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Four European colonial powers established and developed a postal service in Morocco: France (1852), Great Britain (1857), Spain (1870) and Germany (1899).

Unlike the French and British services, the Spanish postal service opened agencies very early on, from September 1870, in ports on the Atlantic coast of Morocco and cities in the interior. The German postal service was established at the very end of the 19th century, in late 1899, as Germany expanded its colonial influence in Africa and elsewhere.

This lecture aims to present the history of the Spanish postal service in Morocco between 1870 and 1915.

Two periods should be distinguished: during the first period, from 1870 to 1902, the stamps in current use in Spain were also used in Morocco; from 1903 onwards, Spanish stamps were specifically overprinted for use in Morocco.

What most distinguishes this foreign service from its two other competing predecessors, the French and British services, especially between 1871 and 1902, is the incredible variety of types of cancellations and the number of different issues of Spanish stamps used in Morocco, before the introduction in 1903 of overprinted stamps specifically for Morocco.

The presentation ends in 1915, at the time of the rationalization of the French and Spanish postal networks in Morocco pursuant to the agreement entered into by France and Spain on August 1, 1915.

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