Tangier International Zone

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Tangier International Zone منطقة طنجة الدولية Zone internationale de Tanger Zona Internacional de Tánger
1924–1940 1945–1956
Flag
Map of Tangier and the International Zone
Status	International Zone
Capital	Tangier
Common languages	French, Arabic, Berber, Portuguese, Haketia, Spanish
Religion	Islam, Christianity, Judaism
Administrator
• 1924–1926
• 1929–1940	Pierre Le Fur
• 1945–1948	Luís Magalhães Correia
• 1948–1951	Henri van Vredenburch
• 1955–1956
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	Moroccan franc
Preceded by Succeeded by 1924 Spanish Protectorate of Morocco 1945 Spanish Protectorate of Morocco 1940 Spanish Protectorate of Morocco 1956 Kingdom of 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 km² (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.^{[citation needed]}

History[]

To solve a disagreement among France, Spain, and the United Kingdom over its control, Tangier was made a neutral demilitarised zone in 1924 under a joint administration according to an international convention signed in Paris on 18 December 1923.^[2] Although some disagreements emerged about the agreement^[3] ratifications were exchanged in Paris on 14 May 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 Tangier Zone in 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 Western countries. Many of the latter were able to live an openly "out" life in the Zone.^[8][9]

Spanish troops occupied Tangier on 14 June 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 himself 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 11 October 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[]

Administrator	Country	Term of Office
	France	24 August 1926 – 19 August 1929
		19 August 1929 – 1 August 1940
	Spain	1 August 1940 – 4 November 1940
Under Spanish occupation (4 November 1940 – 11 October 1945)
Luís Magalhães Correia	Portugal	11 October 1945 – 18 June 1948
	Netherlands	15 August 1948 – 9 April 1951
	Portugal	9 April 1951 – 22 June 1954
	Belgium	21 June 1954 – 31 December 1954
		4 June 1955 – 9 July 1956

See also[]

• List of administrators of the Tangier International Zone

References[]

Works cited[]

• Beevor, Antony (2006). The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-29784832-1.
• 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). doi:10.2307/20029932. JSTOR 20029932.
• Stuart, Graham H. (1955). The International City of Tangier (2nd ed.). Stanford: Stanford University Press.
• Haller, Dieter (2021). Tangier/Gibraltar. A Tale of one City - An Ethnography. Bielefeld: Transcript.

Further reading[]

• Finlayson, Iain (1992). Tangier: City of the Dream. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00217857-5.

Coordinates: 35°46′N 5°48′W / 35.767°N 5.800°W / 35.767; -5.800