Spain and France in Southern Morocco: National Interests, Borders, and Disputed Territories 1900-1912

Abstract

This article analyses the complex interplay of Franco-Spanish relations in the context of the conversations held between the two states in order to establish borders in the south of the Sherifian Empire in the years leading up to the declaration of the Protectorate. Although the interests of both countries in the region date back to the mid nineteenth century, it was only in the first decade of the twentieth century that tension between the two powers reached an intensity that required this drastic diplomatic undertaking. The subsequent German intervention and the resulting Franco-German agreement put an end to Madrid’s hopes of consolidating their territory by abstracts joining its colony in the Western Sahara with the southern region of the Spanish Protectorate.