Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Islamic Dynasties
In the second half of the 7th century, the soldiers of the Prophet Mohammed set forth from
the Arabian Peninsula. Within a century, nearly all the Berber tribes of North Africa had
embraced Islam, although local tribes developed their own brand of Islamic Shi'ism,
which sparked rebellion against the eastern Arabs.
By 829, local elites had established an Idrissid state, with its capital at Fez, dominating
Morocco. Thus commenced a cycle of rising and falling Islamic dynasties, which included
the Almoravids (1062-1147), who built their capital at Marrakesh; the Almohads
(1147-1269), famous for building the Koutoubia Mosque; the Merenids (1269-1465),
known for their exquisite mosques and
madrassas
(Quranic schools), especially in Fez;
the Saadians (1524-1659), responsible for the Palais el-Badi in Marrakesh; and the Alaw-
ites (1659-present), who left their greatest monuments in Meknès.
France took control in 1912, making its capital at Rabat and handing Spain a token
zone in the north. Opposition from Berber mountain tribes continued to simmer away and
moved into political channels with the development of the Istiqlal (independence) party.
Sultan Mohammed V proved vocally supportive of movements opposing colonial rule and
was exiled for his pains.
Morocco Since Independence
France allowed Mohammed V to return from exile in 1955, and Morocco successfully ne-
gotiated its independence from France and Spain in 1956.
When Mohammed V died in 1961, King Hassan II became the leader of the new nation.
Hassan II consolidated power by cracking down on dissent and suspending parliament for
a decade. With heavy borrowing and an ever-expanding bureaucracy, Morocco was deeply
in debt by the 1970s.
In 1973 the phosphate industry in the Spanish Sahara started to boom. Morocco staked
its claim to the area with the 350,000-strong Green March into Western Sahara in 1975. It
settled the area with Moroccans while greatly unsettling indigenous Sahrawi people agit-
ating for self- determination . The UN brokered a cease-fir e in 1991, but the promised
referendum, in which the Sahrawis could choose between independence and integration
with Morocco, has yet to materialise, and Western Sahara's status remains undecided in
international law.
However, the growing gap between the rich and the poor ensured that dissent against
the regime was widespread. Protests against price rises in 1981 prompted a government
crackdown, but sustained pressure from human-rights activists achieved unprecedented
