Haigazian University the faculty of Business

administration and economics

Term paper

By

Garen Yervant Afarian

ID: 1310159

The French and Spanish colonization on

Morocco
Course: ECO 241 / Economic development

Instructor: Ms. Palig Ladayan

Spring 14-15

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Table of content:

Introduction 3

Pre-colonial era 4

Colonization era.. 7

Post-colonial era.... 11

Current development process compared with other countries. 14

Conclusion 16

References.. 17

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 1. Introduction

In the western region of North Africa there is an Arabic country, with an area of 446,550
km2, named Morocco. Geographically, Morocco is characterized by rough mountainous interior and
large areas of desert. It is one of only three countries (other than Spain and France) to have both
Atlantic and Mediterranean coastlines which is an advantage for marine trade. The Arabic name al-
Mamlakah al-Maghribiyah (Arabic: , meaning "The Western Kingdom") and Al-Maghrib
(Arabic: , meaning "The West") are commonly used as alternate names. Its capital is Rabat,
even though the largest city is Casablanca; other important cities are Tangier, Sal, Fes, Meknes,
Agadir, Oujda, Tetouan Marrakesh, Ndor, and Kenitra. Its distinct culture is a mixture of Arab,
Berber, European, and Sub-Saharan African influences. The history of Morocco begins with the
Phoenician colonization between the 8th and 6th centuries B.C., even though the area was
inhabited by indigenous Berbers for some 2,000 years before that. In the 5th century B.C., the state
of Carthage (constructed by the Phoenician princess, Elisar) extended its dominance over the coastal
areas. They stayed there till the late 3rd century B.C., while the hinterland was dominated by
monarchs. Berber monarchs ruled the territory from the 3rd century B.C. until 40 B.C., when it was
associated to the Roman Empire. In the mid-5th century A.D., it was overrun by Vandals, before
being ruled by the Byzantine Empire in the 6th century A.D. After this, the region was ruled by the
Arab Muslims in the early 8th century AD, but taken from the Umayyad Caliphate after the Berber
revolution in 740. Fifty years later, the Moroccan state was established by the Idrisid dynasty. The
Saadi dynasty dominated the region from 1549 until 1659, followed by the Alaouites in the 17th
century, who have since been the dominating dynasty of Morocco. In 1912, after the First Agadir
Crisis and the Moroccan Crisis, the Treaty of Fez was signed, dividing Morocco into Spanish and
French protectorates. In 1956, after 44 years of French dominance, Morocco gained independence
from France, and shortly after gained most of the territories under Spanish control. Today, Morocco
is a member of the UN and belongs to the Arab League, Arab Maghreb Union (UMA), the Non-
Aligned Movement, the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) and Organization of Islamic
Cooperation (OIC). Morocco has a good relationship with Arab, African and Western countries.
Morocco has had strong ties to the West in order to gain political and economic benefits. Spain and
France remain the primary creditors, as well as the primary trade partners and foreign investors in
Morocco. From the sum of foreign investments in Morocco, the EU invests approximately 73.6%; on
the other hand, the Arab world invests only 19.4%. Many countries from the Gulf and western

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regions are getting more motivated in large-scale development projects in Morocco. Foreign
relations have had a great influence on social and economic development in Morocco. Some
evidence of foreign impact is through the many growth projects, investments, loans, and free trade
agreements that Morocco has with other countries. Some free trade agreements are the Euro-
Mediterranean free trade area agreement with the EU; the Greater Arab Free Trade Area with
Jordan, Tunisia, and Egypt; as well as the US-Morocco Free Trade Agreement with the US. An
example of recent foreign influence is through loan agreements. In 2009, Morocco agreed on 3
different loan agreements with the French Development Agency, totaling up to 155M Euros. These
were for the purpose of development. As we have stated, Morocco had been colonized by Spain and
France after the treaty of fez in 1912. Our main topic in this paper is to talk about the effects of
French and Spanish colonization in Morocco. Therefore, first of all we are going to talk about the
economic and political situation of Morocco prior the French and Spanish colonization, and then we
are going to talk about the situation of Morocco under the French and Spanish colonization. After
this we will discuss the post colonization era and finally, we will compare Morocco with Algeria,
which is colonized by France as well.

2. Pre-colonial era

In this part we are going to talk about the pre-colonial era of Morocco. Like the other states
of the Arab Maghreb, Morocco exhibited a curious blend of ottoman-style bureaucratic government,
and kind of tribalism and popular Islam which one associates with Iran and Afghanistan. In 1631, The
Alaouite dynasty succeeded the Saadi dynasty. And still today it is ruling Morocco and it is
considered the oldest ruling family in the world. Both Saady and Alaouite dynasties are descended
from Prophet Muhammad. This longevity, and religious authencity, has added a sense of continuity
and legitimacy, enabling the royal family to endure through the Ottoman Empire. In the 19th
century Ottoman Empire dominated on the Northern African countries except Morocco. It wasnt
before 1750s that the Alaouite dynasty unified the country and recognized its administration, as the
Berbers and local tribes opposed their rule. The Alaouite dynasty created a very centralized
government system called Makhzan, and ruled as an absolute monarchy for most of its period.
Although the Moroccan Army was well developed in the 19th century, but it was unable to stop the
tribesmen who lived in the mountainous areas. Because of topography (being mountainous is hard

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to dominate) there was rarely a powerful central government and most of the country most of the
time wasnt under governmental control. In comparison with other Arabic countries the population
of Morocco was homogeneous. There were Berber and Arab and few religious communities Sunni
Muslims of the Maliki legal rite, and Jews. Berbers inhabited the mountains. Almost 60% of the
population was Berber in 1900. The Jewish minority was both urban and rural shared many customs
with Muslims. They were also Arabic speakers. Finally the absence of a Christian minority should be
noted. The political significance of these facts is clear: an emerging sense of Moroccan nationalism
would encounter little competition from other foci of group pride identity. The size of the Moroccan
population prior urbanization era is unclear with any precision and is still the occasion of serious
dispute. A partial French sample estimated a population around 3 million people in 1912, but
because the population of mountains were largely excluded, a total of 5 millions seems more likely.
The urban population is easier to estimate. In 1905 it was around 230,000 people. As for other
agrarian societies, both the death and birth rates were high, and the population trend was
essentially stable over time, with periodic famines and epidemics. Speaking of the society, child
marriages were common during the nineteenth century. Girls tended to marry between twelve and
fourteen years of age however, boys between fourteen and sixteen. In rural areas some marriages
took place between even younger children. During the pre-colonial era, marriages were arranged by
family members and, based on religious dictates, took place within the extended family, usually
between cousins. Since families usually shared business activities, this overlapping of economic and
marital ties strengthened family networks and was conducive to the success of the marriage.
Furthermore gender inequality was remarkable in Morocco prior colonization. Women were
financially dependent from their men because they are allowed to do domestic works only.
Womens only wealth was the jewelries and clothing that they receive when they married and they
didnt have the right to sell these jewelries. In addition, religion obligated wives to cover their hair
and married women in the Atlas Mountains region were expected to cover their whole faces as well,
as was customary among Muslim females. On the other hand, the norm of modesty also dictated
that wives stay at home, out of the public view, segregated from men. Wives were not permitted to
leave their house, even if they are going to visit their relatives, without their husbands permission.
While some women, usually the daughters of rabbis, did study the Bible, women were not obliged to
study the Quran, as men were commanded to do. Women generally learned religious tradition from
hearsay and prayers taught them by their grandmothers and mothers. It has been pointed out that
mens monopoly of religious scriptures and their interpretations of them was a mechanism of mens

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control over women. Moreover, education wasnt for women. But after constructing some schools
only for girls in the late 19th century girls attendance at elementary school eventually rose
throughout the country and only 310 girls attended school in 1872 (which is still very small). Before
the French imperialism, education played an important role in Moroccan society as a means of
cultural reproduction and as a form of cultural capital that defined a persons social position.
Traditional Moroccan education was primarily religious and legal in character. A religious teacher
taught the young boys to memorize the Quran. At this level education was primarily oral-aural and
mnemonic. Even for native speakers of Arabic dialects, Quranic Arabic was quite foreign, but there
was little explicit explanation of the texts, and no discussion. The intellectual discipline fostered by
such an education was seen as a fundamental part of a proper Muslim upbringing; it facilitated the
development of reason. A similar approach to education characterized traditional Jewish schools. A
few Moroccan Muslims received a more extensive education through private tutoring in reading
writing and by continuing their education at urban schools and, in rural areas at the corners. At the
top level of Moroccan Islamic education were two mosque universities the Qarawiyyin in Fez and
the Yusufiyya in Marrakesh. This method of education will lead to a close society. The critical
thinking will lack in this society therefore, it will be easily colonized. As Marx stated, religion is
opium this means that concentrating only on religion will degrade the force of a country. Its not
only by religion that we can defend ourselves. Force and education are definitely needed. Moroccan
cities were the centers of religion, trade, and government and held an importance which was out of
proportion to their small size. The largest city in morocco was Fez with an estimated 100,000. These
cities were surrounded by high walls and divided into numerous semiautonomous quarters with
narrow, bustling network of workshops and bazaars. The existence of cultivated elites of scholars
and merchants set the tone of the cities and distinguishes from smaller towns. These elites formed a
cast in the country. By their education and talent they have dominated religious classes and excelled
in business. They existed in Tangier, Sale, Tetouan and Fez. Here we can say that education is an
essential factor for the countrys development. When citizens are educated the human capital of the
country will definitely increase, new solutions to the problems will be given, and thus the country
will develop. In Morocco prior the colonization there was a lack of education especially in females
thats why the country didnt excel much and the educated ones like the elites ruled economically
the country. At these time trade and commerce with rural areas and even with foreign countries
was one of the most important tasks in the cities. In the late of the 18th century after being the first
country to recognize the US sovereignty in 1777, Moroccan government began relying less on

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mercantilist policies and promoted instead an open trade policy, particularly with the European
countries and US. Here we can note that Moroccos geographic location is a comparative advantage
to other North African countries because it lies besides both Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea.
Maritime trade was easily done with Morocco. The workshops of the cities produced a broad array
of cloth goods, household furnishings and luxury items and gave employment to a numerous and
skilled artisanry. In the 19th century Morocco was inhibited by tribes who were not fixed to the soil
and moved from place to place by disrespecting the property rights of others. Therefore, merchants
lived in a fear from these tribes, so they didnt invest their surpluses in land. However, these tribes
had some positive impact on Morocco. They had the need of the city market for purchases of arms
and ammunition, sugar and tea, cloth and luxury items. Many wealthy tribal leaders purchased
houses in the city. The industry in its turn was depended from rural areas for the raw materials from
which leather, cloth and metal goods were manufactured. Unlike Middle Eastern countries at that
time were deeply rooted agrarian structures, Moroccan rural society was always much more
flexible. There were a small number of people working in the agricultural sector, thats why they
usually import cotton and textile from European countries. Its true that according to the Lewis
growth model the more workers are in the manufactured industry the more the country could grow,
but in this case there is a deficit in the agrarian sector. So the country might not excel because Lewis
said that only the excess of the agrarian workers should enter in the manufactured sector not all of
them. This could be one of the reasons that the country had some serious financial problems in the
late 19th century.

3. Colonization era

France and Spain were able to take advantage of Morocco's instability and force their
economic influence on Morocco. The influence from France was because of Sultan. Abdelaziz had
taken loans from France to improve the economic situation of Morocco. This decision could increase
the public debt of the country, but if the country is in a recession a capital is needed in order to
invest and to get out of recession. Moroccans didnt like that the Sultan was getting support and
help from the Europeans, which caused them to oppose the Sultan. After this, Sultan Abdelaziz's
brother who was Abdelhafid took his place. The new Sultan was allowed to become the new ruler if
he stopped all influence from foreign nations. However, getting rid of all foreign impacts was

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extremely difficult. Sultan Abdelhafid was obliged to get help from the French and other foreign
nations, like his brother Sultan Abdelaziz had. The Sultan was to agree to make Morocco into
European protectorates and sign the Treaty of Fez. On March 30th, 1912 The Treaty of Fez was
signed. This officially made Morocco into a French protectorate. A protectorate is any territory or
country that maintains its own internal government, but is under the influence of an outside power
or country. As well as making a French Protectorate in Morocco, agreements were made that
offered Spain part of Morocco. The Spanish Occupied a small part of the Northern and the whole
southern territory and the French occupied the rest of the country (mainly the Northern part of
Morocco). Under the treaty, the Sultan kept control over the entire country but in reality he had
nominal power. This means that he was supposedly serving as the leader but did not have the real
power to control the whole Morocco. The Spanish and French administrations were given the real
power and authority. Furthermore, the agreement made in the treaty said that France promised to
guarantee the role of the Sultan and the sultans that will succeed him. In the French Protectorate,
there were resident-generals who had the real power to dominate. Louis Lyautey was a French
resident general until 1925. He was sent to Morocco in 1912, when Morocco became a French
Protectorate. He spent a lot of time to educate himself on Morocco and studied about the people
that lived there. In Morocco, both the Moroccans and French people accepted Lyautey. Louis
Lyautey was aware of the religion and traditions of the Moroccans therefore, he tried not to offend
them. Under Louis, the French people supported the natives, teaching them new methods to
improve their farming. Lyautey helped to improve the economic situation in French-dominated
Morocco. Later, Louis Lyautey gave up his job as Resident-General in 1925. In the Spanish
Protectorate, the Spanish picked a khalifa that was chosen from the royal family of Morocco. The
khalifa served as the head but didnt have the real power. Spain and France were able to pursue
their interests in Morocco. The economic activity of Morocco was definitely run by France and Spain.
The Spanish and French were involved with the new infrastructure of Morocco, creating modern
methods of transportation. Trading posts, miles of railroad transportation, and roads were created.
By using Morocco's economy for trading, Spain and France were able to excel their own reputation
in trading. To power Moroccos developing industrial economy, coal was lacking in abundance so
they were dependable on water for fuel. To preserve enough fuel to let the functioning of the
economy, six dams were constructed by France that have been in use since their construction. Social
reform also realized when the medical and health aid of Morocco was solved by 260 new hospitals
as well as many other health clinics. This may increase the life expectancy of Morocco therefore; the

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HDI of Morocco will increase because life expectancy is one of the main components of HDI, besides
the GDP and education. Also, When Morocco was colonized by France and Spain; many European
people traveled to live in Morocco. Many foreigners especially Europeans who immigrated into
Morocco had new skills and were able to make progress in Morocco. European farmers who
immigrated to Morocco were much better than Moroccan farmers. The French made ten times
more than the Moroccans did therefore, French people felt like they were better than the
Moroccans. Here we can say that technology and education are one of the main factors to develop a
country. As we can see here the increase in the education increased the productivity of farmers.
Thus in a country if we educate the workers labor will be more efficient and the total cost of the
production will decrease because we will not need many workers to produce a production. Also, an
important change was made after colonizing Morocco by introducing the modern education. Before
colonizing Morocco, education was an important part of Moroccan society. Social status was based
off of the amount of education Moroccan's had. Most of the Moroccan education was based on
religion. When France came, they made separate colonial school systems and introduced a more
modernized method of education. Education of females increased in Morocco Whereas only 310
girls attended school in 1872, 1,822 were in school in 1912, the beginning of the colonial period
therefore, the inequality between genders decreased somehow. This new educational system
changes the country even in the long run period because education is transmitted from generation
to generation. By this way the HDI of Morocco will definitely increase. The economy began to
operate at such a high level that Morocco began to be able to support itself. However, the Frenchs
persistent aggressiveness to obtain power in Morocco is the reason why the country was able to fix
its original failing state. Moreover, France and Spain took advantage of the raw materials and
natural resources available. Morocco's natural resources were mainly ore, salt, iron phosphate,
manganese, zinc, manganese, silver, iron, lead, petroleum and fish in addition; Spain was able to
access to Morocco's iron mines because it controlled the Rif Mountain. Although agreements
formed in Madrid and Algeciras said that all nations were granted equal opportunity and access to
these resources, Spain and France were able to control over them because of the protectorates they
formed. Also, the Moroccan government was supposed to control on their farmable land, water
supplies, and natural resources, but the Spanish and French were the ones who benefitted more and
under the imperialism Moroccan natives were denied their basic human rights such as freedom of
speech, the right of gathering and travel in their own country. The degradation of the land of a
country affects negatively on the development of the country even in the future. If the land is less

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productive the exports of the given country will decrease on the other hand, the imports of the
country will increase. The country might be more dependable in natural resources from other
countries. This will result a negative net exports that will decrease the GDP of the country (cash
flows more out than it flows in). This may be one of the reasons that Morocco is underdeveloped till
today. The consequence of these situations back in the early 20th century was the Rif war. The Rif
War was a war fought from 1919-1926 was between Spanish troops and the Moroccan Jibala and Rif
tribes. Through the Treaty of Fez, Spain was given control of 2 cities in the northern Rif Mountains,
Melilla and Ceuta. Both of these mountainous areas had few roads which made communication and
developing the areas extremely hard for the Spanish. At the beginning of 1920, a Spanish
commander named General Damaso Berenguer wanted to get control over the area in the north-
east that was already occured by Jibala tribes. Moreover, the Spanish commander wanted to keep
AbdelKarim and the rest of the Rifs tribes under control, which Berenguer commended Manuel
Fernandez Silvestre to do it. Finally, Berenguer's purpose was to unite both zones, with the Rif and
Jibala, together. The Spanish were unable to stop the tribes or to unite them under Spanish
domination. Spanish troops were defeated by Abdelkarim's forces. After that, battles continued
between both sides. Spain lost because of wrong leadership and not enough weaponry for battle.
One battle, that was a big loss by Spain, was the Battle of Annual. At Annual, AbdelKarim's forces
destroyed the 20,000 in Spain's army. While the Rif War, Spain was brought all the way back to
Melilla. At the end of the war, France was forced to interfere. France joined the war to help Spain in
1925. With the support of France, a united French and Spanish army was strong enough to control
the rebels. Their plan to defeat AbdelKarim was to have Spanish attack from the north and the
French attack from the south. The Spanish army landed in Alhucemas which is near Agadir. Then,
the French army numbered 160,000 and came from the south. AbdelKarim is finally lost by an army
of 250,000. The 250,000 soldiers used weapons and technology that were more superior and
advanced that allowed them to defeat the Jibal and Rif tribes. After the Rif war oppositions in
Morocco continued. At the end of 1934, a group of nationalists, members of the new-formed
Moroccan Action Committee (CAM), wanted a Plan of Reforms that called for a return to indirect
rule as envisaged by the Treaty of Fez, establishment of representative councils and admission of
Moroccans to government positions. CAM made petitions, newspaper editorials, and appeals to
French official men to further its cause, but these were useless. The CAM was reformed as a
nationalist political party to earn mass support for more radical demands, but the French succeeded
to suppress the party in 1937. Nationalist political parties, which arose under the French

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colonization, based their arguments for Moroccan independence on declarations such as the
Atlantic Charter, a joint Britsh-US statement that set forth, among other things, the right of all
citizens to choose the type of government under which they would live. France also faced the
opposition of the tribes when the Berbers were needed to come under the jurisdiction of French
courts in 1930, it increased support for the Moroccan independence movement. Historians often
distinguish between two common types of colonialism:

Settler colonialism: involves large-scale immigration, often motivated by economic,

political, or religious reasons.
Exploitation colonialism: involves fewer colonists and focuses mainly on access to
resources for export, typically to the motherland. This category includes trading posts
as well as bigger colonies where colonists would constitute much of the political and
economic administration, but would rely on indigenous resources for labor and
material. Before to the end of the slave trade and widespread abolition, when
indigenous labor was not available, slaves were often imported to the Americas, first
by the Portuguese Empire, and later by the British, Dutch, French and Spanish.

We can say that the type of the colonization in Morocco was more exploitation colonialism because
colonists went there to dominate and to extract the natural resources of the country with low cost.

4. Post-colonial era

In this part we are going to talk about the post colonial Morocco. In 1953 France exiled the
highly respected Sultan Mohammed V to Madagascar and replaced him by unpopular Mohammed
Ben Arafa. This resulted to the opposition of nationalists and religious men to the French
colonization. After 2 years, French government brought the sultan back to Morocco after facing a
united Moroccan demand for the sultan Mohammed Vs return, and the following year began the
negotiations that resulted to Moroccan independence. At the end of 1955, Mohammed V
successfully negotiated the gradual restoration of Moroccan independence. The sultan accepted to
make reforms that would transform Morocco into a constitutional monarchy with a democratic
form of government. More negotiations for full independence culminated in the French-Moroccan

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Agreement signed in Paris on March 2, 1956. One month later, the France government finally
removed its protectorate from Morocco, and the internationalized city of Tangier was reintegrated
after signing the Tangier Protocol on the 29th of October 1956. The recognition of Moroccan
independence by Spanish were negotiated separately and made final in the Joint Declaration of April
1956. Through this agreement with Spain in 1956 and another in 1958, Moroccan dominance over
some Spanish-ruled areas was regained, even though attempts to claim other Spanish possessions
through military action were not very successful. In the later months that followed the
independence, the sultan built a modern governmental structure under a constitutional monarchy
in which Mohammad V will exercise an active political role. He assumed the monarchy in 1957. Here
we can see the first effect of French and Spanish imperialism on Morocco. Before the imperialism
the type of Moroccan government was an absolute monarchy influenced by Ottoman Empire in the
19th century. After the French colonialism it became a constitutional monarchy with a democratic
form of government. Till today, Morocco's government is a constitutional monarchy with
Mohammed VI as the current king. The Moroccan government is organized out into the 3 branches.
The constitutional monarchy has a bicameral parliament, which is a part of the legislative or
lawmaking branch, and a Supreme Court, which is a part of the judicial branch. The bicameral
parliament is composed of the Chamber of Representatives and the Chamber of Counselors. While
Mohammed VI has been the King of Morocco since 1999, the prime minister is the person who
heads the government. The prime minister is always chosen by king. Today, the prime minister is
Abdelilah Benkirane who has been prime minister since 2011. There is also a Council of Ministers,
chosen by the prime minister. Morocco's constitution was decided on the 10th of March 10 1972
with some changes made in 1992 and 1996. Even, the Moroccan laws and rules originate from the
laws of France. Moroccan laws are written based off of French laws and laws that apply to the
Islamic religion. One of the reasons that resulted into the change of the type of the government
from absolute to constitutional monarchy is definitely education. As we mentioned above the
Moroccan citizens are conscious that they have the right to choose their own type of government
and they are conscious because of the modern education that they received after the French and
Spanish colonization. The school system was influenced by Spain and France. During the
colonization period of Morocco, new schools were introduced that was different from the
traditional Moroccan schools. Engineering school is created in Fez a school of mathematics, military
science and language. Moroccan students started to immigrate because of education. They went to
Italy, France, Britain, and Spain where they studied chemistry, military science, architecture and law.

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These schools were more secular and less focused on religion therefore, they are more efficient and
they could increase the human capital of the country. Another result of these modern schools was
the French language. After the French imperialism, the French language has become widely spoken
in Morocco. French is usually spoken in business and politics. Although the French language is not
one native to Morocco, about 50% of the Moroccan population can speak in French. French have
become the second spoken language in Morocco; it also affected Moroccan Arabic. Before the
French imperialism, the Arabic dialect had only Berber influences but after the French colonization,
the language became flooded with modern French grammar and vocabulary that is still in use today.
However, the Spanish language is also a part of the Moroccan language that shows the influence of
colonization. Spanish is spoken by many Moroccans in northern Morocco, which was where Spain
had control. About 20,000 Moroccans can speak Spanish. Moreover, reforms such as the
construction of hospitals, clinics and the introduction of modern medicine decreased the total
mortality rate therefore, the morocco population started to increase. At the beginning of 20th
century it was around 5 million at the end of 20th century it reached around 30 million. Speaking of
the inequality, the gender inequality between men and women in Morocco started to decrease after
colonization. Women have the education right; they can enter into the labor force. These things
were not impossible during pre colonial era. In addition women have the election right, they have
the right to demand divorce and the judge has the right will separate the couples not the husband.
Furthermore, the marriage age is fixed and it is 18 and covering their head is not a necessity but an
option. Currently in Morocco, women either wear traditional cloths or occidental modern cloths.
However, its true that the inequality between men and women has decreased but still its not over.
The percent of women in the labor force, ages 15 and older, stands at 30.1 percent compared to
79.2 percent of men. The numbers differ between geographical locations as well as the areas of
profession where 37 percent of Moroccan enterprises operating in services are run by females, 31
percent in the trade sector, and 22 percent in industry. Also, there is significant salary gap because
Moroccan females continue to earn, on average, 40 percent less than males with similar positions
and degrees. Females in urban areas often work for less than the minimum salary or work longer
hours than required. Other ways that the French and Spanish colonization still has an influence
today is through the many roads, and trading posts, railways built in Morocco. Currently, Morocco
has one of the most developed systems of infrastructure in Africa because of the French and Spanish
imperialism. Moreover, reforms made by the French helped improve Morocco's economic situation.
Morocco's economy is in charge of providing a big percentage of the world's phosphate production

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also, exporting other natural resources to foreign countries. Morocco is the biggest exporter of
phosphate in the world and the 3rd largest producer of the resource. The main exports are clothing,
fruits, fish, inorganic chemicals, transistors, minerals, fertilizers, petroleum products, and vegetables
(the agricultural sector has improved after educating the farmers). The chief imports are crude
petroleum, telecommunications equipment, textiles, gas, electricity, wheat and plastics. Spain and
France are the leading trade partners of Morocco. In addition, the Spanish and French built new
cities and towns in Morocco. Louis Lyautey helped to create 2 important cities on the coast,
Casabanca and Kenitra. In Moroccan cities and towns, French architecture influenced the buildings.
Still now, we talked about the advantages of French and Spanish imperialism, however
disadvantages exist and the main disadvantage is the formation of Western Sahara. Western Sahara
is a disputed region in the western region of North Africa, bordered by Mauritania to the east and
south, Morocco to the north, Algeria to the extreme northeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.
Its surface area is 266,000 km2. It is one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world, and
mainly consists of desert flatlands. There, the population is more than 500,000, of whom
approximatly 40 percent live in El Aain which is the biggest city in Western Sahara. Western Sahara
doesnt accept to be a part of the kingdom of Morocco, However it is not recognized by the world as
a separate country and government. One of the reasons that formed Western Sahara is the French
and Spanish Colonization. Because Northern Morocco was governed by France and the southern
part by Spain, so after decolonization southern Morocco population refused to reunite with the
northern population of Morocco, having different impacts (their culture was affected by Spain unlike
northern Morocco it is affected by France) and being mostly Berbers they wanted to have their own
government which is not officially accepted. Even on the map Western Sahara region is annexed to
Morocco. Before the advent of colonization and the imposition of the protectorate on Morocco, the
country was fully united, independent, and sovereign. And the Sahara was under Moroccan
sovereignty. During the pre-colonization there was no entity whatsoever in the Sahara that was
separate from Morocco.

5. Current development process compared with other countries

Finally, in this part we are going to compare the Moroccan development policy with other
countries development policy such as Brazil and Algeria. Morocco has already started to develop its

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country. It is modernizing its agrarian sector, decreasing the inequality between men and women
(although it remains high) also, since 1993, Morocco has followed a policy of privatization of certain
economic sectors which used to be public sectors. This last development idea is great because it is a
complementarity. It creates motivation and competitiveness in the market, this will result to higher
production and modern infrastructure will occur which will boost the economy of the country.
However this last development policy, which is privatization of some public sector, will affect
negatively on the budget of the government because it will increase the debts of the government.
Foreign debts remain an important obstacle to economic development of Morocco. The financing
requirements of 1992 were almost covered, largely because of grants and bilateral credits. Despite
the cancellation by Saudi Arabia (which is one of main import partners of Morocco) of $2.8 billion
dollar of debt, the total public debt still was still around $23 billion. Despite rescheduling through
both the Paris Club of official creditors and the London Club of commercial creditors, servicing the
debt accounted for 30 percent of exports of services and goods. In 2002, external debt diminished
and stood at around $19 billion, but Morocco had strong foreign exchange reserves and active
external debt management, which was letting it to service its debts. However in 2010, its debt
increased again and reached to $22.69 billion. If we compare Moroccan economy with the Algerian
economy, Algerian economy is much better although both countries had the equality of chance to
develop their country because both countries were colonized and decolonized approximately at the
same time period and both are located in the same region. Why there is a remarkable difference
between these two countries? One of the main reasons is that Algeria is promoting its exports and it
is much higher than its imports, so its net exports is positive and its (76-48) $28 billion. However, in
Morocco the net exports is (22-45) $-23 billion. So, annually $28 billion dollars flows from out to
Algeria and $23 billion dollars flows from Morocco to out. This situation results capital leakages
which will highly affect the Moroccan development process. Illiteracy is a problem that negatively
impacts the development of the country. Currently the percentage of the population that is literate
is approximately 56.1%. 68.9% of the male population older than fifteen can write and read while
only approximately 43.9% of women are literate. Morocco is still continuing to improve itself as the
years go on, but still struggles with some major problems. Thus the public debts and the flow of
capitals out will not help to decrease this illiteracy rate because by this way public schools are less
constructed by the government and we are unable to invest our capital on education since there is a
capital leakages therefore, higher illiteracy rates are expected which will depreciate the human
capital of the country and will impact negatively on the development process of the country.

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However, larger exports is needed to increase the capital of the country, and these capitals will
decrease the public debt and will lead to more public schools, that will decrease the illiteracy rate
that in its turn will increase the human capital and the HDI of the country. Also, the Moroccan
government should impose regulations that dont let children out of school before a fixed age in
order to develop more its country because currently child labor in Morocco is so high and children
are working at very young ages. The Moroccan government has been attempting to fix the human
rights problems for children but there are no laws to prevent child labor. Furthermore, like Brazil,
social welfare programs are needed in Morocco to decrease the child labor and to defend their
rights. The program, called Bolsa Familia, gives financial aids to the poor Brazilian families; if they
have children, families must guarantee that the children attend school and are vaccinated. This
program has clearly contributed to Brazil's recent improvements in its fight against poverty,
according to researches done by universities and the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics
(IBGE). A previous ante econometric evaluation of Bolsa Familia did find a significant impact on both
school attendance percentage and the number of children involved in child labor. So these programs
are needed in Morocco in order to decrease the child labor rate and to educate them as well.

6. Conclusion

In conclusion, we can say that the French and Spanish colonization affected positively on the
development process of Morocco. Its true that in the long run a country will definitely develop, but
the introduction of modern education in schools, in medicine and in agriculture will lead to
development in shorter term. Also the Spanish and French colonization changed and influenced the
whole Moroccan government from absolute monarchy into a constitutional monarchy with a
democratic form of government and influence. Furthermore, this colonization affected the whole
Moroccan society. French is one of the most spoken languages in Morocco, the gender inequality
started to decrease between men and women, but yet its not over and even the new constructed
cities in Morocco are influenced by French architecture. However, the main negative effect that the
colonization left on this country is that it is divided till today into two parts northern Morocco and
the Western Sahara (Southern Morocco) which does not accept the sovereignty of Kingdom of
Morocco. Today, after all these colonization effects Morocco still suffers from underdevelopment.
The country needs to invest on education because the illiteracy rate is so high in the country and

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this is a main constraint to the development because by educating the people the human capital
increases and the productivity of the whole country increases therefore, the government should
decrease its debt in order to invest on the development of the country. Or social programs such as
Bolsa Familia could be useful in Morocco in order to increase the development of the country.

7. References
http://www.populstat.info/Africa/moroccoc.htm

https://books.google.com.lb/books?id=l6BeBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA229&lpg=PA229&dq=econom
y+of+morocco+saady+alaouite+dynasty&source=bl&ots=EXCV0BqRTA&sig=MS0lLfbEDfPNs
QIrpdq8r69QVE4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mmI6VZpH89fsBrTVgcgI&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAw#v=onepa
ge&q&f=false

http://www.sahara-online.net/Western-Sahara/Before-Colonisation-710.aspx

http://colonizationofmorocco.weebly.com

https://books.google.com.lb/books?id=l6BeBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA229&lpg=PA229&dq=econom
y+of+morocco+saady+alaouite+dynasty&source=bl&ots=EXCV0BqRTA&sig=MS0lLfbEDfPNs
QIrpdq8r69QVE4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mmI6VZpH89fsBrTVgcgI&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAw#v=onepa
ge&q&f=false

https://books.google.com.lb/books?id=A4q58Af5zAoC&pg=PA166&lpg=PA166&dq=econom
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Gi-
rMxgk7imx_g&hl=en&sa=X&ei=hZI6VePKF8bC7gajqICwBw&ved=0CE0Q6AEwBg#v=onepage
&q=economic%20activity%20in%20morocco%20in%2019th%20century&f=false

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 https://books.google.com.lb/books?id=jJIM45sajbYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=State+and+S
ociety+in+Precolonial+Morocco&hl=en&sa=X&ei=RaA7VZzLC9LKaNjkgagM&ved=0CB4Q6AE
wAA#v=onepage&q=State%20and%20Society%20in%20Precolonial%20Morocco&f=false

http://www.scribd.com/doc/100064/The-French-Colonization-of-Morocco#scribd

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/morocco-nineteenth-and-twentieth-centuries

http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2011/09/8883/moroccan-women-in-the-workplace/

http://www.sahara-online.net/Western-Sahara/Before-Colonisation-710.aspx

http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Africa/Morocco-ECONOMIC-DEVELOPMENT.html

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