Tangier International Zone: Map & History

History

Negotiations restarted after the end of the war, in Cannes in 1922, followed by a preparatory conference in London in June 1923, and a follow-up conference in Paris that started in October and concluded with a convention signed by France, Spain and the UK on 18 December 1923, ignoring Italy's stated wish to participate as well. Under that Paris Convention, Tangier was made a neutral zone under joint administration by the participating countries. In line with UK wishes, it was entirely free from any military presence. It was also made into a tax haven, with no tariffs on imported or exported goods or gold, no exchange controls, no income or revenue taxes, and unlimited freedom of establishment.

Ratifications of the signatories were exchanged in Paris on 14 May 1924.

Economy and culture

The initial economic effect of the creation of the International Zone was sharply negative, because the Spanish protectorate authorities discouraged commerce with it and thus Tangier lost most of its traditional hinterland. Tangier had handled nineteen percent of Morocco's imports in 1906, but only four percent in 1929.

With time, however, the service activities favoured by the zone's special status enabled a gradual recovery. 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.

The activity of Tangier as an offshore financial centre and tax haven took off in the postwar period.

Background: early international governance in Tangier

For nearly a century after the end of English rule in 1684, Tangier was primarily a military town, the main fortified outpost on the Moroccan Sultanate's side of the Strait of Gibraltar. This role evolved after Sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah designated it in 1777 as the main point of contact between the Moroccan monarchy and European commercial interests, leading to the gradual relocation of a number of consulates to the city by the main European nations. Great Britain, an ally of the Sultanate since 1713 as it needed Moroccan help to provision Gibraltar, moved its consul from Tétouan to Tangier in the 1770s, and the consul of France similarly moved in from Rabat in the early 1780s.