Tangier International Zone

The Tangier International Zone (Arabic: منطقة طنجة الدولية, romanized: Minṭaqat Ṭanja ad-Duwaliyya; French: Zone internationale de Tanger; Spanish: Zona Internacional de Tánger) was a 382 km2 (147 sq mi) international zone centered on the city of Tangier, Morocco, which existed from 1925 until its reintegration into independent Morocco in 1956, with interruption during the Spanish occupation of Tangier (1940–1945), and special economic status extended until early 1960. Surrounded on the land side by the Spanish protectorate in Morocco, it was governed under a unique and complex system that involved several European nations, the United States (mainly after 1945), and the Sultan of Morocco, himself under a French protectorate. Due to its status as an international zone, Tangier played a crucial.