When Theodore Roosevelt told Moulay Abdelaziz «Perdicaris Alive or Raisuni Dead !»

Kidnapped by Mulai Ahmed Raisuni’s bandits, Greek American businessman Ion Perdicaris was impressed by the Jbala leader’s ethics, courage and bravery. After a crisis that involved Theodore Roosevelt and Moulay Abdelaziz, Perdicaris admitted that he enjoyed Raisuni’s company.

History : The 2nd of March 1956, Morocco’s forgotten independence day

The 2nd of March 1956 was officially the day when Morocco was able to gain independence from the French protectorate. During the reign of Mohammed V, the Independence Day was celebrated on that date but when Hassan II ascended the throne this has changed.

History : When tribesmen sat for Irving Penn’s camera in Guelmim

With his top model wife, Irving Penn photographed the blue people in Guelmim in an extraordinary exhibition. Meanwhile, Peter Fordham preferred to keep his visit to Morocco a secret that was later discovered in an antique shop in England.

History : When the world saw Morocco through the eyes of Delacroix and Matisse

Eugène Delacroix and Henri Matisse have both found refuge in Morocco, in an artistic journey that led to the birth of a number of iconic paintings. Their trips introduced the culture, beauty and simplicity of the Kingdom in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Bousbir, a fantasy theme park for French soldiers  

Between 1924 and 1955, Bousbir served as a red-light district for soldiers in the French Casablanca. Stuffed with female sex workers, the quarter was a refuge for the military personnel fed up with their compulsory bachelorhood.

The Anfa Conference : When Roosevelt and Churchill met in Casablanca to defeat the Axis powers

On the 14th of January 1943, three years before World War II, the U.S. President, Franklin Roosevelt decided to summon the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and French generals Henri Giraud and Charles de Gaulle for an international conference in Casablanca. The famous Anfa conference lasted for 10 days and was marked by several military decisions. The Moroccan city was also home to a historical meeting between Sultan Mohammed Ben Youssef and Franklin Roosevelt.

History : In 1925, an assembly of ulemas chose El Khattabi as a caliph of Muslims

A PJD deputy, Abu Zaid Idrissi, has revealed in 2015 in Nador that Muslim Ulemas gathered in Cairo in 1925 had almost unanimously adopted a Palestinian proposal designating Mohamed Ben Abdelkrim El Khattabi a Caliph of Muslims. The Riffian political and military leader had subsequently declined the offer as he had refused, two decades later, the French proposal to rule Morocco.

Moriscos' poems prove how the Arab-Muslim culture survived the Catholic Spain

Pressured to abandon their faith and convert to Christianity, the life of Moriscos in Spain was almost unbearable following the Expulsion decreed by King Philip III. While, everyone claims that they have surrendered to this pressure and ended up integrating into the new Christian society, new poems written in Arabic and discovered by Caren Barcelo and Ana Labarta deny this chapter of history. Details.

Colonial past in Morocco : National resistance and the battles of Jbel Baddou

On the 29th of December, Moroccans recall the Jbell Baddou battles commemorating national resistance under the French protectorate. The date was chosen by the High Commissioner for resistance veterans and members of the liberation army to «preserve the national memory». Revisiting the colonial past in Morocco through the battle fought by Amazigh tribes against the French colonization.

History : Sultan Mohammed III's endless endeavors to befriend the USA

On the 20th of December, Morocco and the United States celebrate their friendship that is rooted in history. Today, we recall Sultan Mohammed III's endeavors to seek diplomatic relations with the Americans. In 1777, the kingdom was the first nation to recognize publicly the independence of the American Republic. Insight into the oldest maintained diplomatic ties.