=10.1017/S0020743819000916 |issn=0020-7438 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>[[File:1955-07-21 Morocco Riots Terror Mounts In Revolt Of Arabs.ogv|thumb|Morocco riots overrun Casablanca due to discontent with French rule. [[Universal Newsreel]], 21 July 1955]]In December 1952, a riot broke out in Casablanca over the assassination of the Tunisian labour leader [[Farhat Hached]]; this event marked a watershed in relations between Moroccan political parties and French authorities. In the aftermath of the rioting, the residency outlawed the new [[Moroccan Communist Party]] and the [[Istiqlal Party]].<ref name="LOCprof">Text used in this cited section originally came from: [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/Morocco.pdf Morocco profile] from the [[Library of Congress Country Studies]] project.</ref>

France's exile of the highly respected [[Sultan Mohammed V]] to [[Madagascar]] on [[Eid al-Adha]] of 1953,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kasraoui |first=Safaa |title=Independence Proclamation: The Ongoing Legacy of Moroccan Nationalism |url=https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2023/01/353472/independence-proclamation-the-ongoing-legacy-of-moroccan-nationalism |access-date=2023-04-04 |website=moroccoworldnews |language=en}}</ref> and his replacement by the unpopular [[Mohammed Ben Aarafa]], sparked active opposition to the French protectorate both from nationalists and those who saw the sultan as a religious leader.<ref>{{Cite news |last=TIMES |first=Special to THE NEW YORK |date=1953-11-22 |title=EX-SULTAN HAS ROLE IN SPANISH MOROCCO |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1953/11/22/archives/exsultan-has-role-in-spanish-morocco.html |access-date=2023-04-09 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In retribution, [[Muhammad Zarqtuni]] bombed Casablanca's [[Central Market (Casablanca)|''Marché Central'']] in the European ''ville nouvelle'' on Christmas of that year.<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/fiVcUZ_4AZQ Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20190609215256/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiVcUZ_4AZQ Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{Citation|last=Al Jazeera Documentary الجزيرة الوثائقية|title=رجل استرخص الموت – محمد الزرقطوني|date=27 November 2017|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiVcUZ_4AZQ|access-date=23 May 2019}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Today in African history - 24 December |url=https://www.africatodayyesterday.org/days/24-dec |access-date=2023-04-09 |website=www.africatodayyesterday.org |archive-date=9 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409093411/https://www.africatodayyesterday.org/days/24-dec |url-status=dead }}</ref> A month after his replacement, Allal ben Abdallah, a Moroccan nationalist attempted to assassinate the sultan on his way to the friday prayers at [[Great Mosque of Fes el-Jdid]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Arbaoui |first=Larbi |title=Morocco's Most Emblematic Historical Events in Pictures |url=https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2015/12/174080/moroccos-most-emblematic-historical-events-in-pictures |access-date=2023-04-13 |website=moroccoworldnews |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Lall |first1=Rashmee Roshan |last2=jonoread |date=2021-10-13 |title=The 1950s book that explains the War on Terror |url=https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/the-1950s-book-that-explains-the-war-on-terror/ |access-date=2023-04-13 |website=The New European |language=en-GB}}</ref> Two years later, faced with a united Moroccan demand for the sultan's return and rising violence in Morocco, as well as a deteriorating situation in Algeria, the French government brought Mohammed V back to Morocco, and the following year began the negotiations that led to Moroccan independence.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cianfarra |first=Camille M. |date=1955-11-17 |title=Morocco Sultan Returns in Triumph From Exile; MOROCCAN SULTAN HAILED ON RETURN |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1955/11/17/archives/morocco-sultan-returns-in-triumph-from-exile-moroccan-sultan-hailed.html |access-date=2023-04-04 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Balafrej |first=Ahmed |date=1956-04-01 |title=Morocco Plans for Independence {{!}} Foreign Affairs |language=en-US |url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/morocco/1956-04-01/morocco-plans-independence |access-date=2023-04-04 |issn=0015-7120}}</ref> So, with the triumphant return of Sultan Mohammed ben Youssef, the beginning of the end of the colonial era was marked.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |author=Stenner, David |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1178769466 |title=Globalizing Morocco : Transnational Activism and the Postcolonial State |date=14 May 2019 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-1-5036-0900-6 |oclc=1178769466}}</ref>

==Independent Morocco (since 1956)==

In late 1955, in the middle of what came to be known as the [[Revolution of the King and the People]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gdc.gale.com/archivesunbound/archives-unbound-the-king-and-the-people-in-morocco-1950-1959-u.s.-state-department-records-on-the-internal-affairs-of-morocco/|title=Revolution of the King and the People in Morocco, 1950–1959: Records of the U.S. State Department Classified Files|last=Burns|first=Jennifer|access-date=28 October 2016}}</ref> Sultan Mohammed V successfully negotiated the gradual restoration of Moroccan independence within a framework of French-Moroccan interdependence. The sultan agreed to institute reforms that would transform Morocco into a constitutional monarchy with a democratic form of government. As the French Foreign Minister Antoine Pinay had expressed, there was a willingness to grant Morocco its independence to "turn Morocco into a modern, democratic and sovereign state".<ref name=":5" /> In February 1956, Morocco acquired limited home rule. Further negotiations for full independence culminated in the French-Moroccan Agreement signed in Paris on 22 March 1956.<ref name=":5" />

On 7 April 1956, France officially relinquished its protectorate in Morocco. The internationalized city of [[Tangier]] was reintegrated with the signing of the [[Tangier Protocol]] on 29 October 1956.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cannon |first=Cavendish W. |date=April 1957 |title=Status of Tangier |journal=American Journal of International Law |volume=51 |issue=2 |pages=460–466 |doi=10.2307/2195744 |jstor=2195744 |s2cid=146977896 }}</ref> The abolition of the Spanish protectorate and the recognition of Moroccan independence by Spain were negotiated separately and made final in the Joint Declaration of April 1956.<ref name="LOCprof" /> Through this agreement with Spain in 1956 and another in 1958, Moroccan control over certain Spanish-ruled areas was restored. Attempts [[Ifni War|to claim other Spanish possessions through military action]] were less successful.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bendourou |first1=Omar |title=Democratization in the Middle East: Power and Opposition in Morocco |journal=Journal of Democracy |date=1996 |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=108–122 |id={{Project MUSE|16755}} |doi=10.1353/jod.1996.0041 |s2cid=154542573 }}</ref>

In the months that followed independence, Mohammed V proceeded to build a modern governmental structure under a [[constitutional monarchy]] in which the sultan would exercise an active political role. He acted cautiously, intent on preventing the Istiqlal from consolidating its control and establishing a [[one-party state]]. He assumed the monarchy on 11 August 1957, and from that date, the country officially became known as 'The Kingdom of Morocco'.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Muhammad-V-sultan-of-Morocco|title=Muḥammad V {{!}} sultan of Morocco|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=2 February 2018}}</ref><ref>Langer's Encyclopaedia of World History, page 1288.</ref>

===Reign of Hassan II (1961–1999)===
[[File:Hassan II, Marrakech, 1966.jpg|thumb|King [[Hassan II of Morocco|Hassan II]], on his way to Friday prayers in [[Marrakesh]], 1967.]]
Mohammed V's son [[Hassan II of Morocco|Hassan II]] became King of Morocco on 3 March 1961. His rule saw significant political unrest, and the ruthless government response earned the period the name "the [[Years of Lead (Morocco)|years of lead]]". Hassan took personal control of the government as prime minister and named a new cabinet. Aided by an advisory council, he drew up a new constitution, which was approved overwhelmingly in a December 1962 referendum. Under its provisions, the king remained the central figure in the executive branch of the government, but legislative power was vested in a bicameral parliament, and an independent judiciary was guaranteed.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Constitutional history of Morocco |url=https://constitutionnet.org/country/morocco |access-date=2022-04-17 |website=ConstitutionNet |language=en}}</ref>

In May 1963, legislative elections took place for the first time, and the royalist coalition secured a small plurality of seats. However, following a period of political upheaval in June 1965, Hassan II assumed full legislative and executive powers under a "state of exception," which remained in effect until 1970. Subsequently, a reform constitution was approved, restoring limited parliamentary government, and new elections were held. However, dissent remained, revolving around complaints of widespread corruption and malfeasance in government. [[1971 Moroccan coup d'état attempt|In July 1971]] and [[1972 Moroccan coup attempt|again in August 1972]], the regime was challenged by two attempted military coups.{{citation needed|date=September 2023}}

After neighbouring [[Algeria]]'s 1962 independence from France, border skirmishes in the [[Tindouf Province|Tindouf area]] of southwestern Algeria escalated in 1963 into what is known as the [[Sand War]]. The conflict ended after [[Organisation of African Unity]] mediation, with no territorial changes.<ref>{{cite web |author=P. Mweti Munya |url=http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1192&context=twlj |title=The Organization of African Unity and Its Role in Regional Conflict Resolution and Dispute Settlement: A Critical Evaluation |publisher=Boston College Third World Law Journal |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=556–557 |date=1999 }}</ref>

On 3 March 1973, Hassan II announced the policy of [[Moroccanization]], in which state-held assets, agricultural lands, and businesses that were more than 50 percent foreign-owned—and especially French-owned—were transferred to political loyalists and high-ranking military officers.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=A history of modern Morocco|last=Miller, Susan Gilson.|date=2013|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781139624695|location=New York|pages=184|oclc=855022840}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://aujourdhui.ma/focus/marocanisation-un-systeme-et-des-echecs-17906|title=Marocanisation : Un système et des échecs|website=Aujourd'hui le Maroc|date=7 September 2004 |language=fr-FR|access-date=17 July 2019}}</ref> The Moroccanization of the economy affected thousands of businesses and the proportion of industrial businesses in Morocco that were Moroccan-owned immediately increased from 18% to 55%.<ref name=":2" /> 2/3 of the wealth of the Moroccanized economy was concentrated in 36 Moroccan families.<ref name=":2" />

The patriotism engendered by Morocco's participation in the Middle East conflict and Western Sahara events contributed to Hassan's popularity. The king had dispatched Moroccan troops to the [[Sinai Peninsula|Sinai]] front after the outbreak of the [[Yom Kippur War|Arab-Israeli War]] in October 1973.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/1975-09-01A.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170111130036/https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/1975-09-01A.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 January 2017|title=The 1973 Arab-Israeli War. Overview and Analysis of the Conflict|last=CIA Intelligence Report|date=September 1975|website=CIA Library Reading room|access-date=22 February 2019}}</ref> Although they arrived too late to engage in hostilities, the action won Morocco goodwill among other Arab states.{{citation needed|date=October 2014}} Soon after, the attention of the government turned to the acquisition of [[Western Sahara]] from Spain, an issue on which all major domestic parties agreed.<ref name="LOCprof" />

Following years of discontent and inequality during the 1980s, on 14 December 1990, a general strike was called by two major trade unions in the country to demand an increase in the minimum wage and other measures. In Fez, this broke into protests and rioting led by university students and youths. The death of one of the students further inflamed protests, resulting in buildings being burned and looted, particularly symbols of wealth. While the official death toll was 5 people, the [[The New York Times|New York Times]] reported a toll of 33 people and quoted an anonymous source claiming the real death toll was likely higher. The government denied reports that the deaths were due to the intervention of security forces and armoured vehicles. Many of those arrested were later released and the government promised to investigate and raise wages, though some of these measures were dismissed by skeptical opposition parties.<ref name=":9">{{Cite book |last=Rivet |first=Daniel |title=Histoire du Maroc: de Moulay Idrîs à Mohammed VI |publisher=Fayard |year=2012}}</ref>{{Rp|377}}<ref>{{cite news |title=33 Dead in 2-Day Riot in Morocco Fed by Frustration Over Economy |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/17/world/33-dead-in-2-day-riot-in-morocco-fed-by-frustration-over-economy.html |work=The New York Times |date=17 December 1990 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1990-12-16 |title=5 Die, 127 Hurt as Worst Riots in 7 Years Sweep Morocco City |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-12-16-mn-9259-story.html |access-date=2021-01-10 |website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bidwell |first=Robin |title=Dictionary Of Modern Arab History |publisher=Routledge |year=1998 |isbn=9780710305053 |pages=146 |chapter=Fez Riots (1990)}}</ref>

===Western Sahara conflict (1974–1991)===
{{main|History of Western Sahara}}
[[File:Western_sahara_map_showing_morocco_and_polisaro.gif|200px|thumb|Status quo in [[Western Sahara]] since 1991 cease-fire: most under Moroccan control ([[Southern Provinces]]), with inner Polisario-controlled areas forming the [[Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic|Sahrawi Arab Republic]].]]
The Spanish [[enclave]] of [[Ifni]] in the south became part of the new state of Morocco in 1969, but other Spanish possessions in the north, including [[Ceuta]], [[Melilla]] and [[Plaza de soberanía]], remained under Spanish control, with Morocco viewing them as [[military occupation|occupied]] territory.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2018-12-14|title=Ceuta, Melilla profile|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-14114627|access-date=2021-03-19}}</ref>

In August 1974, Spain formally acknowledged the 1966 United Nations (UN) resolution calling for a referendum on the future status of Western Sahara and requested that a [[plebiscite]] be conducted under UN supervision. A [[United Nations visiting mission to Spanish Sahara|UN visiting mission]] reported in October 1975 that an overwhelming majority of the Saharan people desired independence. Morocco protested the proposed referendum and took its case to the [[International Court of Justice]] at [[The Hague]], which ruled that despite historical "ties of allegiance" between Morocco and the tribes of Western Sahara, there was no legal justification for departing from the UN position on self-determination. Spain, meanwhile, had declared that even in the absence of a referendum, it intended to surrender political control of Western Sahara, and Spain, Morocco, and [[Mauritania]] convened a [[Madrid Accords|tripartite conference]] to resolve the territory's future. Spain also announced that it was opening independence talks with the Algerian-backed Saharan independence movement known as the [[Polisario Front]].<ref name="LOCprof" />

In early 1976, Spain ceded the administration of Western Sahara to Morocco and Mauritania. Morocco assumed control over the northern two-thirds of the territory and conceded the remaining portion in the south to Mauritania. An assembly of Saharan tribal leaders duly acknowledged Moroccan sovereignty. However, buoyed by the increasing defection of tribal chiefs to its cause, the Polisario drew up a constitution and announced the formation of the [[Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic]] (SADR), and itself formed [[government-in-exile]].<ref name="LOCprof" />

The Moroccan government eventually sent a large portion of its combat forces into Western Sahara to confront the Polisario's forces, which were relatively small but well-equipped, highly mobile, and resourceful. The Polisario used Algerian bases for quick strikes against targets deep inside Morocco and Mauritania, as well as for operations in Western Sahara. In August 1979, after suffering military losses, Mauritania renounced its claim to Western Sahara and signed a peace treaty with the Polisario. In 1984, Morocco withdrew from the [[Organisation of African Unity]] due to the admission of the SADR as a member.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kazeem |first=Yomi |date=2017-01-31 |title=Morocco has rejoined the African Union after a 33-year absence |url=https://qz.com/africa/898645/morocco-has-rejoined-the-african-union-but-the-western-sahara-question-remains |access-date=2023-04-04 |website=Quartz |language=en}}</ref> Morocco then annexed the entire territory and, in 1985 built a [[Moroccan Wall|2,500-kilometer sand berm]] around three-quarters of Western Sahara.<ref name="LOCprof" />

In 1988, Morocco and the Polisario Front agreed on a United Nations (UN) peace plan, and a cease-fire and settlement plan went into effect in 1991. Even though the UN Security Council created a [[peacekeeping]] force to implement a referendum on self-determination for Western Sahara, it has yet to be held, periodic negotiations have failed, and the status of the territory remains unresolved.<ref name="LOCprof" />

The war against the Polisario guerrillas put severe strains on the economy, and Morocco found itself increasingly isolated diplomatically. Gradual political reforms in the 1990s culminated in the constitutional reform of 1996, which created a new bicameral legislature with expanded, although still limited, powers. Elections for the Chamber of Representatives were held in 1997, reportedly marred by irregularities.<ref name="LOCprof" />

===Reign of Mohammed VI (since 1999)===
With the [[Death and funeral of Hassan II of Morocco|death of Hassan II]] in 1999, the more liberal Crown Prince Sidi Mohammed took the throne, assuming the title [[Mohammed VI of Morocco|Mohammed VI]]. He enacted successive reforms to modernize Morocco, and the [[human-rights]] record of the country improved markedly.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Mohamed VI, King of Morocco |encyclopedia=Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations |year=2007 |publisher=Gale}}</ref> One of the new king's first acts was to free approximately 8,000 political prisoners and reduce the sentences of another 30,000. He also established a commission to compensate families of missing political activists and others subjected to arbitrary detention.<ref name="LOCprof" /> In 1999, the [[First Sahrawi Intifada]] took place.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sahrawis campaign for human rights and independence in the first intifada, Western Sahara, 1999-2004 {{!}} Global Nonviolent Action Database |url=https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/sahrawis-campaign-human-rights-and-independence-first-intifada-western-sahara-1999-2004 |access-date=2023-04-01 |website=nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Western Sahara Since the Arab Spring |url=https://www.accord.org.za/conflict-trends/western-sahara-since-arab-spring/ |access-date=2023-04-01 |website=ACCORD |language=en-GB}}</ref> Internationally, Morocco has maintained strong ties to the West. It was one of the first Arab and Islamic states to denounce the [[9/11 terrorist attacks]] on the United States.<ref>{{cite web|last=Schmickle |first=Sharon |url=http://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy/2010/12/kaplans-morocco-distinctive-duo-realizing-dream-they-live-politics-and-proto |title=The Kaplans in Morocco: Distinctive duo realizing a dream as they live politics and protocol 24/7 |publisher=MinnPost |date= 17 December 2010|access-date=22 November 2013}}</ref>

In September 2002, new legislative elections were held, and the [[Union Socialiste des Forces Populaires|Socialist Union of Popular Forces]] (USFP) won a plurality.<ref>{{Cite web |title=MOROCCO: parliamentary elections Majliss-annouwab, 2002 |url=http://archive.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/arc/2221_02.htm |access-date=2023-04-13 |website=archive.ipu.org}}</ref> International observers regarded the elections as free and fair, noting the absence of the irregularities that had plagued the 1997 elections. In May 2003, in honor of the birth of a son, the king ordered the release of 9,000 prisoners and the reduction of 38,000 sentences. Also in 2003, [[Berber-language]] instruction was introduced in primary schools, prior to introducing it at all educational levels.<ref name="LOCprof" /> In March 2000, women's groups organized demonstrations in [[Rabat]] proposing reforms to the legal status of women in the country. 200,000 to 300,000 women attended, calling for [[Polygamy in Morocco|a ban on polygamy]], and the introduction of civil [[divorce law]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/13/world/moroccans-and-women-two-rallies.html?ref=morocco |title=Moroccans and Women: Two Rallies |work=The New York Times |date=13 March 2000 |access-date=22 November 2013}}</ref> Although a counter-demonstration attracted 200,000 to 400,000 participants, the movement was influential on King Mohammed, and he enacted a new ''[[Mudawana]]'', or family law, in early 2004, meeting some of the demands of women's rights activists.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/moroccan-feminist-groups-campaign-reform-moudawana-personal-status-codeislamic-family-law-19 |title=Moroccan feminist groups campaign to reform Moudawana (Personal Status Code/Islamic family law), 1992–2004 &#124; Global Nonviolent Action Database |publisher=Nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu |access-date=22 November 2013}}</ref>[[File:قطار البراق يقف في محطة طنجة المدينة.jpeg|thumb|[[Al-Boraq]], the first high speed rail service on the African continent.<ref>{{Cite web|last=2019-11-21T15:37:00+00:00|title=Africa's first high speed line covers its costs|url=https://www.railwaygazette.com/high-speed/africas-first-high-speed-line-covers-its-costs/55192.article|access-date=2020-11-27|website=Railway Gazette International|language=en}}</ref>]]

In July 2002, a [[Perejil Island crisis|crisis broke out]] with Spain over a small, uninhabited island lying just less than 200 meters from the Moroccan coast, named [[Perejil Island|Toura or Leila by Moroccans and Perejil by Spain]]. After mediation by the United States, both Morocco and Spain agreed to return to the status quo, under which the island remains deserted.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2139911.stm |title=Europe &#124; Solution to island dispute 'closer' |work=BBC News |date=19 July 2002 |access-date=22 November 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1402005/Battle-of-Parsley-Island-ends.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1402005/Battle-of-Parsley-Island-ends.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Battle of Parsley Island ends |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=20 July 2002 |access-date=22 November 2013}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

In May 2003, Islamist [[suicide bomber]]s simultaneously [[2003 Casablanca bombings|struck a series of sites in Casablanca]], killing 45 and injuring more than 100 others.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Bright |first1=Martin |last2=Harris |first2=Paul |last3=Bouzerda |first3=Ali |date=2003-05-18 |title=Horror in Casablanca as al-Qaeda toll hits 41 |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/may/18/alqaida.terrorism2 |access-date=2023-03-27 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |agency=Agence France-Presse |date=2008-04-08 |title=Morocco: 9 Imprisoned for Casablanca Blasts Escape |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/08/world/africa/08briefs-9IMPRISONEDF_BRF.html |access-date=2023-03-27 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The Moroccan government responded with a crackdown against Islamist extremists, ultimately arresting several thousand, prosecuting 1,200, and sentencing about 900. Additional arrests followed in June 2004. That same month, the United States designated Morocco a major non-[[North Atlantic Treaty Organization]] ally, stating that it was in recognition of its efforts to thwart international terrorism.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2004-06-04 |title=US rewards Morocco for terror aid |language=en-GB |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3776413.stm |access-date=2023-04-01}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Memorandum on Designation of the Kingdom of Morocco as a Major Non-NATO Ally {{!}} The American Presidency Project |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/memorandum-designation-the-kingdom-morocco-major-non-nato-ally |access-date=2023-04-01 |website=www.presidency.ucsb.edu}}</ref> In May 2005, the [[Second Sahrawi Intifada]] took place.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sahrawis campaign for independence in the second intifada, Western Sahara, 2005-2008 {{!}} Global Nonviolent Action Database |url=https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/sahrawis-campaign-independence-second-intifada-western-sahara-2005-2008 |access-date=2023-04-01 |website=nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-12-11 |title=Western Sahara: Historical Timeline 1884–2014 - Cultures of Resistance Films |url=https://culturesofresistancefilms.com/ws-timeline/ |access-date=2023-04-01 |language=en-US}}</ref> On 1 January 2006, a comprehensive bilateral [[free trade agreement]] between the United States and Morocco took effect.<ref name="LOCprof" /> The agreement had been signed in 2004 along with a similar agreement with the [[European Union]], Morocco's main trade partner.<ref name=EUTradeComm>{{cite web|url=https://policy.trade.ec.europa.eu/eu-trade-relationships-country-and-region/countries-and-regions/southern-neighbourhood_en|title=Southern Neighbourhood: EU trade relations with its Southern Neighbourhood. Facts, figures and latest developments.| publisher=European Commission| author=Directorate-General for Trade| date=2022| access-date=20 October 2022}}</ref>

In February 2011, [[2011–2012 Moroccan protests|thousands of people rallied]] in Rabat and other cities calling for political reform and a new constitution curbing the powers of the king.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-03-20 |title=Thousands in Morocco march for rights |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/thousands-in-morocco-march-for-rights-2247511.html |first=Souhail|last=Karam|access-date=2022-04-13 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref> Two months later, a [[2011 Marrakesh bombing|bombing in Marrakesh]] occurred, killing 17 people – mainly foreigners.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2011-04-28 |title=Morocco: Marrakesh bomb strikes Djemaa el-Fna square |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13226117 |access-date=2023-03-27}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Chrisafis |first=Angelique |date=2011-04-28 |title=Moroccan tourist cafe terrorist attack leaves at least 15 dead |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/28/marrakech-tourist-cafe-terrorist-attack |access-date=2023-03-27 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Bomb blast hits popular cafe in Morocco, killing 15 |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna42797238 |access-date=2023-03-27 |website=NBC News |date=28 April 2011 |language=en}}</ref> It was the deadliest attack in Morocco in eight years. The [[Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb|Maghrebi arm of al-Qaeda]] denied involvement.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-05-07 |title=AQIM denies responsibility for fatal Marrakesh bombing |url=https://www.france24.com/en/20110507-al-qaeda-islamic-magrheb-denies-responsibility-fatal-marrakesh-bombing-morocco |access-date=2023-03-27 |website=France 24 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-03-10 |title=Moroccan court hands down harsher sentences for cafe bombers |url=https://www.france24.com/en/20120310-morocco-al-qaeda-marrakech-bomb-cafe-french-tourist |access-date=2022-04-13 |website=France 24 |language=en}}</ref> In July 2011 King Mohammed introduced a [[2011 Moroccan constitutional referendum|constitutional referendum]] proposed in order to placate "[[Arab Spring]]" protests.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2011-07-02 |title=Morocco approves King Mohammed's constitutional reforms |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13976480 |access-date=2022-04-13}}</ref> In article 5 of the 2011 constitution, [[Standard Moroccan Amazigh|Amazigh]] was recognized as an official language.<ref>{{Citation |last=Ottoway |first=Marina |title=The New Moroccan Constitution: Real Change or More of the Same? |url=https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2011/06/the-new-moroccan-constitution-real-change-or-more-of-the-same?lang=en |publication-date=20 June 2011 |publisher=Carnegie Endowment for International Peace}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=Morocco's Constitution of 2011 |url=https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Morocco_2011.pdf |publisher=constituteproject.org |translator-last=William S. Hein & Co}}</ref>
[[File:ⵍⵃⵉⵔⴰⴽ ⵏⴰⵔⵔⵉⴼ.jpg|thumb|Hirak Rif protests|left]]In October 2016, large-scale protests erupted after a fish seller in [[Al Hoceima|al-Hoceima]] was crushed to death in a rubbish truck as he tried to retrieve fish confiscated by police. The protests became known as the [[Hirak Rif Movement]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=2018-04-24 |title=Morocco profile - Timeline |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-14123260 |access-date=2022-04-13}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Masbah |first=Mohammed |date=2017-11-07 |title=A New Generation of Protests in Morocco? How Hirak al-Rif Endures |url=https://www.arab-reform.net/publication/a-new-generation-of-protests-in-morocco-how-hirak-al-rif-endures/ |journal=Arab Reform Initiative |language=en}}</ref> The [[2016 Moroccan general election|2016 election]] witnessed the victory of the [[Justice and Development Party (Morocco)|Justice and Development Party]] (PJD), attaining a plurality of seats for a second consecutive time.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2016-10-08 |title=Morocco PM's party wins election |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-37594542 |access-date=2023-04-21}}</ref> On 30 January 2017, Morocco rejoined the [[African Union]] as a member state, 33 years after leaving.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Morocco rejoins the African Union after 33 years |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/1/31/morocco-rejoins-the-african-union-after-33-years |access-date=2023-04-04 |website=www.aljazeera.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Quinn |first=Ben |date=2017-01-31 |title=Morocco rejoins African Union after more than 30 years |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/jan/31/morocco-rejoins-african-union-after-more-than-30-years |access-date=2023-04-04 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Morocco rejoins African Union after 33-year absence – DW – 01/31/2017 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/african-union-re-admits-morocco-after-33-year-absence/a-37342982 |access-date=2023-04-04 |website=dw.com |language=en}}</ref> The [[2018 Boycott in Morocco|2018 consumer boycott]] targeted the market-dominating fuel, bottled water, and dairy brands.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2018-05-30 |title=Morocco consumer boycott has big business in its sights |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/morocco-protests-idUSL5N1SP35Z |access-date=2023-02-20}}</ref>

The [[COVID-19 pandemic in Morocco]] was first confirmed on 2 March 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Morocco: Health ministry confirms first COVID-19 case March 2 /update 2 |url=https://crisis24.garda.com/alerts/2020/03/morocco-health-ministry-confirms-first-covid-19-case-march-2-update-2 |access-date=2023-04-09 |website=Morocco: Health ministry confirms first COVID-19 case March 2 /update 2 {{!}} Crisis24 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kasraoui |first=Safaa |title=Coronavirus Pandemic: A Timeline of COVID-19 in Morocco |url=https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2020/03/296727/coronavirus-a-timeline-of-covid-19-in-morocco |access-date=2023-04-09 |website=moroccoworldnews |language=en}}</ref> Eight days later, on 10 March 2020, Morocco recorded its first COVID-19-related death.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Morocco announces 1st coronavirus death |url=https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/morocco-announces-1st-coronavirus-death/1761051 |access-date=2023-04-09 |website=www.aa.com.tr}}</ref> On 10 December 2020, President [[Donald Trump]] announced that the United States would officially recognize Morocco's claims over Western Sahara as part of the [[Israel–Morocco normalization agreement]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=U.S. Relations With Morocco |url=https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-morocco/ |access-date=2022-04-18 |website=United States Department of State |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kestler-D'Amours |first=Jillian |title=US recognised Morocco's claim to Western Sahara. Now what? |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/11/us-recognised-moroccos-claim-to-western-sahara-now-what|date=2020-12-11 |access-date=2022-04-18 |website=www.aljazeera.com |language=en}}</ref> which saw Morocco reestablishing diplomatic relations with Israel.<ref>{{cite web |title=Morocco, Israel: 6 decades of secret ties, cooperation |url=https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/morocco-israel-6-decades-of-secret-ties-cooperation/2083157# |website=aa.com.tr}}</ref> A joint declaration between the three countries was signed on 22 December 2020.<ref>{{cite web |title=Joint-Declaration-US-Morocco-Israel |url=https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Joint-Declaration-US-Morrocco-Israel.pdf |website=www.state.gov}}</ref>

On 17 May 2021, [[2021 Morocco–Spain border incident|an incident occurred between the borders of Spain and Morocco]], part of a diplomatic crisis between both nations.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ellyatt |first=Holly |title=Spain and Morocco in diplomatic crisis after 8,000 migrants enter Spanish territory |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/19/spain-and-morocco-clash-after-thousands-of-migrants-enter-ceuta.html |access-date=2023-03-27 |website=CNBC |date=19 May 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Kassam |first=Ashifa |date=2021-05-18 |title=More than 6,000 migrants reach Spain's north African enclave Ceuta |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/17/record-1000-migrants-reach-spains-north-african-enclave-ceuta-in-a-day |access-date=2023-03-27 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Reasons Behind the Spanish-Moroccan Crisis |url=https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/reasons-behind-spanish-moroccan-crisis |access-date=2023-03-27 |website=The Washington Institute |language=en}}</ref> On 24 August 2021, neighbouring Algeria cut diplomatic relations with Morocco, accusing Morocco of supporting a separatist group and "hostile actions against Algeria". Morocco called the decision "unjustified".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ahmed |first1=Hamid Ould |title=Algeria cuts diplomatic relations with Morocco |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/algeria-says-cutting-diplomatic-ties-with-morocco-2021-08-24/#:%7E:text=Speaking%20at%20a%20news%20conference,on%20the%20Western%20Sahara%20issue |work=Reuters |date=25 August 2021 |language=en}}</ref>

The [[2021 Moroccan general election|2021 election]] was held on 8 September 2021, which witnessed an [[electoral wipeout]] of the PJD, having lost more than 90% of its seats and ending in eighth place.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Alami |first1=Aida |last2=Casey |first2=Nicholas |date=2021-09-09 |title=Islamists See Big Losses in Moroccan Parliamentary Elections |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/08/world/africa/morocco-elections.html |access-date=2023-04-05 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last= |date=2021-09-09 |title=Morocco elections: Islamists suffer losses as liberal parties gain ground |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/09/islamists-suffer-losses-as-liberal-parties-gain-ground-in-morocco-elections |access-date=2023-04-05 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> The [[National Rally of Independents]] won a plurality of seats in the elections, and [[Aziz Akhannouch]] was later named the 17th [[Prime Minister of Morocco]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Moderate parties win big in Moroccan elections – DW – 09/09/2021 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/morocco-moderate-parties-rout-ruling-islamists-in-elections/a-59128306 |access-date=2023-04-05 |website=dw.com |language=en}}</ref> On 24 June 2022, [[2022 Melilla incident|a migration incident]] occurred resulting in the deaths of 23 migrants.<ref>{{Cite news |agency=Agence France-Presse |date=2022-06-25 |title=Melilla: death toll from mass incursion on Spanish enclave rises to 23 |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/25/eighteen-killed-as-throng-of-migrants-storms-spains-melilla-border-from-morocco |access-date=2023-03-27 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-06-27 |title=Melilla migrant deaths spark anger in Spain |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-61956104 |access-date=2023-03-27}}</ref>

On 3 May 2023, King Mohammed VI declared [[Yennayer|Amazigh New Year]] as an official national holiday to be celebrated yearly.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rahhou |first=Jihane |title=Amazigh New Year Becomes Official National Holiday in Morocco |url=https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2023/05/355284/amazigh-new-year-becomes-official-national-holiday-in-morocco |access-date=2023-05-04 |website=moroccoworldnews |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-05-03 |title=King Mohammed VI declares the Amazigh New Year an official holiday |url=https://en.hespress.com/63411-king-mohammed-vi-declares-the-amazigh-new-year-an-official-holiday.html |access-date=2023-05-04 |website=HESPRESS English - Morocco News |language=en-US}}</ref>

On 8 September 2023, a 6.8 magnitude [[earthquake]] hit Morocco killing more than 2,800 people and injuring thousands. The [[Epicenter|epicentre]] of the quake was around 70&nbsp;km southwest of the city of [[Marrakesh|Marrakech]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Timeline: The Deadly September 8 Earthquake in Morocco |url=https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2023/09/357589/timeline-the-deadly-september-8-earthquake-in-morocco |website=moroccoworldnews.com}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[History of North Africa]]
*[[Imperial cities of Morocco]]
*[[List of Kings of Morocco]]
*[[Politics of Morocco]]
* History of cities in Morocco:
** Casablanca [[History of Casablanca|history]] and [[Timeline of Casablanca|timeline]]
** Fez [[Fez, Morocco|history]] and [[Timeline of Fez|timeline]]
** Marrakesh [[History of Marrakesh|history]] and [[Timeline of Marrakesh|timeline]]
** Rabat [[Rabat#History|history]] and [[Timeline of Rabat|timeline]]
** Tangier [[Tangier#History|history]] and [[Timeline of Tangier|timeline]]
* {{interlanguage link|Timeline of Morocco|fr|Chronologie du Maroc}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* Abun-Nasr, Jamil M. ''A History of the Maghrib in the Islamic Period'', Cambridge University Press, 1987. {{ISBN|9780521337670}}.
* Chandler, James A. "Spain and Her Moroccan Protectorate, 1898–1927," ''Journal of Contemporary History'' 10 (April 1975): 301–22.
* Pennell, C. R. ''Morocco Since 1830: A History'', New York University Press, 2000. {{ISBN|9780814766774}}
* Pennell, C. R. ''Morocco: From Empire to Independence'', Oneworld Publications, 2013. {{ISBN|9781780744551}} ([https://books.google.com/books?id=TYXrAQAAQBAJ preview])
* Stenner, David. ''Globalizing Morocco: Transnational Activism and the Postcolonial State'' (Stanford UP, 2019). [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=54410 online review]
* Terrasse, Henri. ''History of Morocco'', Éd. Atlantides, 1952. 
* Woolman, David. ''Rebels in the Rif: Abd-el-Krim and the Rif Rebellion'' (Stanford UP, 1967)
* Yolanda Aixelà-Cabré. ''Spain's African Colonial Legacies: Morocco and Equatorial Guinea Compared'' (Brill, 2022) [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=58252 online review]

===In French===
*David Bensoussan, ''Il était une fois le Maroc : témoignages du passé judéo-marocain'', Éd. du Lys, 2010. {{ISBN|2-922505-14-6}}.
*[[Bernard Lugan]], ''Histoire du Maroc'', Éd. Perrin, 2000. {{ISBN|2-262-01644-5}}
*Michel Abitbol, ''Histoire du Maroc'', Éd. Perrin, 2009. {{ISBN|9782262023881}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20040906090754/http://www.oneworld-publications.com/samples/morocco-a-short-history.htm A short history of Morocco]
*[http://cnparm.home.texas.net/Wars/MorCrises.htm Early Twentiethth Century Timelines] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724094330/http://cnparm.home.texas.net/Wars/MorCrises.htm |date=24 July 2011 }}: Moroccan crises, 1903–1914
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20051230084738/http://www.magicmorocco.com/history_of_morocco.html The History of Morocco]
*[http://www.euratlas.com/time/sw1600.htm Historical map of Morocco – c. 1600]
*Z. Brakez et al. [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=11393336 "Human mitochondrial DNA sequence variation in the Moroccan population of the Souss area"]

{{History of Africa}}
{{Morocco topics}}
{{Empires}}
{{Spanish Empire}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of Morocco}}
[[Category:History of Morocco| ]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]