Download Morocco since 1830: a history, C

Morocco since 1830: a history, C. R. Pennell, London: Hurst, 2001 (xxxiv+442pp.)
C. R. Pennell set out to write a comprehensive history of Morocco which, unlike
almost all previous histories of that country either before or since its independence,
would be without a specific agenda. Preferring not to engage with the arguments
raised in French colonial writing or between the Moroccan left and right, he has
chosen to adopt a strictly chronological approach. Such an approach enables him to
study a wide range of social groups and phenomena in Morocco since 1830 and, in
integrating the recent work of local historians and sociologists, to include hitherto
neglected issues such as the position of women, the role of sport and environmental
questions. It is based on primary sources in Morocco, Britain and Gibraltar, as well as
a wide range of secondary sources.
The three major themes which emerge in the book are: the fragmented nature of
Moroccan society as a whole; the dynastic system of political rule which predates
colonialism, and the continuities in political rule. Indeed, his justification for adopting
a chronological approach is to emphasise the political continuities in the Moroccan
ruling elite before, during and after Moroccan colonization. He argues that this elite’s
ability to resist permanent foreign occupation in the nineteenth century rested not on
its own strength or that of its army or navy but on the local tribal forces in Morocco.
The navy, far from being able to withstand foreign invasion, could not even control
smuggling. The political system could not distinguish between the sultan as religious
leader, as political leader, or as an individual with personal interests. The sultan
depended for his income on trade with Europe, but Morocco, as a backward agrarian
economy, had little influence over the terms of that trade. The Treaty and Convention
on Commerce and Navigation signed by Morocco and Britain in December 1856
favoured British interests, while after its defeat by Spain in 1860 Morocco had to sign
a commercial treaty with Spain which mirrored the one with Britain.
It was the power and unruliness of the local tribes which convinced the French that
their conquest of Morocco would require, in addition to a strong military presence, a
far-reaching transformation of the state itself. However, unlike their policy of
assimilation in Algeria, the French preferred a policy of association in Morocco
designed both to modernise the country and also to preserve elements of its past – a
duality and tension which survives to this day.
Pennell has undoubtedly produced a learned and informed narrative of the major
social, economic and political forces operating in Moroccan society since the country
was first exposed, however indirectly, to European influence in 1830. As a source of
reference it is probably unrivalled, but as a history which engages the reader it falls
short, since, as he himself admits and justifies, it is without a central argument.
Frances M. B. Lynch
University of Westminster