Tangier International Zone

Tangier International Zone
منطقة طنجة الدولية (in Arabic)
Zone Internationale de Tanger (in French)
Zona Internacional de Tánger (in Spanish)
1924–1956
Flag
Tangier and the International Zone
Status International Zone (Condominium)
Capital Tangier
Common languages Arabic, Berber, Portuguese, Haketia, Spanish, French
Religion Islam, Christianity, Judaism
Administer  
Historical era Interwar period
• Established
1924
• Spanish occupation
14 June 1940 – 11 October 1945
• Disestablished
1956
Area
1924 373 km2 (144 sq mi)
Population
• 1939
60,000
• 1950
150,000
Currency Pound sterling
Preceded by		Succeeded by
Morocco
Morocco
Today part of  Morocco

The Tangier International Zone (Arabic: منطقة طنجة الدولية‎ Minṭaqat Ṭanja ad-Dawliyya, French: Zone Internationale de Tanger, Spanish: Zona Internacional de Tánger) was a 373-square-kilometre (144 sq mi) international zone centered on the city of Tangier, Morocco, then under French and Spanish protectorate, under the joint administration of France, Spain, and the United Kingdom (later Portugal, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United States), that existed from 1924 until its reintegration into independent Morocco in 1956.

The zone was governed in accordance with the Tangier Protocol, although the Sultan of Morocco retained nominal sovereignty over the zone and jurisdiction over the native population.[1]

The international zone of Tangier had, by 1939, a population of about 60,000 inhabitants and 150,000 by 1950.

History

To solve a disagreement among France, Spain, and Britain over its control, Tangier was made a neutral demilitarized zone in 1924 under a joint administration according to an international convention signed in Paris on December 18, 1923.[2] Although some disagreements emerged about the agreement[3] ratifications were exchanged in Paris on May 14, 1924.[4] The convention was amended in 1928.[5] The governments of Italy, Portugal, and Belgium adhered to the convention in 1928, and the government of the Netherlands in 1929.

The Zone in a divided Morocco and Western Sahara

The Zone had its own appointed International Legislative Assembly, which was subject to supervision by a Committee of Control consisting of the Consuls of Belgium, France, Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain.[6] Executive power was vested in an Administrator, and judicial power resided in a Mixed Court of five judges, respectively appointed by the Belgian, British, Spanish, French, and Italian governments.[6] As a result of the creation of the Mixed Court, the various European powers withdrew the consular courts that previously exercised jurisdiction there.[7]

The Zone had a reputation for tolerance, diversity of culture, religion, and bohemianism. It became a tourist hotspot for literary giants and gay men from the west, many of whom were able to live an openly "out" life in the Zone.[8][9]

Spanish troops occupied Tangier on June 14, 1940, the same day Paris fell to the Germans. Despite calls by the writer Rafael Sánchez Mazas and other Spanish nationalists to annex "Tánger español", the Francoist State publicly considered the occupation a temporary wartime measure.[10] A diplomatic dispute between Britain and Spain over the latter's abolition of the city's international institutions in November 1940 led to a further guarantee of British rights and a Spanish promise not to fortify the area.[11] Tangiers was annexed to the Spanish Protectorate of Morocco at 23 November 1940.[12] In May 1944, although it had served as a contact point between him and the later Axis Powers during the Spanish Civil War, Franco expelled all German diplomats from the Zone.[13]

The territory was restored to its pre-war status on October 11, 1945.[14] In July 1952 the protecting powers met at Rabat to discuss the Zone's future, agreeing to abolish it. Tangier joined with the rest of Morocco following the restoration of full sovereignty in 1956.[15]

Administrators

AdministratorCountryTerm of Office
Paul Alberge France24 August 1926 – 19 August 1929
Joseph Le Fur France19 August 1929 – 1 August 1940
Manuel Amieva Escandón Spain1 August 1940 – 4 November 1940
Under Spanish occupation (4 November 1940 – 11 October 1945)
Luís António de Magalhães Corrêa Portugal11 October 1945 – 18 June 1948
Jonkheer van Vredenburch Netherlands15 August 1948 – 9 April 1951
José Luís Archer Portugal9 April 1951 – 22 June 1954
Étienne de Croÿ Belgium21 June 1954 – 31 December 1954
Robert van de Kerckhove d'Hallebast Belgium4 June 1955 – 9 July 1956

Further reading

  • Beevor, Antony (2006). The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-29784832-1.
  • Finlayson, Iain (1992). Tangier: City of the Dream. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00217857-5.
  • Payne, Stanley G. (1987). The Franco Regime, 1936–1975. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-11070-3.
  • Stahn, Carsten (2008). The Law and Practice of International Territorial Administration: Versailles to Iraq and Beyond. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-52187800-5.
  • Stuart, Graham H. (July 1945). "The Future of Tangier". Foreign Affairs. Council on Foreign Relations. 23 (4).
  • Stuart, Graham H. (1955). The International City of Tangier (2nd ed.). Stanford: Stanford University Press.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Stahn 2008, pp. 57–58.
  2. ↑ Stahn 2008, p. 57.
  3. ↑ Stuart 1955, p. 80.
  4. ↑ "Convention regarding the Organisation of the Tangier Zone, with Protocol relating to Two Dahirs concerning the Administration of the Tangier Zone and the Organisation of International Jurisdiction at Tangier, signed at Paris, December 18, 1923 [1924] LNTSer 187; 28 LNTS 541". 1924.
  5. ↑ "Agreement revising the Convention of December 18, 1923, relating to the Organisation of the Statute of the Tangier Zone and Agreement, Special Provisions, Notes and Final Protocol relating thereto. Signed at Paris, July 25, 1928 [1929] LNTSer 68; 87 LNTS 211". 1928.
  6. 1 2 Stuart 1945.
  7. ↑ Morocco (Tangier Zone) Order in Council, 1925, "No. 33050". The London Gazette. 26 May 1925. pp. 3547–3548.
  8. ↑ Hamilton, Richard (12 October 2014). "How Morocco was once a haven for gay Westerners". BBC News. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  9. ↑ Bond, Gwenda (2007). "Seriously Gay and Lesbian". Publishers Weekly. 254 (19): 27–31. ISSN 0000-0019.
  10. ↑ Payne 1987, p. 268.
  11. ↑ Payne 1987, p. 274, note 28.
  12. ↑ BOE núm. 336, pp. 8250-8251 (1940)
  13. ↑ Beevor 2006, pp. 152, 464.
  14. ↑ "Reestablishment of the International Regime in Tangiers". Department of State Bulletin. Department of State. XIII (330): 613–618. October 21, 1945.
  15. ↑ "Final Declaration of the International Conference in Tangier and annexed Protocol. Signed at Tangier, on 29 October 1956 [1957] UNTSer 130; 263 UNTS 165". 1956.
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