HIBAPRESS – Shafiq Anouri
The Algerian media personality interested in Maghreb affairs, Walid Kabir, presented a comprehensive reading of the map "Marche du Choléra au Maroc en 1868", drawn by the French Consul in Mogador (Essaouira) Auguste Boumier in 1869, with the aim of tracking the spread of the cholera epidemic in various parts of the Kingdom.
Kabir said in a post published on his account on the social networking site "Facebook" that this document, which is considered "one of the most important cartographic documents carried out by French diplomacy in the nineteenth century," confirms "the historical extension of Morocco from Tangier to Timbuktu." Kabir added in a post published on his "Facebook" account that "although its declared goal is to track the path of the cholera epidemic that struck Morocco in 1868, it represents a historical and geographical testimony to the unity of the Moroccan field and its sovereignty extending over the Western and Eastern Sahara before any subsequent colonial division." The Algerian media personality continued that the map clearly shows that "Morocco was a unified entity extending from Tangier in the north to Wadi al-Dahab in the south, and from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to Touat, Tindouf, Ain Salah and Timbuktu in the east," adding that Boumier drew "this area in one frame titled "au Maroc", without any dividing lines or an indication of the existence of an independent entity in the Sahara." According to Kabir, this concept shows that "French diplomacy and geographical science at that time actually recognized that the Sahara was part of Moroccan territory," continuing that the map shows "the path of cholera with a broken red line passing through Moroccan coastal and interior cities: Tangier, Larache, Salé, Rabat, Casablanca, Azemmour, Safi, Mogador (Essaouira), Agadir, Souss, Wadi Noun, Tafilalt, Saguia el-Hamra, Wadi al-Dahab and Tiris." Kabir continued in the same context: "Then eastwards where Hamada Tindouf, Touat, Ain Salah, Erg Chech and Timbuktu, all connected by the network of Moroccan caravan routes (routes de caravanes) drawn in broken black lines and accompanied by estimates of "days of walking" (jours de marche)", pointing out that "this network documents the commercial and human interconnection between northern Morocco and its Saharan and African depth." The map also reveals, according to Kabir, "the Sahrawi Moroccan tribal names that were prevalent in those areas within the area marked by "territoire envahi par le choléra au Maroc", such as: Regueibat, Oulad Delim, Oulad Bousbaa, and Oulad Tidrarine, along with the Tekna, which confirms that these tribes were part of the historical Moroccan fabric that extended south and east to the depths of the Great Sahara." It is also noted, Kabir explains, that "the map does not include any mention of foreign names such as "Rio de Oro" or "Sahara Espagnol", which are names that will only appear later with the Spanish colonial expansion after 1884, i.e. the end of the nineteenth century, which proves that Boumier's map, which dates back to the period before Spanish and French colonialism when the Sahara, west and east, was considered part of unified Morocco." From here, Kabir emphasizes that the map acquires a double importance, as "from a scientific point of view, it is the first accurate medical-geographical map documenting the movement of the cholera epidemic across Morocco", and "from a political and historical point of view, it is an official French document that confirms that the European perception of the Moroccan field in the nineteenth century included Saguia el-Hamra, Wadi al-Dahab, Tiris, Touat, Tindouf, Ain Salah, and Timbuktu within the scope of Morocco". Kabir stressed that "Boumier's map is not just a natural artifact, but a historical document speaking of the unity of Moroccan territory, clearly showing that Morocco in 1868 extended from Tangier to Wadi al-Dahab, and from the Atlas to Tindouf, Touat and Timbuktu, and that the Sahrawi Moroccan tribes were an original component of this geographical and sovereign extension of the Sharifian Empire before any foreign colonial presence or any subsequent political conflict."
