Foreigners and the question of real estate ownership in pre-colonial Morocco

Abstract

The subject of real estate in Morocco, during the nineteenth century, has not been researched sufficiently, neither by Moroccan nor foreign researchers, despite the importance of this economic field in contemporary historical studies. Real estate has always been formed alongside other economic resources such as water and livestock; thus, it constituted an axis of conflict either between the Moroccan tribes themselves, or between them and foreigners in general. In this sense, as a general rule, whoever controls these resources will achieve economic, social and political control.Besides, and due to its extreme importance, real estate was one of the most prominent means of colonial penetration in Morocco during the period under study, and a mechanism on which the colonial authorities focused later on to subdue the loose tribes and force them to accept the protectorate system, forcibly rather than voluntarily. This study aims to shed light on the importance of this field in the Makhzen policy, and its intense attempt to preserve it from the control of the European powers, which were keen, throughout the nineteenth century, to possess it by all means and methods before gradually achieving this since Morocco signed the 1856 agreement.