The sovereign or Sultan of Morocco, styled by Europeans emperor, bears the title of Emir el Minnenin, or Lord of the True Believers. He is ordinarily called by his subjects simply Seid-tia —Our Lord. He is absolute in the strictest sense; the lives and properties of his subjects are at his disposal; from him alone proceed the laws, which he makes and unmakes at his pleasure. The im perial revenues are derived from imposts on property, from duties on imports and exports, from monopolies and from fines or confisca tions. Under the sultanate regime every office was directly or indirectly purchased, small sal aries or none were paid, the holders recouping themselves by plunder and oppression, tem pered by the fact that at any moment they may be forced to disgorge to the Sultan, or in de fault be left to rot in the loathsome Moroc can dungeons, or be beaten or tortured to death. Alljustice was bought and sold. Yet, owing to the religious fanaticism of the people, and the mutual jealousies of the European powers, especially France, Great Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain, these unsatisfactory conditions were until recently preserved. See post, under Gov ernment.
For an estimate of the popula tion of Morocco there are no certain data. One of the most recent calculations estimates It at 5,000,000. An important element of weak ness in the social and political constitution is to be found in the several distinct races, which, so far from uniting, repel one another. The Berbers are the oldest inhabitants of the coun try, and they devote themselves to agriculture rather than to pastoral pursuits. The Arabs form the bulk of the rural population in the plains; some of them are cultivators, and some are Bedawi. In the towns along the coast are found the Moors, a people now physically dis tinct, whose origin as a distinct race cannot be satisfactorily explained. Their chief physical characteristic is their corpulence and they are more indolent and much less social than the Arabs. A considerable ntimber of Jews is to i be found in all the commercial towns of Mo rocco, where, in spite of the oppressions to which they are subjected, they often accumu late wealth, being the sole dealers in bullion and holders of capital. To these various in gredients of a checkered population must be added the negroes and their posterity of every shade, who are particularly numerous in the southern provinces. The civilization of Mo rocco had sunk to a low condition. The educa tion given at the schools in the chief towns, and completed at the University of Fez, does not go beyond the theology of the Koran; but un der French rule progress has been made. The public libraries, once famous, are now dis persed; true science is unknown, and whatever monuments of art are to be found in the king dom point to the time when literature and art flourished under the Arababian dynasties in Spain. Music is the only art for which the
Moors are said to manifest a decided taste, but they have not as yet arrived at any profi ciency in it.
In the Mauri of ancient writers it is easy to recognize the Moors of modern times. These people were supposed to have come from Asia, and particularly from Palestine, hut their origin is doubtful. The Berbers are believed to he the representatives of the race that inhabited the country in the earliest historical times. After being for more than four centuries a part of the Roman empire, and in the later period of its sway veneered with a corrupt Christianity, °Mauritania Tingitane fell (429 A n.) into the hands of the Vandals, who in troduced the piratical habits which afterward became so characteristic of the coasts of Bar bary and Morocco. They held it till 533, when Belisarius having defeated them, it became sub ject once more to the Eastern empire. But in the latter part of the 7th century the Arabs spread over North Africa, and having taken possession of Mauritania, penetrated to the borders of the desert. About this time the Jews were expelled from Spain by decree of the Council of Toledo (694 A.D.), and sought refuge in great numbers on the shores of Africa. Near the close of the 8th century a Sherif or descendant of Mohammed named Edris obtained such an ascendency over the Berber tribes that they made him their sover eign, with the title of Imim. His son and suc cessor founded in 807 the city of Fez. In 1035 the warlike sect of the Morabites rose into existence on the borders of the desert. In 1055 their chief was proclaimed sovereign of Moghreb-el-aksa. His grandson and successor crossed the mountains and in 1072 laid the foundations of the city of Morocco, which thus arose with the remarkable dynasty of the Mo rabites. The expulsion of the Moors and Jews from Spain (1440-1501 A.D.) added 800,000 souls, it is said, to the population of Moghreb el-aksa. In the middle of the 16th century a new dynasty commenced with the descendants of the Shenf Hosein. The fifth of this commonly called Hamed Sherif el-Mansu (1579-1603), made himself master of the whole of Moghreb-el-aksa, and pushed his conquests through the desert as far as Timbuktu and Kagh6. His reign is regarded as the golden age in the history of Morocco. The ninth and last Moroccan dynasty was that founded in 1648, by Mulai Sherif el Fileli, or King of Tafilelt. In 1814 the slavery of Christians was abolished and piracy was prohibited in 1817. Several complications arose with France, caused by the plundering of French vessels by pirates, but in each instance the emperor. gave com pensation. In 1859-60 there was a war with Spain, owing to attacks made by some of the wild tribes upon the Spanish territory; it re sulted in a cession of land and an indemnity of $20,000,000 to Spain.