Cork exploitation in the protectorate of Spain in Morocco: from INCOME monopoly to cork fever (1944-1956)
Main Article Content
Abstract
Given that interest in studies of the Spanish presence in the North of Morocco between 1912 and 1956 has been renewed in recent years, this work aims to explain the details of the policy that the Administration of the Protectorate developed regarding the use of cork between 1944 and 1956. After a thorough analysis of the existing documentation, we analyzed the events that followed since the monopoly concession to the company “Industrias Corcheras del Marruecos Español” of all uses of cork until the appearance of what in those years was known as cork fever, a process where the inherent conflict caused by those who were looking exclusively for their own benefit joined the paths and which was fueled at the last years by the Spanish presence under the independence winds that devastated the Protectorate. All this without forgetting, the share of responsibility of both the company and the spanish administration that failed to carry out the enormous expectations that had been generated.