Excavating the company town: Small Moroccan mining cities in european archives

À la recherche des villes patronales: les petites villes minières marocaines dans les archives européennes

Tom Avermaete

p. 118-125


Texte intégral

Figure 1: Khouribga (1924-1950), Office Chérifien des Phosphates, cont.: Tract of single-family dwellings, c. 1950

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Source: Private collection

1Much of Morocco’s modernization during the 20th century, as well as its urban and architectural development, are linked to the mining of the country’s wealth of natural resources, such as coal, lead, zinc, and phosphates.1 Even before colonial times, mining had attracted the notice of foreign powers.2 The years immediately before and after the Protectorate was established, in 1912, saw a frenzied rush for mining concessions. As a result, the first Resident General, Hubert Lyautey, “nationalized” phosphate reserves in 1920 and placed mining and marketing activities under the control of the Office Chérifien des Phosphates (OCP).3 In 1928 another institution was established, the Bureau de Recherches et de Participations Minières (BRPM),4 to prospect for and mine non-phosphate ores.

2Under the Protectorate, several agencies directly or indirectly related to mining also played paramount roles in the development of Morocco’s built environment.5 In addition to the OCP and the BRPM, they include other public companies such as the Société Chérifienne des Charbonnages de Jérada (SCCD) and Charbonnages Nord-Africains (CNA), which collaborated with economic and financial groups such as Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas (Paribas), the Omnium Nord-Africain (ONA) and the Banque d’État du Maroc (BEM).6 Until independence in 1956, these institutions worked together with colonial administrations specialized in planning the built environment, such as the Ponts et Chaussées Coloniaux (1920), the Ponts et Chaussées d’Outre-Mer (1949), or the Travaux Publics Coloniaux (1952 to 1955).7 In this context, urbanism and architecture were not the exclusive task of urbanists and architects, but most often the work of engineers with various specializations.8 Each mining company had its own purpose, ranging from pure economic gain to more enlightened ideas of providing quality housing and community services to workers. Together, they laid the foundations for a large number of urban and architectural complexes related to mining.9 Today, the result is a landscape of mining towns of different sizes, such as Bangrir (62,872 inhabitants), Bouarfa (25,947 inhabitants), Boubkere (1,942 inhabitants), Boujniba (15,041 inhabitants), Boulanouare (10,469 inhabitants), Ganfouda (5,748 inhabitants), Hattane (10,284 inhabitants), Jérada (43,916 inhabitants), Khouribga (166,397 inhabitants), Laayoune (183,691 inhabitants), Ouad Zam (83,970 inhabitants), Oued Al Heimer (1,997 inhabitants), Touissite (3,429 inhabitants), and Youssoufia (64,518 inhabitants).10

Figure 2: Khouribga (1924-1950), Office Chérifien des Phosphates, cont.: Zoning map

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Source: Private collection

Figure 3: Khouribga (1924-1950), Office Chérifien des Phosphates, cont.: The swimming pool and the community hall (1930s)

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Source: Private collection

The OCP: “Scientific management” of mining and the town

3By far the most important player in the development of Moroccan mining towns was the Office Chérifien des Phosphates (OCP).11 The OCP was established by royal decree, or dahir, in 1920, as a state company holding a monopoly on mining. However, despite the fact that it was a state agency, its management and production methods were largely based on the approaches of private companies in Europe. Intense mechanization was the credo, and a “scientific” Taylorist system was applied to maximize the yield of natural and human resources, as well as time and space. Very simple rules governed all OCP mining operations. First, every mine was designed as an autonomous center, able to function independently. This implied that every mining town was equipped with its own infrastructure (power generator, sources of water). However, the basic amenities of everyday life (education, health facilities, culture) were also provided on site.

4A second characteristic of OCP mining towns is that they were always closely linked to the development of transport infrastructure. Rail transport, in particular, was chosen as the most appropriate means of moving freight. Hence, in the majority of mining towns, the railroad became not only a key part of the infrastructure, but also an element of socio-spatial structuring and differentiation. In addition, the railways that were built for mining, often with the help of engineers from the Ponts et Chaussées Coloniaux (1920) and the Ponts et Chaussées d’Outre-Mer (1949), crossed large expanses of land, making the electrification of remote rural villages possible.

5OCP company towns also obeyed a third imperative: segregation of functions. Each of the OCP settlements is characterized by clear-cut spatial boundaries between the various tasks in a mining town. Production, processing, storage, transportation, waste disposal, administration, and housing occupied zones that were clearly separated. The “scientific organization” of personnel and processes was extended from the mining activity to serve as the primary planning principle for the mining settlements. Hence, most of the mining towns in Morocco have an extremely clear and compartmentalized urban structure. It can be interpreted in two ways: as the spatial expression of the general management principles of mining, and as a form of social and cultural control.

6One of the best examples, the largest mining town built by the OCP, is the city of Khouribga. It is situated in the center of Morocco, 120 km southeast of Casablanca.12 Before 1921, this desert area was occupied by semi-nomadic populations who herded livestock and engaged in extensive farming, a means of subsistence and a social structure inimical to any long-term settlement density. The discovery and mining of phosphates brought about drastic changes. In addition to the introduction of the railway line, a permanent settlement pattern of white-collar workers and laborers was established. The first major settlement, founded by the OCP in 1921, was located near the open quarry on the outskirts of Boujniba. But by 1924, several new neighborhoods were planned, extending the city considerably.

7Khouribga’s urban structure clearly obeys the “scientific” logic of separation of functions and thus is divided into four distinct zones. The first contains various OCP production units and plants. The second zone encompasses the so-called “Ville des Cadres,” a series of identical single-family dwellings reserved for OCP management. The third area is the administrative district, located in the center. It acts as a buffer zone between the settlers’ city and that of the indigenous people. The fourth zone is separated from the others by sports facilities, parks, and the railway. Called the “Habitat Économique,” it is where the mine laborers were housed (neighborhoods of Lebyoute and Hay Salam).

8The last two neighborhoods were the product of typological experimentation. Already, in 1929, under the supervision of Dr. Lamielle, the OCP had begun to experiment with new forms of housing, introducing the concept of the “stabilization perimeter.” This was the learned name given to an innovative housing plan intended to mediate between the way of life in rural areas, where the workers came from, and urban dwelling practices in the mining town. It consisted of buildings containing four two-room apartments, set in the middle of four hectare lots (9.9 acres). Each family was expected to cultivate a quarter of the land, a one hectare plot (2.5 acres), marked off by an olive tree border. There was enough room for the worker to raise livestock or even build a traditional structure. The idea was to maintain some elements of the rural way of life, in order to ease the workers’ transition to urban life. The experiment failed, because the “stabilization perimeters” ranged too far, creating large distances between home and school, or the city center and the workplace. Workers’ housing built later was developed according to denser urbanization patterns. The Cité Boujniba, built in 1938 by architect Edmond Brion,13 is one example, as is the neighborhood planned much later, in 1977, by Émile Aillaud.14 In addition to building housing for its workers, the OCP also promoted education. From the very beginning, the Khouribga city plan also involved the design of school facilities.15 Even more important were the health and physical fitness of the mine laborers and management. Large areas were set aside for sports and recreation facilities. Very soon after Khouribga was laid out, it had an open-air swimming pool. The OCP’s Sports Association was provided with state-of-the-art athletic facilities. And the company even supervised the spiritual well-being of its employees, symbolized by the church located in the middle of town. The OCP’s ambition was to control every dimension of employee life.

Figure 4: Jérada and Bou Tazoult: Transnational actors and pragmatic design approaches

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Source: Private collection

Figure 5: Jerada, Société Chérifienne des Charbonnages de Jerada, cont.: Overall view and Europeans’ housing

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Source: Private collection

9Though many of the mining towns in Morocco reflected the initiative and perspectives of the OCP, in some instances more complex combinations of transnational actors and interests were at work. The founding of the city of Jérada in the Beni Snassen Mountains is a good example. It originated with the discovery of the Jérada coalfield by geologists from the Belgian mining company Ougrée-Marihaye,16 who had conducted an extensive survey of northeastern Morocco in 1927. In the wake of this prospecting, the Société Chérifienne des Charbonnages de Jérada (SCCD) was formed in January 1929 as a joint effort between Ougrée-Marihaye and the Bureau de Recherches et de Participations Minières (BRPM). In 1946, their collaboration led to the establishment of a new company, Charbonnages Nord-Africains (CNA), whose chief shareholders were the Belgian, French, and Moroccan states.

10Jérada’s city planning was carried out by engineers from the Société Chérifienne des Charbonnages de Jérada (SCCD) and based on pragmatic principles, along with strict sociospatial zoning and separation. The coal mining and processing zone, and two separate housing zones, for laborers and management, were laid out on different mountain plateaus, connected only by the main road. Likewise, both laborers and management lived in neighborhoods laid out in grids, but in different ways. The laborers’ housing was organized as a dense pattern of patio dwellings and was surrounded by a perimeter wall. It was modeled on the medina, and had at its center a large square with a marketplace and other collective functions. The managers’ neighborhood reflected the European garden-city model, featuring rows of semi-detached homes with private yards. The center of this neighborhood contained shops, a school, and administrative buildings. The urban plan of Jérada is a string of selfcontained settlements, connected by roads.

Figure 6: Bou Tazoult (late 1940s), Société Anonyme Chérifienne d’Etudes Minières, cont.: The French engineers’ residences

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Source: Private collection

Figure 7: Bou Tazoult (late 1940s), Société Anonyme Chérifienne d’Etudes Minières, cont.: View of the Kissaria (market) in the Moroccan compound

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Source: Private collection

11Imini Bou Tazoult, between Marrakesh and Ouarzazate, is another example of how a combination of private and public agencies became involved in the planning of a manganese mining town.17 In this case, the old French mining firm Mokta el Hadid, with leases in Algeria, Tunisia, France, and Russia, initiated a collaboration with the Bureau de Recherches et de Participations Minières (BRPM) to form the Société Anonyme Chérifienne d’Études Minières (SACEM).18 Drilling began during the World War II, and accelerated after 1947. At that time, SACEM engineers laid out a town in the immediate vicinity of the quarries. Laborers were housed in a 350-unit “native village,” while management housing consisted of 100 single-family dwellings, lining the main road in the mountains, or grouped on plateaus. In addition, the SACEM provided many community services, building two clinics, three elementary schools, two swimming pools, sports areas, a cafeteria and hotel, three guest houses, a cinema, a church, two mosques, two grocery stores, a commissary, and a military bordj for security.

12In the late 1940s, SACEM engineers initiated the idea of adapting the housing to the inhabitants’ culture. Hence, the French engineers’ dwellings were built in a sober, modernist style. The same rational, modernist style was applied to community facilities, such as the cinema, grocery shops, and school. However, the collective housing for Moroccan laborers told a completely different story. Though the buildings were planned and laid out just as rationally as the engineers’ dwellings, the shape reflected the architecture of the Atlas mountains and the Imini valley, in spite of the modern construction technique of concrete and natural stone. The typology of the buildings referenced traditional forms such as the fortified casbahs, and included vernacular decorative patterns. The marketplace and wash-house were built in this style, as well as the multiple-family dwellings.

Laayoune: A Spanish-style mining town

Figure 8: Laayoune: Worker’s housing (photo by Rafa)

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Source: Rafa (Rafael Gómez: https://micamara.es/)

Figure 9: Laayoune: overall view of the workers’ housing

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Source: Private collection

13French colonization was not always the basis for the emergence of Moroccan mining towns, as the example of Laayoune in the Western Sahara clearly shows.19 This city was officially founded by the Spanish in 1938, as the administrative, military, and European population center of the province of Spanish Sahara. Laayoune also operated as the mining town for phosphate deposits at Bou Craa, to the southeast. The German firm Krupp built a 105 km conveyor belt to move the ore from Bou Craa to a loading dock at Laayoune harbor. Laayoune was built up chiefly between 1940 and 1946, ultimately attaining a population of over 2000 inhabitants. The Spanish State appointed engineers and military personnel to design and build 226 new housing projects for the town. Construction was often supervised by master masons from the Canary Islands, while soldiers carried out the works.20 They were single-story dwellings in nearly every case, constructed of ordinary masonry walls. The roof was made of reinforced concrete slabs, often complemented with characteristic traditional domes. All the houses were finished with tiled floors, wood-framed doors and windows, and whitewashed stucco walls, creating visual unity. The same approach was taken to community buildings like administrative centers, cultural centers, and churches, as well as public spaces such as Plaza de España.21 While most of the town of Laayoune was designed by engineers and military personnel, input from architects was occasionally sought. They engaged in typological experimentation with worker housing. For example, the “Houses for Natives” were developed by architects Capote, Estalella, and Serrano Súñer in 1966.22

Figure 10: Laayoune (1966), Capote, Estalella & Serrano-Súñer, arch.: Commons in the Moroccan workers’ housing

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Source: Private collection

Figure 11: Laayoune (1966), Capote, Estalella & Serrano-Súñer, arch.: Overall view of the compound

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Source: Private collection

Pragmatic acculturation

14The urban planning and architecture of the Moroccan mining towns stands out because it was usually not the work of urban planners or architects, but of engineers and technicians from large mining and engineering companies. Hence, the mining towns are true company towns, reflecting corporate production and organizational schemes. Since the majority of the mining towns were founded under colonial conditions, French and Spanish administrations and public companies, military engineers, and the soldiers who served as construction workers were decisive actors in their development.

15As a result, the planning and architecture of the different mining towns is primarily defined by a “strategy of pragmatics.” Practical considerations, such as travel distances from the mining installations to worker housing, the efficiency of the grid pattern for land development, and drinking-water supply, are at the basis of the mining towns in Morocco. However, the planning of urban centers offering community services and public places reveals an affinity with the discussions that were going on in the broader international discourse on urban planning.

16The urban plans of the mining towns also reflect a strategy of segregation. The different zones of the mining town were clearly separated, by either geographical features or large infrastructural elements like railways or vacant lots. In most mining towns, residential zones were especially clearly distinguished: luxurious, modern dwellings for the Europeans, and denser, more rudimentary housing designs for the Moroccan laborers. The mining towns are clear examples of colonial prejudices projected onto the Moroccan territory. Nevertheless, many mining companies were generous in providing community services, usually accessible to all the town’s inhabitants. It is remarkable how even mining towns located in the most desolate regions set aside large areas for playing fields and maintained swimming pools. The community-services offer was often unprecedented in Morocco. The indoor cinema in Bou Tazoult, for instance, was the first in the region.

17Hence the mining towns in Morocco could be described as zones of pragmatic acculturation. They were pragmatic in that they were inspired by plain engineering logic, instead of the principles and schemes of academically-trained architects. And acculturation was also at work, because in these towns, various attempts were made to adjust the engineers’ logic to international ideas about architecture and urbanism, as well as to local climate and traditional dwelling construction.

Notes de bas de page

1 Basic information on mining town settlement strategies under the French Protectorate in Morocco can be found in: Archives Nationales de France Section Outre-Mer [ANFSOM] - 2G 51/2, Direction Fédérale des Mines et de la Géologie. Daniel Rivet has written a useful introduction to these strategies: Daniel Rivet, “Mines et politique au Maroc, 1907-1914,” Revue d’Histoire Moderne et Contemporaine, no XXVI, 1979, p. 568.

2 By the early 1800s, “geographical missions” to Morocco had already been undertaken by such countries as Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium, and France.

3 For the colonial politics related to mining see: Yusif A. Sayigh, The Economies of the Arab World: Development since 1945, London: Croom Helm, 1978, p. 593-596.

4 The Bureau de Recherches et de Participations Minières (BRPM) was founded by the Royal Decree of 15 December 1928 as a special agency promoting mining research and enabling state intervention in mining. Its chairmen included French mining engineers Léon Migaux, René Vigier, and André Henri Louis Bouillot. Their biographies and references to archives can be found at http://www.annales.org/archives/.

5 A detailed overview of the agencies that invested in the economy of the Protectorate can be found in: Georges Hatton, Les enjeux financiers et économiques du Protectorat marocain (1936-1956). Politique publique et investisseurs privés, Paris: Publications de la Société française d’histoire d’outre-mer, 2009. Earlier publications on the subject include: Albert Ayache, Le Maroc, bilan d’une colonisation, Paris: Éditions sociales, 1956 and Charles F. Stewart, The Economy of Morocco, 1912-1962, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1964.

6 See René Gallissot, Le Patronat européen au Maroc, action sociale, action politique (1931-1942), Rabat: Éditions techniques nord-africaines, 1964; Abdel Aziz Belal, L’Investissement au Maroc (1912-1964) et ses enseignements en matière de développement économique, Paris: Mouton, 1968; Stuart Michael Persell, The French Colonial Lobby, 1889-1938, Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 1983.

7 The Archives Nationales de France, F14: Travaux Publics is an excellent source for clear information on railroad and road construction in North Africa. Specific sources on the large-scale infrastructure and building program in Morocco initiated by General Lyautey and implemented by engineers like Édouard Joyant (after 1913) at the Direction of Public Works can be found in the Centre des Archives Diplomatiques de Nantes (CADN), especially in the archive entitled “Protectorat Maroc.” The sources within this sub-archive, on the Direction des Affaires chérifiennes, Services Territoriaux du Protectorat, and especially “Fonds iconographique Maroc,” are relevant to the history of the mining towns.

8 For the role of the engineers of the Ponts et Chaussées in this venture see Jean-Charles Fredenucci, “L’entregent colonial des ingénieurs des Ponts et Chaussées dans l’urbanisme des années 1950-1970”, Vingtième Siècle. Revue d’histoire, n° 79 (Jul.-Sep., 2003), p. 79-91 and Vacher, Hélène, “Les figures de l’ingénieur colonial à la fin du XIXe siècle: la formation de la Société française des ingénieurs coloniaux et de l’Ecole spéciale des travaux publics,” Le Mouvement social, n° 189 (Oct.-Dec., 1999), p. 47-65.

9 The fact that mining was a significant factor in modernization has been researched by social scientists. See for instance: Jean-Pierre Trystam, L’ouvrier mineur au Maroc. Contribution statistique à une étude sociologique, Paris: Larose, 1957.

10 Numbers of inhabitants are according to the 2004 census (Recensement général de la population et de l’habitat).

11 A good information source for the activities of OCP is the Médiatheque of the Centre de Recherches et d’Études sur les Societés Méditerranéennes (CRESM) in Aix-en-Provence. It contains reports on the housing in mining centers such as C. Jest, Habitat du Personnel Journalier Permanent de l’Office Chérifien des Phosphates— Centre de Khouribga (1957) and Grigori Lazarev, Paul Pascon, Gestion des villages miniers, Rabat: OCP, 1969. A general introduction to the role of the OCP in Morocco can be found in Mohammed Menouar, Le Rôle de l’entreprise publique au Maroc. Le cas de l’OCP, Lille: unpublished thesis, 1985. Of special interest for their iconographic material are the reports by the Capitaine De La Porte Des Vaux, Le Prolétariat marocain et l’Office Chérifien des Phosphates à Khouribga, 1re partie, Les conditions du travail ; 2e partie La Vie dans les villages, CRESM, (Doc. 33-1 et 22-2).

12 An in-depth analysis of Khouribga can be found in: Mohammed Sahsah, Khouribga: Genèse d’une ville minière 1921-1994, Université de technologie de Belfort-Montbéliard, 2010, and Hervé Bleuchot, “Une ville minière marocaine: Khouribga,” Revue de l’Occident musulman et de la Méditerranée, n° 6, 1969, p. 29-51. More general discussions are given by Paul Pascon, Grigori Lazarev, “Les villages miniers de la région de Khouribga,” Notes Marocaines de Géographie, n° 14, 1960, p. 39-58, and René Duchac, “Propositions pour une recherche sur le développement de Khouribga,” Revue de l’Occident musulman et de la Méditerranée, n° 7, 1970, p. 49-69.

13 Edmond Brion (1885-1973) was trained as an architect at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He worked in Casablanca between 1918 and 1960. He worked with Auguste Cadet from 1920 to 1935. Despite an extensive search, we found no public archival sources available on this architect. An introduction to the work of Brion and Cadet can be found in Gislhaine Meffre, Architecture marocaine du XXe siècle: Edmond Brion et Auguste Cadet, Mohammedia: Editions Senso Unico, 2010.

14 The Archives of Émile Aillaud contain documents pertaining to the project in Khouribga. They can be found in Paris, Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine, Centre d’archives d’architecture du XXe siècle, Fonds Émile Aillaud.

15 Documents on adult education within the OCP that also refer to the schools were produced by the INFA (Institut national pour la formation des adultes) and the CUCES (Centre universitaire de coopération économique et sociale). They can be found in the Centre de documentation sur la formation et le travail du CNAM, Paris. These include: A. Bercovitz, L’Éducation permanente à l’Office Chérifien des Phosphates, Nancy: CUCES-INFA, 1964, and M. Morin, Formation et éducation permanente à l’Office Chérifien des Phosphates – Attitudes et représentations, Nancy: CUCES-INFA, 1966.

16 The Société Anonyme d’Ougrée-Marihaye was a Belgian company that focused on coke and iron production, rolling, and casting. The Ougrée-Marihaye company archives are in the Belgian State Archives, Liege - Fonds Cockerill (AEL-FC). They have been catalogued by Anne-Catherine Delvaux, Inventaire des archives de la Société anonyme d’Ougrée-Marihaye (18351955), Liège: Archives de l’Etat à Liège, 2011.

17 A large set of photographs of the town and mining activities of Imini Bou Tazoult can be found in the Centre des Archives Diplomatiques de Nantes (CADN), Collections d’origines privées, Fonds Jacques Belin, “Maroc,” 1940-1961.

18 Sources on the SACEM can be found in: Centre des Archives Diplomatiques de Nantes (CADN), especially in the sub-archive entitled “Protectorat Maroc,” section Direction des Affaires chérifiennes.

19 Marchat Henry, “La France et l’Espagne au Maroc pendant la période du Protectorat (1912-1956),” Revue de l’Occident musulman et de la Méditerranée, n° 10, 1971, p. 81-109.

20 Archives on the settlements in Spanish Morocco in general, and on the urban planning and architecture of Laayoune in particular, can be found in the Spanish Archivo General de la Administración (AGA), Alcalá de Henares. Fund: África (15); Archivo de Historiales de Unidades. Instituto de Cultura Militar. Madrid; Archivo General Militar. Instituto de Historia y Cultura Militar. Ejército de Tierra. Ministerio de Defensa. Segovia; Capitanía General de Canarias. Servicio Topográfico, Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

21 The architects included Alejandro Tiana González (Housing, Pabellón del Comandante Delegado), Cayetano Aguado Saralegui (Consultorio, or dispensary) and Don Diego Méndez (Church).

22 An introduction to these new typologies is given in: J.P. Capote, R. Estalella, and J. Serrano-Súñer, “Viviendas de nativos en El Aaiún,” Cuadernos de arquitectura, n° 70, 1967, p. 40-41.


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