Makhzen is the governing
eliteElite refers to an exceptional or privileged group that wields considerable power within its sphere of influence...
in
MoroccoMorocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
and in
pre-1957 Tunisia-Ottoman beylik:The Beylik of Tunis was founded on July 15, 1705, after the Husainid Dynasty led by Al-Husayn I ibn Ali at-Turki defeated the Turkish Deys....
, centered around the king and consisting of royal notables, businessmen, wealthy landowners, tribal leaders, top-ranking military personnel, security service bosses, and other well-connected members of the
establishmentThe Establishment is a term used to refer to a visible dominant group or elite that holds power or authority in a nation. The term suggests a closed social group which selects its own members...
.
Etymology
The word
makhzen literally means "warehouse" (from
ḵazana ‘store up.’), where the king's civil servants used to receive their wages; but this usage of the word became in
Moroccan ArabicMoroccan Arabic is the variety of Arabic spoken in the Arabic-speaking areas of Morocco. For official communications, the government and other public bodies use Modern Standard Arabic, as is the case in most Arabic-speaking countries. A mixture of French and Moroccan Arabic is used in business...
synonymous with the elite. It is likely a
metonymyMetonymy is a figure of speech used in rhetoric in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept...
related to
taxTo tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
es, which the
makhzen used to collect; the term may also refer to the state, but this usage is increasingly rare and is primarily used by the older generation. Recently, the term is also being used to describe the police.
The word has also been adopted into
SpanishSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
,
PortuguesePortuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
with a different meaning, as
almacén and
armazem (with addition of the Arabic
articleDefinite Article is the title of British comedian Eddie Izzard's 1996 performance released on VHS. It was recorded on different nights at the Shaftesbury Theatre...
al- is the definite article in the Arabic language; a particle whose function is to render the noun on which it is prefixed definite. For example, the word kitāb 'book' can be made definite by prefixing it with al-, resulting in al-kitāb 'the book'...
), and into
FrenchFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and
ItalianItalian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
as
magasin (meaning "store") and
magazzino. It came into the
English languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
from
Middle FrenchMiddle French is a historical division of the French language that covers the period from 1340 to 1611. It is a period of transition during which:...
as
magazine, originally referring to a
storehouseMagazine is the name for an item or place within which ammunition is stored. It is taken from the Arabic word "makahazin" meaning "warehouse".-Ammunition storage areas:...
for ammunition and later to
publicationsMagazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
.
Makhzen in Morocco
The Makhzen is a very ancient notion in Morocco, it roughly coincides with the notion of the ancien feudalist state predating The
French protectorateFrench Protectorate of Morocco was a French protectorate in Morocco, established by the Treaty of Fez. French Morocco did not include the north of the country, which was a Spanish protectorate...
. Resident-General
General LyauteyLouis Hubert Gonzalve Lyautey was a French Army general, the first Resident-General in Morocco from 1912 to 1925 and from 1921 Marshal of France.-Early life:...
(in office 1912-25) a fervent proponent of indirect colonisation, especially in
BerberThe Berber languages are a family of languages indigenous to North Africa, spoken from Siwa Oasis in Egypt to Morocco , and south to the countries of the Sahara Desert...
-speaking areas, kept that role and even enhanced it by given an important role to local notables such as
T'hami El GlaouiEl Haj T'hami el Mezouari el Glaoui , better known in English-speaking countries as T'hami El Glaoui or Lord of the Atlas, was a Berber Pasha of Marrakech from 1912 to 1956...
, to act as a relay between the population and the French authorities to govern the country.