Treaty of Fez
The Treaty of Fez ( Arabic : معاهدة فاس) was closed on March 30, 1912 in the Moroccan city of Fez between Sultan Mulai Abd al-Hafiz of Morocco and France .
In the treaty the sultan renounces his sovereignty over Morocco in favor of France; the protectorate of French Morocco was established. The head of state officially remained the sultan.
consequences
The main part of Morocco with Casablanca , Rabat , Marrakech and Fes became French, and Rabat became the capital. The Sultan, who had previously resided in Marrakech, had to move there.
With the conclusion of the Franco-Spanish treaty of November 27, 1912, Spain was granted its own zone of influence (Zone d'influence espagnole) : in the north the coastal area on the Mediterranean Sea and the Rif Mountains and in the south a strip with the city of Tarfaya . Spain established the Spanish-Morocco Protectorate in these areas, with Tetouan as its capital. The Caliph of Tetouan officially represented the Sultan.
The city of Tangier became the center of an international demilitarized zone.
background
As early as 1904, France and Spain had agreed to partition Morocco; Morocco itself was weakened militarily and politically after the Rif War (1909) .
In 1911 the Sultan tried to consolidate his power over the tribes with a policy of centralization; on the other hand there was a great revolt of the tribes, with the insurgents advancing as far as Fez. France took the opportunity to intervene and sent troops to Morocco. This in turn led to the interference of the German Reich in the Second Morocco Crisis . After negotiations, Germany recognized Morocco as a French area of interest in the Morocco-Congo Treaty and received French territories to compensate for it - New Cameroon , which became part of Cameroon .
France had achieved its goal and was able to incorporate Morocco into its colonial empire with the Treaty of Fès.