The

postal history Postal history is the study of postal systems and how they operate and, or, the study of the use of postage stamps and covers and associated postal artifacts illustrating historical episodes in the development of postal systems. The term is att ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

is complex due to the country's political development in the 20th century. Mail was sent via post offices operated by the Sherifian post created by the Sultan, and by the European powers. After Morocco was partitioned into protectorates of France and of Spain in 1912, both European administrations established postal services in their respective zones.

Early Stamps

The first Moroccan

postal stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...

s were produced in 1891 by private companies which managed courier services between cities. The system was replaced after a reorganization in 1911, the Sherifian post was created to handle local mail, and produced two series of stamps which were valid for use until 1915 and until 1919 in

Tangier Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the cap ...

Sherifian post

In 1881, upon learning that foreigners were preparing to set up a local post office between Mazagan (El Jadida) and Marrakech, Sultan Moulay Hassan I ordered the port officials to organize the Moroccan post office. It is 22 November 1892 that the first structure of mail transport was born in Morocco by Dahir Sultan. The text of the Royal Decree laid down the rules of organization and operation of the postal administration. Postal links were subsequently created by individuals to provide postal service between the various cities. The local postmen where called the "Rakkas". The stamps used bore the names of the cities of dispatch and destination: El Jadida / Marrakech (1891) Tangier / Fez (1892) Essaouira / Marrakech (1892) Fez / Sefrou (1894) Tangier / Assilah (1895) Tetouan / Chaouen (1896) Tangier / Tetuan (1896) Ksar Elkbir / Ouazzen (1896) Tetouan / Ksar Elkbir (1897) Fez / Meknes (1897) Tangier / Ksar Elkbir (1898) Tangier / Larache (1898) Safi / Marrakech (1898) Essaouira / Agadir (1900) Demnat / Marrakech (1906) The Makhzen Post first used negative Arabic inscriptions, called "Makhzen stamps", bearing the name of the office and a call for the protection of God. The letters of private individuals were obliterated by an octagonal seal and the official courier by a round seal. Each city had a specific stamp. In 1911, the "Moroccan Telegraph Company" was given the task of organizing the national post office and establishing postage stamps instead of stamps. The new postal service was inspired by a European model and started its activity on 1 March 1912 under the name of the Cherifian Administration of Telegraph and Telephone Posts. She issued her first stamp on 22 May 1912. An agreement signed on 1 October 1913 between Morocco and France led to the creation by Dahir of the Office Chérifien des Postes des Telegraphes et Telephones.

List of Private Courier Transmission Lines

Demnate Demnate ( ar, دمنات; zgh, Demnat, ⴷⴻⵎⵏⴰⵜ) is a town in central Morocco, located at the foot of the high Atlas Mountains roughly 110 km east of Marrakech. The majority of the population speaks Berber; the local dialect is Tas ...

–

Marrakech Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakes ...

Ksar-el-Kebir El-Ksar el Kebir (Arabic: القصر الكبير; ber, ⵍⵇⵚⵔ ⵍⴽⴱⵉⵔ, lqṣr lkbir) is a city in northwestern Morocco, about 160 km north of Rabat, 32 km east of Larache and 110 km south of Tangier. It recorded a ...

–

Ouezzane Ouazzane (also Ouezzane) ( Berber: ⵡⴰⵣⵣⴰⵏ, ar, وزان) is a town in northern Morocco, with a population of 59,606 recorded in the 2014 Moroccan census. The city is well known in Morocco and throughout the Islamic world as a spirit ...

Fès Fez or Fes (; ar, فاس, fās; zgh, ⴼⵉⵣⴰⵣ, fizaz; french: Fès) is a city in northern inland Morocco and the capital of the Fès-Meknès administrative region. It is the second largest city in Morocco, with a population of 1.11 mi ...

–

Meknes Meknes ( ar, مكناس, maknās, ; ber, ⴰⵎⴽⵏⴰⵙ, amknas; french: Meknès) is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco, located in northern central Morocco and the sixth largest city by population in the kingdom. Founded in the 11th c ...

* Fès –

Sefrou Sefrou is a city in central Morocco situated in the Fès-Meknès region. It recorded a population of 79,887 in the 2014 Moroccan census, up from 63,872 in the 2004 census. Sefrou is known for its historical Jewish population, and its annual cherry ...

Mazagan El Jadida (, ; originally known in Berber as Maziɣen or Mazighen; known in Portuguese as Mazagão) is a major port city on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, located 96 km south of the city of Casablanca, in the province of El Jadida and the r ...

–

Azemmour Azemmour or Azammur ( ar, أزمور, azammūr; ber, ⴰⵣⵎⵎⵓⵔ, azemmur, lit=wild olive tree) is a Moroccan city, lying at the Atlantic ocean coast, on the left bank of the Oum Er-Rbia River, 75 km southwest of Casablanca. Etymol ...

–

Mogador Essaouira ( ; ar, الصويرة, aṣ-Ṣawīra; shi, ⵜⴰⵚⵚⵓⵔⵜ, Taṣṣort, formerly ''Amegdul''), known until the 1960s as Mogador, is a port city in the western Morocco, Moroccan region of Marrakesh-Safi, Marakesh-Safi, on the ...

–

Agadir Agadir ( ar, أݣادير, ʾagādīr; shi, ⴰⴳⴰⴷⵉⵔ) is a major city in Morocco, on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean near the foot of the Atlas Mountains, just north of the point where the Souss River flows into the ocean, and south ...

–

* Safi –

–

Asilah Asilah (; ar, أزيلا or أصيلة; pt, Arzila; es, Arcila) is a fortified town on the northwest tip of the Atlantic coast of Morocco, about south of Tangier. Its ramparts and gateworks remain fully intact. History The town's history da ...

* Tangier –

Larache Larache ( ar, العرايش, al-'Araysh) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast, where the Loukkos River meets the Atlantic Ocean. Larache is one of the most important cities of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region. Many ...

* Tangier – Tetouan * Tetouan –

Chefchaouen Chefchaouen ( ar, شفشاون, Shafshāwan, ), also known as Chaouen (), is a city in northwest Morocco. It is the chief town of the province of the same name and is noted for its buildings in shades of blue, for which it is nicknamed the "Blu ...

* Tetouan –

Foreign Post Offices in Morocco

French post offices in Morocco

A French postal agency had sent

mail The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letter (message), letters, and parcel (package), parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid ...

from

as early as 1854, but the formal beginning of the system was in 1891, when French

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

s were established throughout the sultanate. The offices issued

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...

s of France surcharged with values in pesetas and centimos, at a 1–1 ratio with the denominations in

French currency The franc (, ; sign: F or Fr), also commonly distinguished as the (FF), was a currency of France. Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money. It w ...

, using both the

Type Sage "Type Sage" (also referred to as "Peace and Commerce") is a reference to the definitive series of postage stamps issued by the post office of France between 1876 and 1900. Printed in a variety of colors and shades, the two central figures are al ...

issues, and after 1902, Mouflon issues inscribed "MAROC" (which were never officially issued without the surcharge). In 1911, the Mouflon issues were overprinted in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

Spanish post offices in Morocco

The first Spanish post office in Morocco opened in 1867 and issued stamps in 1903.

Morocco under European rule

French protectorate

The first stamps of the

protectorate A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a State (polity), state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over m ...

appeared 1 August 1914, and were just the existing stamps with the additional overprint reading "PROTECTORAT FRANCAIS". The first new designs were in an issue of 1917, consisting of 17 stamps in six designs, denominated in

centime Centime (from la, centesimus) is French for " cent", and is used in English as the name of the fraction currency in several Francophone countries (including Switzerland, Algeria, Belgium, Morocco and France). In France, the usage of ''centim ...

s and

franc The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' (Style of the French sovereign, King of the Franks) used on early France, ...

s, and inscribed "MAROC" in French and Arabic.

Spanish protectorate

After the Spanish protectorate was established, Spanish stamps overprinted "Marruecos" were issued in 1914, followed by stamps overprinted "Protectorado Español en Marruecos" in 1915. A set of definitives inscribed "Zona Protectorado Español en Marruecos" were issued in 1928, with later issues marked "Marruecos/Protectorado Español". The first stamps for the southern zone called

Cape Juby Cape Juby (, trans. ''Raʾs Juby'', es, link=no, Cabo Juby) is a cape on the coast of southern Morocco, near the border with Western Sahara, directly east of the Canary Islands. Its surrounding area, including the cities of Tarfaya and Tan-T ...

were issued in 1916, overprinting "CABO JUBI" on stamps of

Río de Oro Río de Oro (Spanish for "Gold River"; , ''wādī-að-ðahab'', often transliterated as ''Oued Edhahab'') was, with Saguia el-Hamra, one of the two territories that formed the Spanish province of Spanish Sahara after 1969; it had been taken as ...

. Later issues were overprinted on stamps of Spain from 1919 to 1929, and then on stamps of Spanish Morocco. From 1950, Cape Juby used stamps of

Spanish Sahara Spanish Sahara ( es, Sahara Español; ar, الصحراء الإسبانية, As-Sahrā'a Al-Isbānīyah), officially the Spanish Possessions in the Sahara from 1884 to 1958 then Province of the Sahara between 1958 and 1976, was the name used f ...

Tangier

, as an

international zone An international zone is any area not fully subject to the border control policies of the state in which it is located. There are several types of international zones ranging from special economic zones and sterile zones at ports of entry exe ...

, had French post offices which used the stamps of French Morocco overprinted with the name of the city. Spain also maintained post offices in Tangier which had stamps issued specifically for them. The British post offices in Tangier issued its own stamps in 1927. German post offices in Tangier opened until 1919.

Ifni

Spain began issuing postage stamps for

Ifni Ifni was a Spanish province on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, south of Agadir and across from the Canary Islands. It had a total area of , and a population of 51,517 in 1964. The main industry was fishing. The present-day Moroccan province in th ...

, then a Spanish territory, in 1941, initially

overprint An overprint is an additional layer of text or graphics added to the face of a postage or revenue stamp, postal stationery, banknote or ticket after it has been printed. Post offices most often use overprints for internal administrative pur ...

ing Spanish stamps with "TERRITORIO DE IFNI", then issuing new designs in 1943. Issues followed at the rate of about ten per year with the last on 23 November 1968. Most are commonly available and are more often seen unused than used.

After independence

In 1955, the kingdom of

regained

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

and postal autonomy.

was reintegrated into the Moroccan state. From 1956 to 1957, stamps were issued in

and

Spanish peseta The peseta (, ), * ca, pesseta, was the currency of Spain between 1868 and 2002. Along with the French franc, it was also a ''de facto'' currency used in Andorra (which had no national currency with legal tender). Etymology The name of th ...

for the southern zone and northern zone, respectively. The franc was used throughout Morocco from 1958 and the first stamps for the entire country were the issue for the World Fair in Brussels. After the

Ifni War The Ifni War, sometimes called the Forgotten War in Spain (''la Guerra Olvidada''), was a series of armed incursions into Spanish West Africa by Moroccan insurgents that began in October 1957 and culminated with the abortive siege of Sidi I ...

in 1958,

was re-incorporated into the Moroccan state. The Moroccan postal service was extended in 1969 to the former Spanish Ifni and 1975 to the northern half of

Western Sahara Western Sahara ( '; ; ) is a disputed territory on the northwest coast and in the Maghreb region of North and West Africa. About 20% of the territory is controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), while the r ...

. Since 1979, the Moroccan Post has operated in the entire Western Sahara within the

Moroccan Wall The Moroccan Western Sahara Wall or Berm is an approximately sand wall or berm running south to north through Western Sahara and the southwestern portion of Morocco. It separates the Moroccan-controlled areas (the Southern Provinces) on the w ...

Stamps marked Western Sahara

Stamps marked ''República Saharaui'' (Saharan Republic), ''Sahara Occidental'' (Western Sahara) or ''Sahara Occ. R.A.S.D.'' relate to the disputed region of

occupied by Morocco. The Moroccan post office, in a

Universal Postal Union The Universal Postal Union (UPU, french: link=no, Union postale universelle), established by the Treaty of Bern of 1874, is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that coordinates postal policies among member nations, in addition to t ...

circular, has stated that they do not regard these stamps as legitimate. However, the Moroccan post office have themselves issues stamps celebrating Moroccan sovereignty over the region.

References and sources

;References ;Sources *

Stanley Gibbons The Stanley Gibbons Group plc is a company quoted on the London Stock Exchange specialising in the retailing of collectable postage stamps and similar products. The group is incorporated in London. The company is a major stamp dealer and philat ...

Ltd, ''Europe and Colonies 1970'', Stanley Gibbons Ltd, 1969 * Rossiter, Stuart & John Flower. ''The Stamp Atlas''. London: Macdonald, 1986. * ''XLCR Stamp Finder and Collector's Dictionary'', Thomas Cliffe Ltd, c.1960

External links

AskPhil – Glossary of Stamp Collecting Terms

{{DEFAULTSORT:Postage Stamps And Postal History of Morocco Philately of Morocco