1 Text A Egypt as a center of commerce (1) Throughout its long history Egypt has always been a major economic

center. Whether as part of a larger empire or an independent polity, the inhabitants of the Nile River basin have had a flourishing agricultural economy and a robust commercial life. Agricultural success stemmed from annual Nile floods. These were unusually predictable and provided both crucial water supplies and rich silt from the Ethiopian highlands, which was deposited on Egyptian lands. This made the regions bordering the Nile River basin in Egypt and those in the delta north of Cairo some of the most fertile areas in the world, enabling Egypt to produce agricultural surpluses for export and to be active in longdistance trade throughout and beyond the Middle East. Throughout history, Egypts merchant elite has been one of the worlds most dynamic. EGYPT UNDER OTTOMAN, FRENCH, AND BRITISH RULE (2) Egypts more recent history begins with the Ottoman conquest in 1517. Conscious of the countrys great wealth, the new rulers chose not to parcel its lands out to military men in the form of tax farms, as was the Ottoman custom elsewhere. Instead, they established a formal administration over the territory, thus securing for the central administration in Istanbul a large portion of the countrys wealth in the form of tributary payments. (3) The Egyptian economy flourished during the first two centuries of Ottoman rule. The world economy itself was expanding, fueled in large part by silver from the Americas and reflected in increased trade across the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Although this trade eventually would fall mostly into the hands of European merchants, for many centuries Asian and African merchants participated and grew wealthy; this included Egyptian merchants based in Cairo and Alexandria. They were instrumental in expanding the coffee and sugar trades during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and for a time held a virtual monopoly over the world trade in coffee. Egyptian entrepreneurs also built sugar factories to process locally grown cane, selling it throughout the Middle East. (4) Egypts economic independence and its vital place in the world economy began to be threatened in the late 1700s. Although the French invasion of the country lasted only from 1798 to 1801, it foreshadowed a growing European interest in this part of the world. Egypts modernizing ruler, Muhammad Ali (r. 18051848), brought great economic and political advances to the country, but his irrigation reforms and efforts to stimulate exports of long-staple cotton to European textile manufacturers intensified European involvement in Egypt. When his successor IsmaEil Pasha, khedive of Egypt from 1863 to

2 1879, allowed the state to fall heavily into debt to European bankers, this led inexorably to the loss of Egypts political autonomy. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 drew the European powers further into Egyptian affairs, especially the British, whose shippers came to dominate canal traffic. Fearing French intervention, the British sent an army of occupation into Egypt in 1882. Although a speedy evacuation was promised, the British army was not withdrawn until 1956. (5) British control benefited large Egyptian landowners, who expanded cotton cultivation and increased exports to Europe. By 1900, cotton exports accounted for more than 80 percent of the value of Egypts exports. Meanwhile, European merchant and investment groups took over most of the large-scale businesses in Egypt. By the beginning of the twentieth century almost 90 percent of the funds invested in Egypts large-scale business firms came from overseas, and foreign economic interests dominated the banking, insurance, and trading firms that were vital for Egypts export-oriented economy. (6) This unbalanced development troubled Egyptian nationalists, the most outspoken of whom, Talat Harb (18761941), led a drive to promote Egyptian businesses and to diversify the economy through industrialization. In 1920 he founded Bank Misr, which was an entirely Egyptian-financed and -run banking establishment, which sponsored the foundation of numerous Misr industrial and commercial companies. These companies established a local textile industry, which began to consume raw Egyptian cotton. Although Egypt continued to be the worlds most important exporter of long-staple cotton, the share of cotton in Egypts total exports declined. During the 1930s and 1940s Egypt followed import-substituting industrialization, founding local textile, food processing, glassware, and other industries for which there was already a substantial consumer market. TRADE SINCE INDEPENDENCE (7) The 1952 military coup dtat brought to power young, energetic army officers who wanted to rapidly advance the political independence and the economic development of the country. In 1954 they signed an agreement for the withdrawal of British forces based in the Suez Canal area, thus achieving one of Egypts most vital nationalist goals. The Free Officers government also promised rapid economic growth, which they initially hoped could be accomplished through the private sector and with the aid of foreign and local capital. When, however, economic progress languished and Western powers refused to finance the Aswan High Dam, the government of Gamal Abdel Nasser (19181970) nationalized the mainly French-run Suez Canal Company. The ensuing British, French, and Israeli invasion of the country in November 1956 prompted the government to turn against the private sector.

3 (8) A series of nationalization decrees enacted between 1957 and 1962 placed almost all large-scale private firms in state hands. Egypt also turned to the Soviet Union for aid and redirected its trade toward the Soviet bloc. The Soviets financed the Aswan High Dam and helped Egypt establish many state-run industries. An economy that once had been open to foreign trade and exchanged a single cash crop cotton for a wide range of European manufactures now closed itself off, striving instead for economic selfsufficiency. (9) The experiment failed. Local industries lost money. Products that the middle class had once taken for granted became scarce. Above all, the alignment with the Soviet Union did not enable the Egyptians to deal militarily with their chief antagonist in the Middle EastIsrael. In fact, the 1967 war with Israel, which the Egyptian military high command was sure it could win, proved to be a catastrophe. Egyptians forces were destroyed, the army was humiliated, and the entire Sinai Peninsula came under Israeli rule. (10) The death in 1970 of Egypts charismatic leader, Nasser, and the rise of Nassers vice president, Anwar al-Sadat (19181981), prepared the way for a sea change in Egypts political, military, and economic arrangements. In 1973 President Sadat attacked the Israelis, getting Egyptian troops across the Suez Canal, where they inflicted heavy losses on the Israelis. Although the Israelis repulsed the invasion, the Egyptian effort was sufficiently successful that Sadat could announce the ending of ties with the Soviet Union and a new alliance with the United States. Sadat expelled Soviet technicians and economic advisers and invited American advisers to help in dismantling the public sector, privatizing public-sector companies, and opening the country to foreign investment and trade. Under Sadat, who was assassinated by a disaffected Muslim group in 1981, and his successor, Husni Mubarak (b. 1929), Egypt looked to the West, particularly to the United States, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, to provide technical advice and much-needed investment to spur the economy. (11) One of President Abdel Gamal Nassers most important goals was to modernize Egypts economy. He proposed the huge High Dam at Aswan, just north of the Sudanese border, to provide the nation with electricity and irrigation on the Upper Nile. Initially the World Bank was to finance the dam, with support from the United States and Britain, but Nassers pro-Soviet foreign stance, and his apparent undermining of British Middle Eastern interests, led the Western powers to withdraw support. In retaliation Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, leading to the 1956 Suez Crisis.

4 (12) The dam was finally completed in 1970 with Soviet aid, creating a huge reservoir named after Nasser, who died that year. The dam provides about half of Egypts power needs, and regulates the Nile floods, which frequently had caused damage along the flood plain. Navigation on the river has been aided by a more consistent water flow. But there are also problems associated with Aswan, including the dislocation of thousands during its construction In addition, it has caused poor drainage affecting farmland, erosion of the Nile Delta, a rise in fertilizer use to replace natural sediments, and an alleged increase in disease linked to stagnant water. (13) Like most economic programs in Egypts recent past, the turn to the West did not realize all of the goals that its advocates had hoped for. In 2004 Egypt had over 70 million people crammed into a relatively small usable area with limited natural resources. Nonetheless, the economy has grown significantly during the last twenty-five years, with tourism, foreign remittances, and Suez Canal receipts providing most of the countrys hard currency. Egypt has also become a significant exporter of textiles, vegetables, fruits, and flowers throughout the Middle East and into Europe.

5 Text B Moroccos place in world trade (1) Since the origins of Islam in North Africa, the power of the state has greatly depended on its ability to control both trans-Saharan and maritime trade. Until the twentieth century the vitality of Moroccos inland capital cities of Marrakesh and Fez depended on exchanging gold, slaves, salt, and other products across the Sahara. This trade was simultaneously linked to Mediterranean commerce. (2) As the Portuguese began to seize enclaves along Moroccos Atlantic coast in the 1400s, they brought Moroccan trade more into the European orbit. Through the early 1500s the declining Marinid and Wattasid dynasties, centered in Fez, still depended on the Eastern Saharan routes; but the SaEdian dynasty, originating in southwestern Morocco and centered in Marrakesh, relied more on western trans-Saharan routes and Atlantic seaports. Deriving political legitimacy in part from their struggle (jihad) with the Portuguese, the dynasty sought new European trading partners; thus the English largely supplanted the Genoese and Spanish, trading in firearms and cloth for Moroccan refined sugar. (3) A late-sixteenth century expedition across the Sahara into West Africa brought down the Songhay dynasty, secured SaEdian control of the trans-Saharan trade, and increased Moroccos supply of gold and slaves. In the seventeenth century the EAlawid dynasty, originating in the southeastern Tafilalt region, gained control of Morocco, moving its capital among Fez, Marrakesh, and Meknes. (4) As a counterweight to both Iberian expansion along the Moroccan littoral and Ottoman power overland from Algeria, Morocco sought trade with England, the Netherlands, France, and Italian cities such as the emerging port of Livorno. But once Britain took Gibraltar in 1704, it was also a potential threat. Morocco sometimes granted monopolies to smaller European powers for exclusive trade in some of the ports. In addition to conducting regular commercial relations with European powers, Morocco also sponsored and invested in corsairs, while collecting tribute from some Europeans (e.g., Danes, Swedes, and Ventians) to protect them from Moroccan pirates. (5) State-supported piracy died out in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Without a merchant marine of its own, Morocco relied on European ships for maritime trade. Moroccan Jewish merchants, with their network of coreligionists in the interior of Morocco and Europe, were frequently the chief intermediaries in Moroccos international trade and were among the main royal merchants.

6 (6) Despite the far-flung recognition of the EAlawids symbolic power, the central government was rarely strong. Thus the dynasty often could not control the flow of trade through dissident regions in Morocco. Berber chiefs often negotiated directly with the Europeans, dealing through ports such as Agadir on Moroccos southern Atlantic coast. In the north, the state had a difficult time controlling contraband, as it still does today. (7) The establishment of the royal port of Essaouira in 1764, which soon became Moroccos principal seaport, was a state effort to monopolize European trade through concentrating foreign and native Jewish merchants in one port. The sultan concluded commercial treaties with most European nations and was the first country to recognize the independent United States (in 1786). During the Napoleonic Wars Morocco limited its foreign trade, fearful of being drawn into the conflict. But by the time the French conquered Algiers in 1830, Morocco was being pulled into the expanding world of European commerce. (8) The Anglo-Moroccan treaty of 1856 made earlier protectionist policies harder to maintain. Similar commercial treaties with other countries followed, and trade with Europe grew. European especially British and French manufactured goods (primarily textiles), sugar (no longer produced in Morocco), and tea were exchanged for Moroccos export staples: olive oil, goatskins, wool, almonds, Saharan ostrich feathers, and gum transported across the Sahara from West Africa. Foreign abolitionists failed to stop the trans-Saharan slave trade; slaves remained symbols of prestige and economic power for Moroccos elite throughout the nineteenth century. (9) Unequal trade relations and growing government indebtedness contributed to Moroccos loss of independence in 1912, when France established a protectorate (Spain ruled in the northwestern corner of the country). Morocco became a large market for cheap manufactured goods, which undermined native industries and crafts. Under French rule Casablanca became Moroccos largest city and commercial port, whereas large French-settler farms concentrated on crops for export, such as cereals and citrus. (10) After independence in 1956 Morocco embarked on massive irrigation projects, but agricultural productivity has not met expectations, hindering hoped for exports. During the colonial period investments were also made in Moroccos rich mineral resources, especially in phosphates. After independence, Morocco became the worlds largest phosphate exporter, but market fluctuations since the late 1970s, together with uncertainties in Moroccos relationship with the European Economic Community, have hindered Moroccos trade in the last decades of the twentieth century.

7 Task 1: Text A questions 1. The lands surrounding the Nile River basin were extremely fertile and brought great agricultural success because of the ________________________________ which supplied necessary water to the area.

2. Although Egypt started to lose its economic independence in the late 1700s, it wasnt until IsmaEil Pasha let the nation ____________________________________ that it lost political autonomy.

3. A desire to quickly develop ___________________________ and the ____________ ____________________ of Egypt were the major goals of the military coup of the 1950s.

4. Policies of nationalization and requests for Soviet aid were signs that Egypt was moving from an economy that favored foreign trade to one that aimed to achieve _________________________________.

5. What effect did the 1973 attacks on Israel have to Egypts relationship with the Soviet Union? _____________________________________________________________________

6. Other than tourism, what is one way that the Egyptian economy has grown in recent decades? _____________________________________________________________________

Task 2: Text B questions 1. Although Morocco enjoyed trade with England in the 1500s, why did it later see this nation as a threat? _____________________________________________________________________

2. Why was Morocco dependent on European ships for overseas trade? _____________________________________________________________________

8 3. What did the Moroccan state establish in an attempt to fully control European trade in the mid-eighteenth century? _____________________________________________________________________ 4. What factors led to Morocco losing its independent status in the early twentieth century? _____________________________________________________________________

Task 3: Synthesis task

Trade has played an important part in the histories of Both Morocco and Egypt. The Ottoman conquest of (e.g.) 1517 marked the beginning of the recent Egyptian period. In contrast to their normal practice of parceling land to the military, the Ottomans established a (1) ____________________, which secured a large portion of wealth from tributes. As time passed, Egyptian merchants became very successful in trading certain products, in particular (2) ____________________, in which they almost monopolized world trade. European nations would later become involved in Egyptian affairs, especially in the 1860s when the actions of British shippers, who were the biggest users of the newly-opened (3) ____________________, eventually led to the British army occupying the waterway. Moroccos success as a trade force dates back to the early years of Islam, when control of (4) ____________________ and maritime trade were fundamental to the power of the state. Indeed, trade across this desert remained important. When the SaEdian dynasty took control of the routes in the late 1500s, Morocco enjoyed increased access to (5) ____________________. Like Egypt, Morocco underwent big changes in the midnineteenth century. The protectionist trade policies that Morocco had enjoyed became difficult to maintain, particularly after the (6) ____________________ treaty. Later treaties would increase European involvement even further.

9 Answer Key Text A: Egypt as a center of commerce 1. The lands surrounding the Nile River basin were extremely fertile and brought great agricultural success because of the ________________________________ which supplied necessary water to the area. (1) Throughout its long history Egypt has always been a major economic center. Whether as part of a larger empire or an independent polity, the inhabitants of the Nile River basin have had a flourishing agricultural economy and a robust commercial life. Agricultural success stemmed from annual Nile floods. These were unusually predictable and provided both crucial water supplies and rich silt from the Ethiopian highlands, which was deposited on Egyptian lands. This made the regions bordering the Nile River basin in Egypt and those in the delta north of Cairo some of the most fertile areas in the world, enabling Egypt to produce agricultural surpluses for export and to be active in longdistance trade throughout and beyond the Middle East. Throughout history, Egypts merchant elite has been one of the worlds most dynamic. EGYPT UNDER OTTOMAN, FRENCH, AND BRITISH RULE (2) Egypts more recent history begins with the Ottoman conquest in (e.g.) 1517. Conscious of the countrys great wealth, the new rulers chose not to parcel its lands out to military men in the form of tax farms, as was the Ottoman custom elsewhere. Instead, they established a (1) formal administration over the territory, thus securing for the central administration in Istanbul a large portion of the countrys wealth in the form of tributary payments. (3) The Egyptian economy flourished during the first two centuries of Ottoman rule. The world economy itself was expanding, fueled in large part by silver from the Americas and reflected in increased trade across the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Although this trade eventually would fall mostly into the hands of European merchants, for many centuries Asian and African merchants participated and grew wealthy; this included Egyptian merchants based in Cairo and Alexandria. They were instrumental in expanding the coffee and sugar trades during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and for a time held a virtual monopoly over the world trade in (2) coffee. Egyptian entrepreneurs also built sugar factories to process locally grown cane, selling it throughout the Middle East.

10 2. Although Egypt started to lose its economic independence in the late 1790s, it wasnt until IsmaEil Pasha let the nation _____________________________ that it lost political autonomy. (4) Egypts economic independence and its vital place in the world economy began to be threatened in the late 1700s. Although the French invasion of the country lasted only from 1798 to 1801, it foreshadowed a growing European interest in this part of the world. Egypts modernizing ruler, Muhammad Ali (r. 18051848), brought great economic and political advances to the country, but his irrigation reforms and efforts to stimulate exports of long-staple cotton to European textile manufacturers intensified European involvement in Egypt. When his successor IsmaEil Pasha, khedive of Egypt from 1863 to 1879, allowed the state to fall heavily into debt to European bankers, this led inexorably to the loss of Egypts political autonomy. The opening of the (3) Suez Canal in 1869 drew the European powers further into Egyptian affairs, especially the British, whose shippers came to dominate canal traffic. Fearing French intervention, the British sent an army of occupation into Egypt in 1882. Although a speedy evacuation was promised, the British army was not withdrawn until 1956. (5) British control benefited large Egyptian landowners, who expanded cotton cultivation and increased exports to Europe. By 1900, cotton exports accounted for more than 80 percent of the value of Egypts exports. Meanwhile, European merchant and investment groups took over most of the large-scale businesses in Egypt. By the beginning of the twentieth century almost 90 percent of the funds invested in Egypts large-scale business firms came from overseas, and foreign economic interests dominated the banking, insurance, and trading firms that were vital for Egypts export-oriented economy. (6) This unbalanced development troubled Egyptian nationalists, the most outspoken of whom, Talat Harb (18761941), led a drive to promote Egyptian businesses and to diversify the economy through industrialization. In 1920 he founded Bank Misr, which was an entirely Egyptian-financed and -run banking establishment, which sponsored the foundation of numerous Misr industrial and commercial companies. These companies established a local textile industry, which began to consume raw Egyptian cotton. Although Egypt continued to be the worlds most important exporter of long-staple cotton, the share of cotton in Egypts total exports declined. During the 1930s and 1940s Egypt followed import-substituting industrialization, founding local textile, food processing, glassware, and other industries for which there was already a substantial consumer market. TRADE SINCE INDEPENDENCE

11 3. A desire to quickly develop _________________________ and the ____________ ____________________ of Egypt were the major goals of the military coup of the 1950s. (7) The 1952 military coup dtat brought to power young, energetic army officers who wanted to rapidly advance the political independence and the economic development of the country. In 1954 they signed an agreement for the withdrawal of British forces based in the Suez Canal area, thus achieving one of Egypts most vital nationalist goals. The Free Officers government also promised rapid economic growth, which they initially hoped could be accomplished through the private sector and with the aid of foreign and local capital. When, however, economic progress languished and Western powers refused to finance the Aswan High Dam, the government of Gamal Abdel Nasser (19181970) nationalized the mainly French-run Suez Canal Company. The ensuing British, French, and Israeli invasion of the country in November 1956 prompted the government to turn against the private sector. 4. Policies of nationalization and requests for Soviet aid were signs that Egypt was moving from an economy that favored foreign trade to one that aimed to achieve _________________________________. (8) A series of nationalization decrees enacted between 1957 and 1962 placed almost all large-scale private firms in state hands. Egypt also turned to the Soviet Union for aid and redirected its trade toward the Soviet bloc. The Soviets financed the Aswan High Dam and helped Egypt establish many state-run industries. An economy that once had been open to foreign trade and exchanged a single cash crop cotton for a wide range of European manufactures now closed itself off, striving instead for economic selfsufficiency. (9) The experiment failed. Local industries lost money. Products that the middle class had once taken for granted became scarce. Above all, the alignment with the Soviet Union did not enable the Egyptians to deal militarily with their chief antagonist in the Middle EastIsrael. In fact, the 1967 war with Israel, which the Egyptian military high command was sure it could win, proved to be a catastrophe. Egyptians forces were destroyed, the army was humiliated, and the entire Sinai Peninsula came under Israeli rule. 5. What effect did the 1973 attacks on Israel have to Egypts relationship with the Soviet Union?

12 (10) The death in 1970 of Egypts charismatic leader, Nasser, and the rise of Nassers vice president, Anwar al-Sadat (19181981), prepared the way for a sea change in Egypts political, military, and economic arrangements. In 1973 President Sadat attacked the Israelis, getting Egyptian troops across the Suez Canal, where they inflicted heavy losses on the Israelis. Although the Israelis repulsed the invasion, the Egyptian effort was sufficiently successful that Sadat could announce the ending of ties with the Soviet Union and a new alliance with the United States. Sadat expelled Soviet technicians and economic advisers and invited American advisers to help in dismantling the public sector, privatizing public-sector companies, and opening the country to foreign investment and trade. Under Sadat, who was assassinated by a disaffected Muslim group in 1981, and his successor, Husni Mubarak (b. 1929), Egypt looked to the West, particularly to the United States, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, to provide technical advice and much-needed investment to spur the economy. (11) One of President Abdel Gamal Nassers most important goals was to modernize Egypts economy. He proposed the huge High Dam at Aswan, just north of the Sudanese border, to provide the nation with electricity and irrigation on the Upper Nile. Initially the World Bank was to finance the dam, with support from the United States and Britain, but Nassers pro-Soviet foreign stance, and his apparent undermining of British Middle Eastern interests, led the Western powers to withdraw support. In retaliation Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, leading to the 1956 Suez Crisis. (12) The dam was finally completed in 1970 with Soviet aid, creating a huge reservoir named after Nasser, who died that year. The dam provides about half of Egypts power needs, and regulates the Nile floods, which frequently had caused damage along the flood plain. Navigation on the river has been aided by a more consistent water flow. But there are also problems associated with Aswan, including the dislocation of thousands during its construction In addition, it has caused poor drainage affecting farmland, erosion of the Nile Delta, a rise in fertilizer use to replace natural sediments, and an alleged increase in disease linked to stagnant water. 6. Other than tourism, what is one way that the Egyptian economy has grown in recent decades? (13) Like most economic programs in Egypts recent past, the turn to the West did not realize all of the goals that its advocates had hoped for. In 2004 Egypt had over 70 million people crammed into a relatively small usable area with limited natural resources. Nonetheless, the economy has grown significantly during the last twenty-five years, with tourism, foreign remittances, and Suez Canal receipts providing most of the countrys

13 hard currency. Egypt has also become a significant exporter of textiles, vegetables, fruits, and flowers throughout the Middle East and into Europe. Text B: Moroccos place in world trade (1) Since the origins of Islam in North Africa, the power of the state has greatly depended on its ability to control both (4) trans-Saharan and maritime trade. Until the twentieth century the vitality of Moroccos inland capital cities of Marrakesh and Fez depended on exchanging gold, slaves, salt, and other products across the Sahara. This trade was simultaneously linked to Mediterranean commerce. (2) As the Portuguese began to seize enclaves along Moroccos Atlantic coast in the 1400s, they brought Moroccan trade more into the European orbit. Through the early 1500s the declining Marinid and Wattasid dynasties, centered in Fez, still depended on the Eastern Saharan routes; but the SaEdian dynasty, originating in southwestern Morocco and centered in Marrakesh, relied more on western trans-Saharan routes and Atlantic seaports. Deriving political legitimacy in part from their struggle (jihad) with the Portuguese, the dynasty sought new European trading partners; thus the English largely supplanted the Genoese and Spanish, trading in firearms and cloth for Moroccan refined sugar. (3) A late-sixteenth century expedition across the Sahara into West Africa brought down the Songhay dynasty, secured SaEdian control of the trans-Saharan trade, and increased Moroccos supply of (5) gold and slaves. In the seventeenth century the EAlawid dynasty, originating in the southeastern Tafilalt region, gained control of Morocco, moving its capital among Fez, Marrakesh, and Meknes. 1. Although Morocco enjoyed trade with England in the 1500s, why did it later see this nation as a threat? (4) As a counterweight to both Iberian expansion along the Moroccan littoral and Ottoman power overland from Algeria, Morocco sought trade with England, the Netherlands, France, and Italian cities such as the emerging port of Livorno. But once Britain took Gibraltar in 1704, it was also a potential threat. Morocco sometimes granted monopolies to smaller European powers for exclusive trade in some of the ports. In addition to conducting regular commercial relations with European powers, Morocco also sponsored and invested in corsairs, while collecting tribute from some Europeans (e.g., Danes, Swedes, and Ventians) to protect them from Moroccan pirates. 2. Why was Morocco dependent on European ships for overseas trade?

14 (5) State-supported piracy died out in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Without a merchant marine of its own, Morocco relied on European ships for maritime trade. Moroccan Jewish merchants, with their network of coreligionists in the interior of Morocco and Europe, were frequently the chief intermediaries in Moroccos international trade and were among the main royal merchants. (6) Despite the far-flung recognition of the EAlawids symbolic power, the central government was rarely strong. Thus the dynasty often could not control the flow of trade through dissident regions in Morocco. Berber chiefs often negotiated directly with the Europeans, dealing through ports such as Agadir on Moroccos southern Atlantic coast. In the north, the state had a difficult time controlling contraband, as it still does today. 3. What did the Moroccan state establish in an attempt to fully control European trade in the mid-eighteenth century? (7) The establishment of the royal port of Essaouira in 1764, which soon became Moroccos principal seaport, was a state effort to monopolize European trade through concentrating foreign and native Jewish merchants in one port. The sultan concluded commercial treaties with most European nations and was the first country to recognize the independent United States (in 1786). During the Napoleonic Wars Morocco limited its foreign trade, fearful of being drawn into the conflict. But by the time the French conquered Algiers in 1830, Morocco was being pulled into the expanding world of European commerce. (8) The (6) Anglo-Moroccan treaty of 1856 made earlier protectionist policies harder to maintain. Similar commercial treaties with other countries followed, and trade with Europe grew. European especially British and French manufactured goods (primarily textiles), sugar (no longer produced in Morocco), and tea were exchanged for Moroccos export staples: olive oil, goatskins, wool, almonds, Saharan ostrich feathers, and gum transported across the Sahara from West Africa. Foreign abolitionists failed to stop the trans-Saharan slave trade; slaves remained symbols of prestige and economic power for Moroccos elite throughout the nineteenth century. 4. What factors led to Morocco losing its independent status in the early twentieth century? (9) Unequal trade relations and growing government indebtedness contributed to Moroccos loss of independence in 1912, when France established a protectorate (Spain ruled in the northwestern corner of the country). Morocco became a large market for

15 cheap manufactured goods, which undermined native industries and crafts. Under French rule Casablanca became Moroccos largest city and commercial port, whereas large French-settler farms concentrated on crops for export, such as cereals and citrus. (10) After independence in 1956 Morocco embarked on massive irrigation projects, but agricultural productivity has not met expectations, hindering hoped for exports. During the colonial period investments were also made in Moroccos rich mineral resources, especially in phosphates. After independence, Morocco became the worlds largest phosphate exporter, but market fluctuations since the late 1970s, together with uncertainties in Moroccos relationship with the European Economic Community, have hindered Moroccos trade in the last decades of the twentieth century.