What was the Green March of 1975?

The Green March is among the most significant events in modern Moroccan history, and it is one I explain carefully and neutrally, because it touches a territorial dispute that is still live. In November 1975, the colonial power Spain was preparing to leave the territory then called the Spanish Sahara, to Morocco's south. King Hassan II responded with a bold and unusual move: instead of sending soldiers, he called on ordinary Moroccans to march peacefully into the territory to assert the country's claim that it was historically part of Morocco.

The response was enormous. Around 350,000 volunteers — the figure most commonly cited — converged on the south and crossed the border carrying Moroccan flags, portraits of the king, and copies of the Qur'an, but no weapons. It was called the 'Green March' for the colour of Islam and of hope. As a piece of political theatre and mass mobilisation it was extraordinarily effective: a peaceful human wave that put intense pressure on Spain at a moment when the Spanish state was itself in crisis, with the dictator Franco on his deathbed.

Within days Spain agreed to negotiate its withdrawal, and the territory's administration was handed over. What followed, however, was not simple. A long-running dispute developed over the region's final status, with an independence movement, the Polisario Front, contesting Moroccan control, and the question has remained one of the most sensitive in North African politics ever since. This is genuinely contested ground, and as a guide I present it as what it is — a disputed issue — rather than taking a side.

For travellers, the practical takeaway is that the Green March is woven deeply into Moroccan national identity. November the sixth is a public holiday, you will see the event commemorated in murals and street names, and it is regarded within the country as a defining moment of post-independence unity. Understanding it helps you read the patriotism you will encounter, and I always frame it factually and respectfully, which is both the accurate and the courteous way to discuss a topic Moroccans hold close.