ABSTRACT

Morocco was the most favoured part of North Africa by nature: it was the richest agriculturally, it had the most forest resources, and it was the least densely peopled. The trade and agriculture of Morocco were very piquant attractions to a Europe confronted by a growing problem of markets in the new protectionist era, and by an increasing difficulty of securing cereals. Morocco was a safety-valve of considerable importance to the industrialists of whatever European country might secure predominance there: and it was equally a source of food-supplies. Just as the term “Morocco” was only a geographical expression, so was it only a diplomatic fiction. France introduced a new factor, and insisted that the territorial contiguity of Algeria and Morocco gave France “a special interest” in the land. Railways and ports and financial stability,—these were to be the methods of France’s economic protectorate over Morocco.