For my next album presentation in this series, we move west from Algeria and join Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour on the Road To Morocco.
Morocco's philatelic history is complex. It remained an independent sultanate throughout the nineteenth century, and the Great Powers of Europe all competed for economic and political influence with the Moroccan Sultan. This included opening rival post offices to compete for the business of the numerous Western commercial interests in the Sultanate. Local commercial interests also provided postal services along various routes, and approximately twenty of them produced their own postage stamps for use on these systems. The Sultan himself inaugurated a Moroccan postal service to compete with the Western offices in 1892, at first employing seals stamped on envelopes from the cities in which the post originated, and culminating in the first Moroccan postage stamps in 1912.
Morocco's indpendence and its independent postal system would soon face takeover by Western colonialism. Agreements between the major Great Powers in the first decade of the 1900s would culminate in 1912 with the partition of Morocco into two protectorates, the majority of which came under French administration, with a small zone in the far north of Morocco under a Spanish protectorate. To complicate matters further, the strategic city of Tangier would eventually come under an International Protectorate composed, at its height, of representatives from ten different nations (including the United States). Throughout Morocco, Other powers were allowed free commercial access, and the British would continue to maintain a post office separate from the French and Spanish administrations until the restoration of Moroccan sovereignty in 1956. In all these areas the Moroccan Sultan retained theoretical sovereignty, but day to day administration would come under the dominant power in each of the Protectorates. This system would last until early 1956, when Moroccan nationalist demands, led by the Sultan (now called King) would finally lead to the restoration of full sovereignty. Between 1950 and 1978 Morocco would also gain control of further Spanish colonial territories to the south (Tarfaya/Cape Juby, Ifni and the Western Sahara - though the POLISARIO nationalists in Western Sahara continue to oppose Moroccan control of the region to this day.)
This complicated history means that my Morocco collection will be split between several albums to reflect this patchwork of administrations.
Volume I : Local Post Offices, Foreign Post Offices, Issues of the Sultanate to 1912.
Volume II : The French Protectorate of Morocco 1912-1956
Volume III : The Spanish Protectorate of Morocco and Spanish Colonies in the Western Sahara
Volume IV : Independent Morocco Part I (1956-1990)
Volume V : Independent Morocco Part II (1991-present)
I am still laying out pages for Independent Morocco, though my collection runs until approximately 1968 with a few issues in the early 1970s.
My plan is to post each page, just as the image. For those wanting to know the identity of the stamps, I will post a PDF file of the layout for the pages in my Morocco albums in a few days.
Hope you enjoy the images and if you have suggestions please let me know.
Volume I : Morocco - The Era of Local Posts, Foreign POs and The Sultanate (1892-1912)
French Post Office In Morocco
Page 1 - No Stamps
Page 3 - No Stamps
French Post Office In the Tangier International Zone
Page 1 : French Blanc/Mouchon/Merson definitives and Duval/Recouverment Postage Dues inscribed "MAROC" and overprinted "TANGER"
Page 2 - No Stamps
Volume II : Morocco - The French Protectorate of Morocco 1912-1956
Page 1 : French PO in Morocco issue of 1911 overprinted "Protectorat Francais" (50c with beautiful Mogador (modern al-Sawira) CDS) and 1914-1915 Charity issues for World War I relief
Page 2 : French PO in Morocco additional regular issues and Postage Due issues overprinted "Protectorat Francais" and more Charity issues for World War I relief.
Page 3 : 1917 Moroccan Monuments Engraved Pictorials and Numeral In Arabesque Postage Dues
Page 4 : 1917 Parcel Post Issue, additional "Protectorat Francais" overprinted stamps, and 1922 First Airmail Series "Biplane over Casablanca" Types I and II.
Page 5 : Moroccan Monuments type of 1917 printed in Photogravure with additional values, additional values to 1917 Numeral in Arabesque postage dues.
Page 6 : 1922 Airmail series "Biplane over Casablanca" type III with new values, additional values to 1922 Photogravure Moroccan monuments series, 1930-1931 Surcharges for New rates on pictorial and airmail issues.
Page 7 : 1928 Charity issue for Drought and Flood victims, low values to 1933 Views of Morocco pictorial definitives.
Page 8 : High values to 1933 Views of Morocco pictorial definitives and Airmail Values, 1934 additional values to series of 1933.
Page 9 : 1935 Lyautey memorial issue, 1938 Charity issue overprints, 1939 Airmail Series
Page 10 : 1939-1940 Surcharges on 1933 Pictorial Issue, 1939 Views of Morocco pictorial series.
Page 11 : 1940-1942 additional values to 1939 Views of Morocco pictorial series, 1942 Charity Issue to relocate French war orphans to Morocco, 1943 War Effort and New Postage Due values issues.
Page 12 : 1945 Tower of Hassan, Rabat definitives and Airplane over Mountain Pass Airmails, Charity issues of 1945-1946, 1945 50F Airmail Pictorial.
Page 13 - 1945-1946 Type of 1939 Pictorial printed by Typography, 1946-1947 Charity Issues and Commemoratives
Page 14 - Series of 1947 Pictorials, 1947-1948 Charity Issues for Solidarity, Stamp Day and Lyautey Exposition , 1948 Surcharge
Page 15 - 1948-1949 additions to series of 1947 Pictorials, 1949 Charity issues, 1949 UPU 75th Anniversary
Page 16 - 1949 Low Value Definitive series, 1949-1950 Solidarity Charity Issues including Moroccan Craftworks and Regional Maps.
Page 17 - Commemorative and Charity Issues of 1950-1952 incluing Lyaytey Memorial and new Hospitals, New Values and Designs to 1947 Pictorial Series and 1947 Postage Due, 1951 Pictorial
Page 18 - Additions to 1951 Pictorial Issue with new postal and airmail issues, 1952-1954 Commemoratives and Charity Issues including Moroccan Medieval capitol designs and traditional silverwork, 1954 Surcharges.
Page 19 - 1954 Airmail Issues, New Values to 1949 and 1951 Pictorials, 1954-1955 Charity and Commemorative Issues including Lyautey anniversary and education promotion.
Page 20 - 1955 Pictorials and Airmails, the last series of stamps issued under the French Protectorate.
Volume IV : Morocco - Independent Morocco Part I (1956-1991)
Page 1 - 1956-1957 King Muhammad V pictorial issue, 1956-1957 commemorative issues including Illiteracy campaign, Royal Events, Casablanca Fair 1957
Page 2 - 1958-1960 Commemorative and Charity Issues incluing Brussels 1958 World Expo, World Refugee Year, Royal Anniversaries, And aid to victims of Adulterated Cooking Oil issue
Page 3 - 1960-1961 commemoratives including Millenial of Qarawiyyin Madrasa in Fez, 1960 Olympics, 1961 Pan-Arab Games
Page 4 - 1961-1962 Commemoratives incluiding Lumumba memorial issue, Tangier Postal Conference, and 1962 Definitive Series featuring King Hassan II for regular and Airmail use.
Page 5 - 1962-1963 Commemorative issues including State Orphans, UN Campaigns against Malaria and Hunger, Historic Medieval Muslim Luminaries, 50th Anniversary of First Moroccan Stamps, Centenary of Red Cross/Red Crescent, Milennium of city of Miknasa.
Page 6 - 1963-1964 Commemorative Issues including UNESCO Abu Simbel Campaign, Reconstruction of Agadir after 1960 Earthquake, Casablanca Fair, World Meteorological Day, Royal Anniversaries and 1964 Olympics, Redesigned value to 1962 King Hassan Definitive
Page 7 - New values to 1962 King Hassan Definitive Series, First Postage Due Issue, 1965 Flora and Marine Fauna Pictorials, 1965 UN Cooperation Year and Centenary of Intl Telecom Union.
Page 8 - Issues of 1966 including Agricultural Exports, World Health Organization, 10th Year independence, Moroccan Armed Forces, Red Crescent Charity Issue, Transport in Morocco pictorials.
Page 9 - Commemorative and Charity issues of 1967, including additions to 1965 Marine Fauna Pictorials and 1966 Agricultural Export series, Infrastructure projects, Lions International, 1967 Mediterranean Games, 1967 Tourist Year and 1967 Equestrian Championships.
Page 10 - 1968 Issues including Human Rights Year, Part 1 of Traditional Costumes Series, and new definitive series depicting King Hassan II
Page 11 - 1968 Issues including Part 2 of Traditional Costumes, Moroccan Textiles, Rotary, World Health Organization, and Traditional Moroccan Coins series I
Page 12 - 1968-1969 issues including 1968 Mexico City Olympics, 1969 continuations of Moroccan Traditional Outfits, Coins, and Red Crescent Charity issues.
Page 13 - No Stamps
Page 14 - No Stamps
Page 15 - No Stamps
Page 16 - No Stamps
Page 17 - 1973 Definitive Series featuring King Hassan II and 1973 Commemoratives
Page 18 - 1973-1974 Commemorative and Charity Issues. Only Issue I have is the Centennial of Universal Postal Union.
As you can see there are still several areas I have no stamps from. Generally I have been focusing on the French Protectorate and early Independent Kingdom years, but there a lot more administrations to add to the collection
- Local Post Offices (20 separate lines between 1892 and 1900)
- British Post Office in Morocco
- Spanish Post Office in Morocco
- German Post Office in Morocco
- Issues of the Moroccan Sultanate (handstamps 1892-1911 and first postage stamps of 1912)
- Spanish Protectorate of Morocco
- Tangier International Zone (Spanish and British Post Offices in addition to the French)
- Spanish Colonies in NW Africa :
- Ifni
- Cape Juby
- Rio De Oro
- La Aguera
- Spanish Sahara & Spanish West Africa
Hope you enjoyed this trip to Morocco. Next posting will shift eastward to the final Maghribi nation in former French North Africa - Tunisia.
