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Morocco, an empire of 12 centuries?

Since Morocco's interdependence in 1956 (cf. the La Celle-Saint-Cloud interdependence agreements of November 6, 1955, *), Hassan II has constructed a Moroccan national narrative out of odds and ends, by appropriating the history of the region's peoples. According to this Moroccan national novel, Morocco is an empire spanning more than 12 centuries, dating back to 789.


The problem with this national narrative is that it's not coherent, because there's no continuity between the different states or dynasties that have succeeded one another, and even worse: all these states were created by foreigners who have no connection with Morocco:

  • Youssef Ibn Tachfine's Almoravids arrived from Mauritania.
  • The Almohads of Abdelmoumen, who are Algerian Zenets.
  • The Marinids and Wattassids were also Algerian Zenets.
  • The Saadians and Alawites came from Saudi Arabia.

Moreover, it's surprising to hear talk of an empire when we know that the authority of the Alaouite sultans did not extend beyond the gates of the city of Fez. Walter B. Harris's famous book Harris (Morocco That Was **), the sultans of Morocco were constantly under threat from Berber tribes who did not recognize their authority and were obliged to travel with an escort of 12,000 men when they left the city walls of Fez or Marrakech. What's more, the sultans' army was made up of sub-Saharan mercenaries and Turkish renegades.


Since the Moroccan national narrative states that the borders of the Moroccan empire extended as far as the Senegal River and that Morocco had authority over a large part of Algeria, part of Mali, Western Sahara, and Mauritania. The question we can legitimately ask ourselves is: where was the army of the Moroccan empire when France conquered the territories of the Moroccan empire?

  • France conquered Mauritania in 1902: where was the army of the Moroccan empire, which was not under French domination (the French protectorate in Morocco began in 1912)?
  • Same question for Mali in 1905.
  • Same question for  Western Sahara conquered by the Spanish army in 1884.
  • Same question for Algeria, conquered by France in 1830.

Moroccans will never be able to answer these insoluble questions, because Morocco has never been an empire and has never had the borders it claims to have: in 1884, at the time of the Spanish conquest of Western Sahara, the King of Spain wrote to the Sultan of Morocco to complain about the Saharan tribes who were putting up energetic resistance to the Spanish. The Moroccan Sultan's reply to the King of Spain was crystal clear: Morocco has no authority beyond Oued Noun.


One final piece of evidence that the Moroccan national story is nothing but a construct: in Hassan II's time, Moroccan authorities spoke of 6 centuries of history; today, in 2023, Morocco speaks of 12 centuries; perhaps in 10 years, Moroccan authorities will speak of 14 centuries of history.  

In conclusion, real history teaches us that Morocco in its current form is a French construction:

  • It was France that crushed the resistance of the Berber tribes to the authority of the Sultans.
  • It was France that extended Moroccan territory beyond its authentic borders: annexing Algerian territories east of Oued Moulouya and integrating territories south of Oued Noun.
  • It was France that gave Morocco a national emblem.
  • It was France that gave Morocco a national anthem without lyrics; the Moroccans waited until the 1970 World Cup to have lyrics in their national anthem - we can also question the fact that an empire waited until the arrival of the French to have a national anthem.
  • The theory of Greater Morocco is also a French construct, elaborated in the laboratories of the SDEC in 1954. The Mauritanian agent Horma Ould Babana was the person charged by the SDEC with infiltrating the Al Istiqlal party to spread this theory, which aimed to destroy any possibility of regional integration in the Maghreb.

All hail!


(*) Les accords d’interdépendance de la Celle-Saint-Cloud du 6 novembre 1955 : https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/1956/04/WESTPHAL/21739
(**) Morocco That Was (Walter B. Harris): https://archive.org/details/moroccothatwas00harrrich


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