Treaties
The lost revenue was supposed to be replaced somehow, for example to exploit the fish exuberant off-shore waters. The Spanish concluded several fishing agreements with coastal tribes . who granted free fishing or had not attacked the fish-drying plants established on the shores. However, the Spaniards had no intention to share the territories with other Europeans, thence when the Scottish George Glas established a trading station opposite the Island of Fuerteventura (1764), he was imprisoned by the Spanish, and the station christened Hilsborough was set ablaze.
The Scottish businessman was arrested when he went to Lanzarote Island to purchase a ship and recruit a new crew. Although he got restored to liberty from his one-year long imprisonment by the intervention of the English Government, the building of the trading station that had remained intact so far were destroyed by the nomads.
In 1727 the Spanish and the Sultan of Morocco, Sidi Mohamed ben Abdallah signed the Treaty of Marrakech. However neither the Kingdom of Spain, nor the Kingdom of Morocco could handle the piratical tribes, which is proven by their agreement on common fishing, concluded on 28 May, 1767. The agreement provides exclusive fishing rights to Spain in the coastal waters from Santa Cruz (Ifni) to the Northern borders. Nevertheless, Article 18. of the agreement well indicates the existing problems of the two states in this region:
“His Imperial Majesty will refrain from considering the determination of His Catholic Majesty, according to which He desires to settle to the South of Ved Nun, because He will not be able to assume any responsibility for those accidents and misfortunes, which may be having regard to His empery does not extend this far, and the nomadic and sanguinary people of this country will always cause damages to the inhabitants of the Canary Island, among whom many have been taken captive .”
It is to be known that Morocco had never been a national state till the 20 th century . but it consisted of a Principality of several areas independent of each other. The usual Monarch had no power over the tribes living in that area, thus they could live according to their own law. The area under the control of Moroccan leadership (makhzen) at that time was called as “bilad el-makhzen”.
The majority of those cities and oases where the Moroccans established their authority and the representatives of the Sultan (kaid) exercised the control over the area belonged here. However, there were areas, which were only known as “bilad es-siba” at that time, which meant the land of refugees, i.e. absconders.
The Rif Mountains populated by Kabyles, the Berber settlements of the Atlas Mountains, and the Northern part of Western Sahara also belonged to these areas.
Although the Sultans of Morocco officially expressed their empery over these areas their power and military strength was enough to control the most important trading stations and cities only. There were periods, when the Sultans were not able to control a given area for many decades, or even for a century.
Still there were such tribes, which attached importance to maintain relations with the Sovereign of Morocco, therefore they entered into an alliance (bayaa) with him, and the Sultan appointed the chief of the tribe by a decree (dahir) as his representative. A few tribes of the Sahara also entered an alliance with the Sultan but there were some tribes which fled from his reign to the Sahara, like the tribes of Arosien, Ait Lahsen, or Ouled Bou Sbaa. Nevertheless, the Reguibat tribes, which constitute almost 60 per cent of the Sahrawi population, had never signed any document, which would have provided legal title to the Sultan to hold dominion over them.
The fact that the Sultan of Morocco had no influence over the Sahrawi tribes caused several problems not only to the Spanish but to the French diplomacy too, as the mediation of the Emir of Mauritania was needed to ransom French seamen shipwrecked at the coasts of Western Sahara. Since the Emir maintained good connections with the ’Council of Forty’, he could have successfully negotiated between the parties.
Alexander Scott was among the shipwrecked mariners who suffered shipwreck between Cape Noun and Tarfaja in 1810. The captors of the sailor sold him as a slave to a warrior from the Toubalt tribe, who had been his master for five years. When Scott was travelling in the Atlas Mountains with his owner he escaped and was assisted home by an English major in official mission in that locality...
The Sahrawi tribes still independent from Spain fought a battle at Daora in 1899 against the troops of the Sultan of Morocco, where they prevented the Moroccans to gain grounds in the Sahara area.
...
The lost revenue was supposed to be replaced somehow, for example to exploit the fish exuberant off-shore waters. The Spanish concluded several fishing agreements with coastal tribes . who granted free fishing or had not attacked the fish-drying plants established on the shores. However, the Spaniards had no intention to share the territories with other Europeans, thence when the Scottish George Glas established a trading station opposite the Island of Fuerteventura (1764), he was imprisoned by the Spanish, and the station christened Hilsborough was set ablaze.
The Scottish businessman was arrested when he went to Lanzarote Island to purchase a ship and recruit a new crew. Although he got restored to liberty from his one-year long imprisonment by the intervention of the English Government, the building of the trading station that had remained intact so far were destroyed by the nomads.
In 1727 the Spanish and the Sultan of Morocco, Sidi Mohamed ben Abdallah signed the Treaty of Marrakech. However neither the Kingdom of Spain, nor the Kingdom of Morocco could handle the piratical tribes, which is proven by their agreement on common fishing, concluded on 28 May, 1767. The agreement provides exclusive fishing rights to Spain in the coastal waters from Santa Cruz (Ifni) to the Northern borders. Nevertheless, Article 18. of the agreement well indicates the existing problems of the two states in this region:
“His Imperial Majesty will refrain from considering the determination of His Catholic Majesty, according to which He desires to settle to the South of Ved Nun, because He will not be able to assume any responsibility for those accidents and misfortunes, which may be having regard to His empery does not extend this far, and the nomadic and sanguinary people of this country will always cause damages to the inhabitants of the Canary Island, among whom many have been taken captive .”
It is to be known that Morocco had never been a national state till the 20 th century . but it consisted of a Principality of several areas independent of each other. The usual Monarch had no power over the tribes living in that area, thus they could live according to their own law. The area under the control of Moroccan leadership (makhzen) at that time was called as “bilad el-makhzen”.
The majority of those cities and oases where the Moroccans established their authority and the representatives of the Sultan (kaid) exercised the control over the area belonged here. However, there were areas, which were only known as “bilad es-siba” at that time, which meant the land of refugees, i.e. absconders.
The Rif Mountains populated by Kabyles, the Berber settlements of the Atlas Mountains, and the Northern part of Western Sahara also belonged to these areas.
Although the Sultans of Morocco officially expressed their empery over these areas their power and military strength was enough to control the most important trading stations and cities only. There were periods, when the Sultans were not able to control a given area for many decades, or even for a century.
Still there were such tribes, which attached importance to maintain relations with the Sovereign of Morocco, therefore they entered into an alliance (bayaa) with him, and the Sultan appointed the chief of the tribe by a decree (dahir) as his representative. A few tribes of the Sahara also entered an alliance with the Sultan but there were some tribes which fled from his reign to the Sahara, like the tribes of Arosien, Ait Lahsen, or Ouled Bou Sbaa. Nevertheless, the Reguibat tribes, which constitute almost 60 per cent of the Sahrawi population, had never signed any document, which would have provided legal title to the Sultan to hold dominion over them.
The fact that the Sultan of Morocco had no influence over the Sahrawi tribes caused several problems not only to the Spanish but to the French diplomacy too, as the mediation of the Emir of Mauritania was needed to ransom French seamen shipwrecked at the coasts of Western Sahara. Since the Emir maintained good connections with the ’Council of Forty’, he could have successfully negotiated between the parties.
Alexander Scott was among the shipwrecked mariners who suffered shipwreck between Cape Noun and Tarfaja in 1810. The captors of the sailor sold him as a slave to a warrior from the Toubalt tribe, who had been his master for five years. When Scott was travelling in the Atlas Mountains with his owner he escaped and was assisted home by an English major in official mission in that locality...
The Sahrawi tribes still independent from Spain fought a battle at Daora in 1899 against the troops of the Sultan of Morocco, where they prevented the Moroccans to gain grounds in the Sahara area.
...
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