Morocco Country History

YEAR

EVENT

1200s BC	Phoenicians established trading posts on the Mediterranean coast.
c. 500 BC	The region was incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire.
146 BC	Fall of Carthage. Rome took control of Mediterranean coast of north Africa.
AD 42	The region was annexed as a province of Rome, called Mauretania Tingitana.
429	The Vandals conquered the area.
533	The region became part of the Byzantine Empire.
682	Muslim Arab invasion led to a succession of ruling Arab and then Berber dynasties.
1200s	Morocco was the centre of the Almohad Empire, which had extended Islamic rule to parts of Spain and Portugal.
1400s	Portuguese captured the port of Ceuta in northern Morocco (1415). Muslims were driven out of Portugal and Spain, which began further encroachments on Moroccan coastal territory.
1554-1660	The Saadians, the first Sharifian dynasty, took control of Morocco and started to regain Moroccan cities lost to the Spanish and Portuguese.
1660	Saadians succeeded by second Sharifian dynasty, the Alawi.
1859	Spanish invaded and took possession of Tetouan.
1912	Treaty of Fez. Morocco became a French protectorate.
1956	Morocco gained independence, with Sultan Muhammad V as head of state.
1957	Sultan Muhammad V assumed the title of king and then named himself prime minister (1960).
1961	Death of Muhammad V. He was succeeded by his son Hassan II.
1962	Morocco adopted its first constitution, thus becoming a constitutional monarchy.
1974	Morocco pressed claim to Spanish Sahara.
1976	Spanish relinquished sovereignty over Spanish Sahara, handing over northern two-thirds to Morocco and southern third to Mauritania. Both countries faced armed opposition from the Polisario Front, a national liberation movement pressing for the independence of Western Sahara.
1979	Mauritania renounced its claim to its Saharan territory, which Morocco immediately annexed.
1990s	Dispute between Morocco and Polisario Front continued. Western Saharan constituencies were included in local elections held in 1992.
1993	Legislative elections gave power to centre-right coalition. King Hassan appointed cabinet.
1995	Cabinet included some elected members.
1996	New legislative upper house approved by referendum. Major campaign against cannabis smuggling.
1997	Indirect elections to new upper chamber of the legislature.
1998	Coalition government led by Abderrahmane el Yousifi appointed. Apparent progress on human rights.
1999	King Hassan II died and was succeeded by his son Sidi Mohammed (Mohammed VI).
2002	Dispute with Spain over offshore island of Leila (Perejil). Both Morocco and Spain agreed to remove the permanent encampments from the 1 km (0.5 mi) long island. October, Driss Jettou appointed prime minister.
2004	In February a powerful earthquake near the north-eastern port city of Al Hoceïma claimed the lives of more than 500 people.