Captain Equi and the Tangier International Zone in the summer of 1936
Captain Equi is fictional. But the multi-national detective branch of Tangier CID existed. Italian, Spanish, French, Dutch, Belgian, Portuguese, Moroccan and British detectives worked side-by-side. Crime Zone (1959) by the last British head of Tangier CID introduced me to the quirky legal system and police methods in Tangier. But the Tangier Rules of the novel are my invention.
At the time of the novel, France and Spain occupied and colonized Morocco. Tangier was the exception. In 1924, Britain, France and Spain had agreed that Tangier was too strategic a port to be controlled by any one power. By treaty they created an international zone and shared an administration that eventually included Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United States (after WWII) and Morocco. So far as I know, this arrangement was unique. It wasn’t a colony. Nor was it a Free City like Danzig or an international concession such as in Shanghai.
The Tangier Zone was 375 square kilometres (155 square miles) with its own flag, defence force, police, legislature, several currencies were accepted, and Britain, France and Spain provided post offices. At the time of the novel, there were roughly 60,000 inhabitants: half European, half Moroccan Muslims and Jews. In a time of rising nationalism and racism, Tangier was by no means perfect, but it was a remarkable experiment in multiculturalism.