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Rabat – While Morocco and India’s official diplomatic relations might have started in 1957, following the independence of Morocco from its French colonizers, the relations between the two countries actually trace back hundreds of years in the past.
The two countries have actually been involved in one way or another for several centuries, since the 14th century when Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta visited India.
Today, we take a look back at this long relationship, from Ibn Battuta’s first visit, to what the modern relations have looked like since the two countries’ independence, particularly from a cultural standpoint.
Ibn Battuta: First Ambassador
Ibn Battuta was a traveler and scholar from Morocco have traveled more than any other pre-modern explorer. He mainly traveled within regions with Muslim laws in Afro-Eurasia, with his trips totalling over 117,000 kilometers.
In the early 14th century, Ibn Battuta decided to travel to South Asia and the Indian peninsula, hoping to find employment with Muhammad bin Tughluq, the Sultan of Delhi at the time, who was considered to be the wealthiest man in the Muslim world at the time.
Ibn Battuta was generously welcomed in India, in line with what he was expecting, but the amicable reception did not stop there. Ibn Battuta was made a Qadi, or judge, by Bin Tughluq, owing to his extensive education, including years of studying in Mecca.
It was not very long until the traveler was appointed as an ambassador of the Delhi Sultanate to China. During this trip, he would sail to Calicut about two centuries before Vasco de Gama, the famous Portuguese explorer.
Ibn Battuta’s trips to and from India were filled with danger, however, as he was kidnapped and many of the ships that he was travelling on were sunk and stolen.
Although Ibn Battuta held a good position in India as Qadi, his time there was still characterized by some discomfort, due to the iron fist that the Sultan ruled with at the time. The explorer conveyed feelings of both admiration and terror towards the Sultan in his writings.
Modern History
Modern relations between Morocco and India began on June 20, 1956 when India supported Moroccan independence in the United Nations, with official relations between the two countries being established in 1957.
India and Morocco’s ties have been getting more and more close-knit as the years have gone by, with the Asian country becoming one of the major markets for Moroccan phosphate exports. Morocco also imports various products from India, such as spices and various types of equipment, with the bilateral trade between the two nations reaching $1 billion by the beginning of the 2010s.
On the cultural side of things, the two countries have been experiencing an increase in cultural exchanges. For instance, Indian TV shows and movies have been very popular in Morocco, being aired on national television in the Kingdom.
This modern relationship culminated in the signing of a Cultural Exchange Program (CEP) between the two countries in 2016.
This relationship was further strengthened as the two countries kept holding various events in coordination with each other’s embassies.
The future seems to hold only good things for the bilateral and cultural relations between Morocco and India, as there have been various calls to strengthen these relations, both from leaders and diplomats of the two nations.
