Double trouble: French colonialism in Morocco and the early history of the Pasteur institutes of Tangier and Casablanca (1895-1932)

Morocco was the last North African country in which a Pasteur institute was created, nearly two decades later than in Tunisia and Algeria. In fact, two institutes were opened, the first in Tangier in 1913 and the second in Casablanca in 1932. This duplication, far from being a measure of success, was the material expression of the troubles Pastorians had experienced in getting a solid foothold in the country since the late 19th century. These problems partly derived from the pre-existence of a modest Spanish-Moroccan bacteriological tradition, developed since the late 1880s within the framework of the Sanitary Council and Hygiene Commission of Tangier, and partly from the uncoordinated nature of the initiatives launched from Paris and Algiers. Although a Pasteur Institute was finally established, with Paul Remlinger as director, the failure of France to impose its colonial rule over the whole country, symbolized by the establishment of an international regime in Tangier, resulted in the creation of a second centre in Casablanca. While elucidating many hitherto unclear facts about the entangled origins of both institutes, the author points to the solidity of the previously independent Moroccan state as a major factor behind the troubled translation of Pastorianism to Morocco. Systematically dismissed or downplayed by colonial and postcolonial historiography, this solidity disrupted the French takeover of the country and therefore Pastorian expectations.

North-eastern Morocco: a high geothermal prospect.

New temperature data obtained in 2007 in a hydrogeological borehole (1100 m deep) near Berkane have revealed an average geothermal gradient of about 126°C/km at depths greater than 300 m. This result confirms the average geothermal gradient estimated in a mining borehole located about 30km west of the Berkane borehole, in which water with temperatures as high as 96°C was reached at a depth of about 700 m. The new geothermal gradient, exceeding by far the ones already determined for this Moroccan area allows thinking about the possibility of programs for using high temperature waters in north-eastern Morocco.

Estado de necesidad: la Cruz Roja Española en Marruecos (1886-1927)

Este trabajo estudia la función central que los Estados-nación continuaron teniendo en la Cruz Roja durante el periodo de entreguerras. A finales del siglo XIX, España lideró la creación de instituciones humanitarias de estilo europeo en Marruecos. Sin embargo, su secular inestabilidad como Estado, agravada por el desastre colonial de 1898, terminó con el proyecto regeneracionista de una Cruz Roja marroquí. Cuando en 1912 se estableció el protectorado español, la Cruz Roja Española quedó marginada por la competencia francesa, la internacionalización de Tánger y el rechazo local. Éste último culminó en la llamada Guerra del Rif de 1921-1927, mezcla de revuelta anticolonial y guerra internacional, que expuso de forma cruda las prolongadas necesidades del Estado español y su Cruz Roja. This article studies the central role of nationstates in the Red Cross during the interwar period. In the late nineteenth century, Spain pioneered the creation of European-style humanitarian institutions in Morocco. However, its perennial instability as a state, aggravated by the colonial disaster of 1898, put an end to the regenerationist project of a Moroccan Red Cross. When the Spanish protectorate was established in 1912, the Spanish Red Cross was overshadowed by competition from its French counterpart, the internationalization of Tangiers and resistance from the local inhabitants. This culminated in the so-called Rif War of 1921- 1927, a mixture of anticolonial revolt and international war that vividly exposed the ingrained deficiencies of the Spanish State and its Red Cross.