Morocco, officially the
Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in
North AfricaNorth Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the UN definition of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia,Mauritania, and...
with a population of nearly 32 million and an area just under . Its capital is
RabatRabat , population 2 million , is the capital of the Kingdom of Morocco. It is also the capital of the Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaer region....
, and its largest city is
CasablancaCasablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean...
. Morocco has a coast on the
Atlantic OceanThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres , it covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface and about one-quarter of its water surface area. The first part of its name refers to the Atlas of Greek...
that reaches past the
Strait of GibraltarThe Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain from Morocco...
into the
Mediterranean SeaThe Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by the Levant. The sea is technically a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it...
. It is bordered by
AlgeriaAlgeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country on the Mediterranean sea, the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area.It is bordered by Tunisia in...
to the east,
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
to the north (a water border through the Strait and land borders with three small Spanish enclaves,
CeutaCeuta is an autonomous city of Spain located on the North African side of the Strait of Gibraltar, on the Mediterranean, which separates it from the Spanish mainland. The area of Ceuta is approximately ....
,
MelillaMelilla is an autonomous Spanish city located on the Mediterranean, on the north coast of North Africa. It was regarded as a part of Málaga province prior to 14 March 1995, when the city's Statute of Autonomy was passed.Melilla was a free port before Spain joined the European Union. As of 2008 it...
, and
Peñón de Vélez de la GomeraPeñón de Vélez de la Gomera is one of the Spanish territories in North Africa off the Moroccan coast , along with the coastal cities of Ceuta and Melilla, the island of Peñón de Alhucemas and Islas Chafarinas. Vélez de la Gomera is administered from Melilla...
), and
MauritaniaMauritania , officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a country in northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the west, by Senegal on the southwest, by Mali on the east and southeast, by Algeria on the northeast, and by the Morocco-controlled Western Sahara on the northwest...
to the south via its
Western SaharaWestern Sahara is a territory of North Africa, bordered by Morocco to the north, Algeria to the northeast, Mauritania to the east and south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Its surface area amounts to . It is one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world, mainly consisting of...
n territories.
Several dialects of Arabic and
BerberBerber may refer to:*a member of the Berber people**the Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages**Berberism, a political-cultural term supporting a distinct Berber identity**Berber calendar**Berber cuisine...
are spoken in Morocco. However, this linguistic diversity doesn't affect the ethnic situation as the population is largely homogenous.
Morocco is the only country in Africa that is not currently a member of the
African UnionThe African Union is an intergovernmental organization consisting of 52 African states. Established on July 9 2002, the AU was formed as a successor to the Organization of African Unity...
and it has shown no interest in joining, due to other African nations recognizing Western Sahara as a sovereign state. However, it is a member of the
Arab LeagueThe Arab League , officially called the League of Arab States , is a regional organization of Arab states in Southwest Asia, and North and Northeast Africa. It was formed in Cairo on March 22, 1945 with six members: Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan , Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria...
,
Arab Maghreb UnionThe Arab Maghreb Union is a Pan-Arab trade agreement aiming for economic and political unity in North Africa....
, Francophonie,
Organisation of the Islamic ConferenceThe Organisation of the Islamic Conference is an international organisation with a permanent delegation to the United Nations. It groups 57 member states, from the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, Caucasus, Balkans, Southeast Asia and South Asia...
,
Mediterranean DialogueThe Mediterranean Dialogue, first launched in 1994, is a forum of cooperation between NATO and seven countries of the Mediterranean. Its stated aim is "to create good relations and better mutual understanding and confidence throughout the region, promoting regional security and stability and...
group, and
Group of 77The Group of 77 at the United Nations is a loose coalition of developing nations, designed to promote its members' collective economic interests and create an enhanced joint negotiating capacity in the United Nations. There were 77 founding members of the organization, but the organization has...
. It is also a
major non-NATO ally of the United StatesMajor non-NATO ally is a designation given by the United States government to exceptionally close allies who have close strategic working relationships with American forces but are not members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization...
.
Name
The full
ArabicArabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...
name
al-Mamlaka al-Maġribiyya translates to "The Western Kingdom".
Al-Maġrib (meaning "The West") is commonly used. For historical references, medieval Arab historians and geographers used to refer to Morocco as
Al-Maghrib al Aqşá ("The Farthest West"), disambiguating it from neighboring historical regions called
al-Maghrib al Awsat ("The Middle West",
AlgeriaAlgeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country on the Mediterranean sea, the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area.It is bordered by Tunisia in...
) and
al-Maghrib al Adna ("The Nearest West",
TunisiaTunisia , officially the Tunisian Republic , is a country located in North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast. Tunisia is located southwest of the island of Sicily and south of Sardinia. Its size is almost 165,000 km² with an estimated population of just...
).
The Latinized name "Morocco" originates from medieval Latin "Morroch", which referred to the name of the former Almoravid and
AlmohadThe Almohad Dynasty , was a Berber, Muslim dynasty that was founded in the 12th century, which conquered all of northern Africa as far as Libya, together with Al-Andalus .Between 1130 and his death in 1163, Abd al-Mu'min al-Kumi, the only one Berber from Nedroma among the Masmudas...
capital,
MarrakechMarrakech or Marrakesh , known as the "Red City", is an important and former imperial city in Morocco...
. The Persians straightforwardly call it "Marrakech" while the Turks call it "Fas" which comes from the ancient
IdrisidThe Idrisids were Arab Shia dynasty in the western Maghreb ruling from 788 to 985, named after its first sultan, Idriss I.-History:The founder of the dynasty was Idris ibn Abdallah , who traced his ancestry back to Ali ibn Abi Talib and his wife Fatima, daughter of the Prophet Muhammad...
and
MarinidThe Anglicised name used for this article derives from the Arabic Banu Marin or the Berber Ayt Mrin, which is the source of the Spanish name....
capital,
FèsFes may refer to:* Fes, Morocco, also known as Fez, a city in Morocco* Persona 3 FES, an 'add-on' disk for Shin Megami Tensei:Persona 3.FES is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:...
.
The word "Marrakech" is presumably derived from the
BerberThe Berber languages are a group of very closely related languages and dialects spoken in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and the Egyptian area of Siwa, as well as by large Berber communities in parts of Niger and Mali. A relatively sparse but very old population extends into the whole Sahara and...
word
Mur-Akush, meaning
Land of God.
Berber Morocco
The area of present-day Morocco has been inhabited since
Neolithic timesThe Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BCE in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age...
(at least since 8000 BC, as attested by signs of the
Capsian cultureThe Capsian culture was a Mesolithic culture of the Maghreb, which lasted from about 10,000 to 6,000 BCE. It was concentrated mainly in modern Tunisia, and Algeria with some sites attested in Cyrenaica...
), a period when the
MaghrebThe Maghreb , also rendered Maghrib , meaning "place of sunset" or "western" in Arabic, is a region in North Africa. The term is generally applied to all of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, but in older Arabic usage pertained only to the area of the three countries between the high ranges of the...
was less arid than it is today. In
MesolithicThe Mesolithic or "Middle Stone Age" was a period in the development of human technology in between the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age and the Neolithic or New Stone Age. The term was introduced by John Lubbock in his work Pre-historic Times, published in 1865. The term was, however, not much used...
ages the geography of Morocco resembled to a
savannaA savanna, or savannah, is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close...
more than the present day arid landscape. In the classical period, Morocco was known as
MauretaniaIn Antiquity, Mauretania was originally an independent Berber kingdom on the Mediterranean coast of north Africa , corresponding to western Algeria, northern Morocco and Spanish Plazas de soberanía. The Mauri people were indicated with the Greek word mauros, black...
, although this should not be confused with the modern-day country of
MauritaniaMauritania , officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a country in northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the west, by Senegal on the southwest, by Mali on the east and southeast, by Algeria on the northeast, and by the Morocco-controlled Western Sahara on the northwest...
. Modern DNA analysis (see link) has confirmed that various populations have contributed to the present-day gene pool of Morocco in addition to the main ethnic group which is the Amazighs/
BerbersBerbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are discontinuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke various Berber languages, which together form a branch of the...
. Those other various populations are
ArabArab people or Arabs are an ethnic group whose members identify along linguistic, cultural or genealogical grounds...
s,
IberiansThe Iberians were a set of peoples that Greek and Roman sources identified with that name in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian peninsula at least from the 6th century BC...
,
PhoeniciaPhoenicia what is now modern day Lebanon, was an ancient civilization centered in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coastal regions of modern day Lebanon, extending to parts of Israel, Syria and Palestine...
ns, Sephardic
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
s and sub-Saharan
AfricaAfrica is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. With a billion people in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.8% of the...
ns.
Roman and pre-Roman Morocco
North Africa and Morocco were slowly drawn into the wider emerging Mediterranean world by Phoenician trading colonies and settlements in the early Classical period. Major early substantial settlements of the Phoenicians were at
ChellahChellah, or Sala Colonia is a necropolis and complex of ancient and medieval ruins that lie on the outskirts of Rabat, Morocco’s Ville Nouvelle, or modern section. This site is the most ancient human settlement on the mouth of the Bou Regreg River....
,
LixusLixus refers to the following things:* lixus, the Latin word for "boiled"* Lixus in Morocco* Lixus , a genus of true weevils* Lixus , a Japanese distribution company...
and Mogador, with Mogador being a Phoenician colony as early as the early 6th century BC. The arrival of Phoenicians heralded a long engagement with the wider Mediterranean, as this strategic region formed part of the
Roman EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
, as
Mauretania TingitanaMauretania Tingitana was a Roman province located in northwestern Africa, coinciding roughly with the northern part of modern Morocco and Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla. The province extended from the northern peninsula, opposite Gibraltar, to Chellah and Volubilis to the south, and as far...
. In the fifth century, as the Roman Empire declined, the region fell to the Vandals, Visigoths, and then
Byzantine GreekThe Byzantine Empire or Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on the capital of Constantinople, and ruled by Emperors in direct and de jure succession to the ancient Roman Emperors...
s in rapid succession. During this time, however, the high mountains of most of modern Morocco remained unsubdued, and stayed in the hands of their Berber inhabitants.
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
was introduced in the second century and gained converts in the towns and among slaves and Berber farmers.
Islamic Morocco
By the seventh century, Islamic expansion was at its greatest. In 670 AD, the first Islamic conquest of the
North AfricaNorth Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the UN definition of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia,Mauritania, and...
n coastal plain took place under
Uqba ibn NafiUqba ibn Nafi was an Arab general under the Umayyad dynasty,in Amir Muavia and Yazid periods, who began the Islamic conquest of the Maghreb, including present-day western Algeria and Morocco in North Africa...
, a general serving under the
UmayyadThe Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four Islamic caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph. Although the Umayyad family originally came from the...
s of
DamascusDamascus is the capital and largest city of Syria. It is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world and its current population is estimated at about 1,669,000...
.
Arabs brought their customs, culture, and
IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
, to which most of the Berbers converted, forming states and kingdoms such as the
Kingdom of NekorThe Kingdom of Nekor was an emirate in the Rif area of modern day Morocco, with its capital initially at Temsaman but later at Nekor. It was founded by an immigrant of Yemen, Salih I ibn Mansur al-Himyarī in 710 AD, by Caliphal grant...
and Barghawata, sometimes after long-running series of
civil warA civil war is a war between organized groups within a single nation state, or, less commonly, between two nations created from a formerly-united nation state. The aim of one side may be to take control of the nation or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies...
s. Under Idris ibn Abdallah who founded the Idrisid Dynasty, the country soon cut ties and broke away from the control of the distant
AbbasidThe Abbasid Caliphate was the third of the Islamic Caliphates of the Islamic Empire. It was ruled by the Abbasid dynasty of caliphs, who built their capital in Baghdad after overthrowing the Umayyad caliphs from all but Al Andalus....
caliphs in
BaghdadBaghdad is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is coterminous. Having a municipal population estimated at 6.5 million, it is the largest city in Iraq and the second largest in the Arab World....
and the
UmayyadThe Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four Islamic caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph. Although the Umayyad family originally came from the...
rule in
Al-AndalusAl-Andalus was the Arabic name given to the parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Arab and North African Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492....
. The Idrisids established
FesFes or Fez is the third largest city in Morocco, after Casablanca and Rabat with a population of 946,815 . It is the capital of the Fès-Boulemane region....
as their capital and Morocco became a centre of learning and a major
regional powerIn international relations, a regional power is a state that has power within a geographic region. They define the polarity of any given regional security complex...
.
After the reign of the Idrisids, Arab settlers lost political control in the region of Morocco. After adopting Islam, Berber dynasties formed governments and reigned over the country. Morocco would reach its height under these Berber dynasties that replaced the Arab Idrisids after the 11th century. The Almoravids, the
AlmohadThe Almohad Dynasty , was a Berber, Muslim dynasty that was founded in the 12th century, which conquered all of northern Africa as far as Libya, together with Al-Andalus .Between 1130 and his death in 1163, Abd al-Mu'min al-Kumi, the only one Berber from Nedroma among the Masmudas...
s, then the
MarinidThe Anglicised name used for this article derives from the Arabic Banu Marin or the Berber Ayt Mrin, which is the source of the Spanish name....
and finally the
SaadiThe Saadi Dynasty , began with the reign of Sultan Mohammed ash-Sheikh in 1554. From 1509 to 1554 they had ruled only in the south of Morocco. The Saadian rule ended in 1659 with the end of the reign of Sultan Ahmad el Abbas...
dynasties would see Morocco rule most of Northwest Africa, as well as large sections of Islamic
IberiaThe Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes modern-day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar and a very small area of France. It is the westernmost of the three major southern European peninsulas—the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan peninsulas...
, or
Al-AndalusAl-Andalus was the Arabic name given to the parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Arab and North African Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492....
. Following the
ReconquistaThe Reconquista was a period of 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula succeeded in retaking the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslims...
of the Iberian Peninsula, large numbers of Muslims and
JewsSpanish Jews once constituted one of the largest and most prosperous Jewish communities under Muslim and Christian rule in Spain, before they were expelled in 1492...
fled to Morocco.
After the
SaadiThe Saadi Dynasty , began with the reign of Sultan Mohammed ash-Sheikh in 1554. From 1509 to 1554 they had ruled only in the south of Morocco. The Saadian rule ended in 1659 with the end of the reign of Sultan Ahmad el Abbas...
, the Arab
Alaouite DynastyThe Alaouite Dynasty is the name of the current Moroccan royal family. The name Alaouite comes from the ‘Alī of its founder Moulay Ali Cherif who became Sultan of Tafilalt in 1631. His son Mulay r-Rshid was able to unite and pacify the country...
eventually gained control. Morocco was facing aggression from Spain and the
Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
that was sweeping westward. The Alaouites succeeded in stabilizing their position, and while the kingdom was smaller than previous ones in the region, it remained quite wealthy. In 1684, they annexed
TangierTangier or Tangiers [
pronounce] is a city of northern Morocco with a population of about 700,000...
. The organization of the kingdom developed under
Ismail Ibn SharifMoulay Ismaïl Ibn Sharif was the second ruler of the Moroccan Alaouite dynasty. Like others of the dynasty, Ismaïl claimed to be a descendant of Muhammad through his grandson Hassan ibn Ali...
(1672–1727), who, against the opposition of local tribes began to create a unified state.
Morocco was the first nation to recognize the fledgling United States as an independent nation in 1777. In the beginning of the
American RevolutionThe American Revolution is the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America at first rejected the governance of the Parliament of Great Britain, and later the British monarchy itself, to become the sovereign United States of...
, American merchant ships were subject to attack by the Barbary Pirates while sailing the
Atlantic OceanThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres , it covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface and about one-quarter of its water surface area. The first part of its name refers to the Atlas of Greek...
. On December 20, 1777, Morocco's Sultan
Mohammed IIIMohammed Ben Abdellah al-Qatib was Sultan of Morocco from 1757 to 1790 under the Alaouite dynasty. He was the governor of Marrakech around 1750 and was the son of Sultan Abdallah IV who reigned 1745-1757...
declared that the American merchant ships would be under the protection of the sultanate and could thus enjoy safe passage. The
Moroccan-American Treaty of FriendshipThe Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship was signed by Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and the Moroccan sultan Muhammad III in 1786. Muhammad III, or Sidi Muhammad ibn Abdallah, came to power towards the end of the 18th century...
stands as the U.S.'s oldest non-broken friendship
treatyA treaty is an agreement under international law entered into by actors in international law, namely sovereign states and international organizations. A treaty may also be known as: agreement, protocol, covenant, convention, exchange of letters, etc...
.
European influence
Successful
PortuguesePortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...
efforts to invade and control the
AtlanticThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres , it covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface and about one-quarter of its water surface area. The first part of its name refers to the Atlas of Greek...
coast in the fifteenth century did not profoundly affect the
MediterraneanThe Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by the Levant. The sea is technically a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it...
heart of Morocco. After the
Napoleonic WarsThe Napoleonic Wars were a series of conflicts declared against Napoleon's French Empire and changing sets of European allies by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionized European armies and played...
, Egypt and the North African
maghrebThe Maghreb , also rendered Maghrib , meaning "place of sunset" or "western" in Arabic, is a region in North Africa. The term is generally applied to all of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, but in older Arabic usage pertained only to the area of the three countries between the high ranges of the...
became increasingly ungovernable from
IstanbulIstanbul is the largest city in Turkey and fifth largest city proper in the world with a population of 12.6 million. Istanbul is also a megacity, as well as the cultural and financial centre of Turkey. The city covers 39 districts of the Istanbul province...
, the resort of pirates under local
beyBey is a Turkish title for "chieftain," traditionally applied to the leaders of small tribal groups. In historical accounts, many Turkish, other Turkic and Persian leaders are titled Bey, Beg, Bek, Bay, Baig or Beigh...
s, and as Europe industrialized, an increasingly prized potential for colonization. The Maghreb had far greater proven wealth than the unknown rest of Africa and a location of strategic importance affecting the exit from the Mediterranean. For the first time, Morocco became a state of some interest in itself to the European Powers. France showed a strong interest in Morocco as early as 1830. Recognition by the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
in 1904 of France's
sphere of influenceIn the field of international relations, a sphere of influence is an area or region over which a state or organization has significant cultural, economic, military or political influence....
in Morocco provoked a reaction from the
German EmpireThe German Empire is the name commonly used in English to describe Germany from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871 to 1918, when it became a German republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of Wilhelm II .The term Second Reich...
; the crisis of June 1905 was resolved at the
Algeciras ConferenceThe Algeciras Conference of 1906 took place in Algeciras, Spain, and lasted from January 16 to April 7. The purpose of the conference was to find an issue to the First Moroccan Crisis between France and Germany, which arose as Germany attempted to prevent France from establishing a protectorate...
, Spain in 1906, which formalized France's "special position" and entrusted policing of Morocco to France and Spain jointly. A
second Moroccan crisisThe Agadir Crisis, also called the Second Moroccan Crisis, or the Panther Sprung, was the international tension sparked by the deployment of the German gunboat Panther, to the Moroccan port of Agadir on July 1 1911.- Background :...
provoked by
BerlinBerlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
, increased tensions between European powers. The
Treaty of FezBy the Treaty of Fez , signed March 30, 1912, Sultan Abdelhafid gave up the sovereignty of Morocco to the French, making the country a protectorate....
(signed on March 30, 1912) made Morocco a
protectorateA protectorate, in international law, is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity. In exchange for this, the protectorate usually accepts specified obligations, which may vary greatly, depending on the real nature of...
of France. By the same treaty, Spain assumed the role of
protecting powerA protecting power is a state which somehow protects another state, and/or represents the interests of the protected state's citizens in a third state....
over the northern and southern
SaharaThe Sahara , , "The Greatest Desert") is the world's largest hot desert. At over 9,000,000 square kilometres , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as the United States or the continent of Europe. The desert stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean...
n zones on November 27 that year.
Many Moroccan soldiers (Goumieres) served in the
French armyThe French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based component of the French Armed Forces and its largest. As of 2008, the army employs 133,947 regular soldiers and 24 000+ civilians...
in both
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
and
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and in the Spanish Nationalist Army in the
Spanish Civil WarThe Spanish Civil War was a major conflict that devastated Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939. It began after an attempted coup d'état by a group of Spanish Army generals against the government of the Second Spanish Republic, then under the leadership of president Manuel Azaña...
and after (
RegularesRegulares was the name commonly used to designate the volunteer infantry and cavalry units of the Spanish Army recruited in Spanish Morocco. They consisted of Moroccans officered by Spaniards. These Moroccan troops played a major role in the Spanish Civil War...
).
Resistance
Nationalist political parties, which subsequently arose under the French protectorate, based their arguments for Moroccan independence on such World War II declarations as the
Atlantic CharterThe Atlantic Charter was the blueprint for the world after World War II, and is the foundation for many of the international treaties and organizations that currently shape the world...
(a joint U.S.-British statement that set forth, among other things, the right of all people to choose the form of government under which they live). A manifesto of the
Istiqlal PartyThe Istiqlal or Independence Party is a political party in Morocco...
(Independence party in English) in 1944 was one of the earliest public demands for independence. That party subsequently provided most of the leadership for the nationalist movement.
France's
exileExile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened by prison or death upon return...
of Sultan Mohammed V in 1953 to
MadagascarMadagascar, or Republic of Madagascar , is an island nation in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa. The main island, also called Madagascar, is the fourth-largest island in the world, and is home to 5% of the world's plant and animal species, of which more than 80% are endemic to...
and his replacement by the unpopular
Mohammed Ben AarafaMohammed Ben Aarafa, or Ben Arafa was a distant relative of Sultan Mohammed V of Morocco ; he was put in Mohammed V's place by the French after they exiled Mohammed V to Madagascar....
, whose reign was perceived as illegitimate, sparked active opposition to the French and Spanish protectorates. In August 1953, Ahmed Belbachir Haskouri, the right-hand man of the caliph of Spanish Morocco declared Sultan Mohammed V as the legitimate sultan of Morocco in its entirety in the grand mosque in Tetuan. The most notable violence occurred in
OujdaOujda is a city in eastern Morocco with an estimated population of half a million. The city is located about 15 kilometers west of Algeria and about 60 kilometers south of the Mediterranean Sea...
where Moroccans attacked French and other European residents in the streets. Operations by the newly created "Jaish al-tahrir" (Liberation Army), were launched on October 1, 1955. Jaish al-tahrir was created by "Comité de Libération du Maghreb Arabe" (Arab Maghreb Liberation Committee) in
CairoCairo is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab World. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a center of the region's political and cultural life...
,
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
to constitute a resistance movement against occupation. Its goal was the return of King Mohammed V and the liberation of
AlgeriaAlgeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country on the Mediterranean sea, the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area.It is bordered by Tunisia in...
and
TunisiaTunisia , officially the Tunisian Republic , is a country located in North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast. Tunisia is located southwest of the island of Sicily and south of Sardinia. Its size is almost 165,000 km² with an estimated population of just...
as well. France allowed Mohammed V to return in 1955, and the negotiations that led to Moroccan independence began the following year.
All those events helped increase the degree of
solidaritySolidarity is a Polish trade union federation founded in September 1980 at the Gdańsk Shipyard, and originally led by Lech Wałęsa.Solidarity was the first non-Communist-controlled trade union in a Warsaw Pact country...
between the people and the newly returned king. For this reason, the revolution that Morocco knew was called "Taourat al-malik wa shaab" (The revolution of the King and the People) and it is celebrated every August 20.
Modern Morocco
On November 18, 2006, Morocco celebrated the 50th anniversary of its
independenceIndependence is the self-government of a nation, country, or state by its residents and population, or some portion thereof, generally exercising sovereignty....
. Morocco recovered its political independence from France on March 2, 1956, and on April 7, France officially relinquished its protectorate. Through agreements with Spain in 1956 and 1958, Moroccan control over certain Spanish-ruled areas was restored, though attempts to claim other Spanish colonial possessions through
military actionThe Ifni War, sometimes called the Forgotten War in Spain , was a series of armed incursions into Spanish West Africa by Moroccan insurgents and Sahrawi rebels that began in October 1957 and culminated with the abortive siege of Sidi Ifni.The war, which may be seen as part of the general movement...
were less successful. The internationalized city of
TangierTangier or Tangiers [
pronounce] is a city of northern Morocco with a population of about 700,000...
was reintegrated with the signing of the
Tangier ProtocolTangier Protocol is an agreement signed between France, Spain and the United Kingdom by which Tangier, Morocco became an international zone.-History:The protocol was signed in 1925. Starting from 1929, Spain assumed the policing of the city...
on October 29, 1956 (see Tangier Crisis).
Hassan IIKing Hassan II ; July 9, 1929–July 23, 1999) was King of Morocco from 1961 until his death in 1999...
became King of Morocco on March 3, 1961. His early years of rule would be marked by political unrest. The Spanish enclave of
IfniIfni was a Spanish province on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, south of Agadir and across from the Canary Islands.It had a total area of 1,502 km² , and a population of 51,517 in 1964...
in the south was reintegrated to the country in 1969. Morocco annexed the
Western SaharaWestern Sahara is a territory of North Africa, bordered by Morocco to the north, Algeria to the northeast, Mauritania to the east and south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Its surface area amounts to . It is one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world, mainly consisting of...
during the 1970s after demanding its reintegration from Spain since independence, but final resolution on the status of the territory remains unresolved. (See
History of Western SaharaThe history of Western Sahara can be traced back to the times of Carthaginian explorer Hanno the Navigator on the 5th century BC. Though little historical records are left from that period, Western Sahara's modern history has its roots linked to some nomadic groups living under Berber tribal rule...
.)
Political reforms in the 1990s resulted in the establishment of a bicameral legislature in 1997. Morocco was granted
Major non-NATO allyMajor non-NATO ally is a designation given by the United States government to exceptionally close allies who have close strategic working relationships with American forces but are not members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization...
status by the United States in June 2004 and has signed
free trade agreementA free trade agreement is a trade treaty between two or more countries. Usually these agreements are between two countries and are meant to reduce or completely remove tariffs to trade. According to the World Trade Organization there are more than 200 FTAs in force...
s with the United States and the European Union.
Politics
Morocco is a
de jureDe jure is an expression that means "concerning law", as contrasted with de facto, which means "concerning fact"....
constitutional
monarchyThe person who heads a monarchy is called a monarch. It was a common form of government in the world during the ancient and medieval times. A Monarchy is a form of government in which supreme power is absolutely or nominally lodged with an individual, who is the head of state, often for life or...
with an elected
parliamentA parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French parlement, the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at...
. The King of Morocco, with vast executive powers, can dissolve government and deploy the
militaryThe Royal Moroccan Armed Forces is the summation of the armed forces of the kingdom of Morocco. It was founded in 1956 after Morocco's independence from France and Spain.It is structured into six different branches...
, among other prerogatives. Opposition political parties are legal, and several have been formed in recent years.
Politics of Morocco take place in a framework of a
parliamentaryA parliamentary system is a system of government where in the ministers of the executive branch are drawn from the legislature, and are accountable to that body, such that the executive and legislative branches are intertwined...
constitutional monarchyA constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a written , unwritten or blended constitution...
, whereby the
Prime Minister of MoroccoThe Prime Minister is the head of the government of Morocco but the Prime Minister is appointed by the King of Morocco as the Monarch is the head of the state....
is the
head of governmentHead of government is the chief officer of the executive branch of a government, often presiding over a cabinet. In a parliamentary system, the head of government is often styled Prime Minister, President of the Government, Premier, etc...
, and of a
multi-party systemA multi-party system is a system in which three or more political parties have the capacity to gain control of government separately or in coalition....
.
Executive powerExecutive Power is Vince Flynn's fifth novel, and the fourth to feature Mitch Rapp, an American agent that works for the CIA as an operative for a covert counterterrorism unit called the "Orion Team."-Plot summary:...
is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the
governmentA government is the body within a community, political entity or organization which has the authority to make and enforce rules, laws and regulations.....
and the two chambers of parliament, the
Assembly of Representatives of MoroccoThe Moroccan Parliament has two chambers. The Assembly of Representatives has 325 members elected for a five year term, 295 elected in multi-seat constituencies and 30 in national lists consisting only of women. The other chamber is the Assembly of Councillors.-See also:* Assembly of Councillors*...
and the
Assembly of CouncillorsThe Assembly of Councillors is the upper house of the Parliament of Morocco and has 270 members, elected for a nine year term, elected by local councils , professional chambers and wage-earners ....
. The Moroccan Constitution provides for a
monarchyThe person who heads a monarchy is called a monarch. It was a common form of government in the world during the ancient and medieval times. A Monarchy is a form of government in which supreme power is absolutely or nominally lodged with an individual, who is the head of state, often for life or...
with a
ParliamentThe Parliament of Morocco is located in Rabat, the capital of Morocco.- Composition :Since 1996, the national legislature has become bicameral and has therefore two parliamentary chambers:...
and an independent
judiciaryThe judiciary is the system of courts which interprets and applies the law in the name of the sovereign or state. The judiciary also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes...
.
The constitution grants the king extensive powers; he is both the secular political leader and the "Commander of the Faithful" as a direct decendant of the Prophet Mohammed. He presides over the Council of Ministers; appoints the
Prime MinisterA prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. The position is usually held by, but need not always be held by, a politician. In many systems, the prime minister selects and can dismiss other members of the cabinet, and...
following legislative elections, and on recommendations from the latter, appoints the members of the government. While the constitution theoretically allows the king to terminate the tenure of any minister, and after consultation with the heads of the higher and lower Assemblies, to dissolve the Parliament, suspend the constitution, call for new elections, or rule by decree, the only time this happened was in 1965. The King is formally the chief of the military. Upon the death of his father
Mohammed VMohammed V was Sultan of Morocco from 1927 to 1953, exiled from 1953-55, where he was again recognized as Sultan upon his return, and King from 1957 to 1961. His full name was Sidi Mohammed ben Yusef, or Son of Yusef, upon whose death he succeeded to the throne...
, King Hassan II succeeded to the throne in 1961. He ruled Morocco for the next 38 years, until he died in 1999. His son, King
Mohammed VIMohammed VI is the present King of Morocco. He was born on 21 August 1963 and ascended to the throne in July 1999.-Education:His father, the late King Hassan II, was keen on giving him a religious and political education from an early age...
, assumed the throne in July 1999.
Following the March 1998 elections, a coalition government headed by opposition
socialistSocialism refers to various theories of economic organization advocating public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals with a method of compensation based on...
leader
Abderrahmane YoussoufiAbderrahmane Youssoufi is a Moroccan politician who served as the Prime Minister of Morocco from 1998 to 2002.-Early life:...
and composed largely of ministers drawn from opposition parties, was formed. Prime Minister Youssoufi's government is the first government drawn primarily from opposition parties in decades, and also represents the first opportunity for a coalition of socialist, left-of-center, and nationalist parties to be included in the government until October 2002. It was also the first time in the modern political history of the Arab world that the opposition assumed power following an election. The current government is headed by
Abbas El FassiAbbas El Fassi has served as the Prime Minister of Morocco since September 19, 2007. El Fassi, a member of the Istiqlal Party, replaced independent Driss Jettou.El Fassi was born in Berkane, Morocco on September 18, 1940...
.
Legislative branch
Since the constitutional reform of 1996, the bicameral legislature consists of two chambers. The
Assembly of Representatives of MoroccoThe Moroccan Parliament has two chambers. The Assembly of Representatives has 325 members elected for a five year term, 295 elected in multi-seat constituencies and 30 in national lists consisting only of women. The other chamber is the Assembly of Councillors.-See also:* Assembly of Councillors*...
(
Majlis al-Nuwab/Assemblée des Répresentants) has 325 members elected for a five year term, 295 elected in multi-seat
constituenciesA constituency is any cohesive body of people bound by shared identity, goals, or loyalty. Constituency can be used to describe a business's customer base and shareholders, or a charity's donors or those it serves...
and 30 in national lists consisting only of women. The
Assembly of CouncillorsThe Assembly of Councillors is the upper house of the Parliament of Morocco and has 270 members, elected for a nine year term, elected by local councils , professional chambers and wage-earners ....
(
Majlis al-Mustasharin) has 270 members, elected for a nine year term, elected by local councils (162 seats), professional chambers (91 seats) and wage-earners (27 seats).
The Parliament's powers, though limited, were expanded under the 1992 and 1996 constitutional revisions and include
budgetA budget is generally a list of all planned expenses and revenues. It is a plan for saving and spending. A budget is an important concept in microeconomics, which uses a budget line to illustrate the trade-offs between two or more goods...
ary matters, approving
billA bill is a proposed new law introduced for debate within a legislature. Even after a bill has been passed by the legislature, it is still formally called a "bill"...
s, questioning ministers, and establishing ad hoc commissions of inquiry to investigate the government's actions. The lower chamber of Parliament may dissolve the government through a vote of no confidence.
Political parties and elections
Judicial branch
The highest court in the judicial structure is the Supreme Court, whose judges are appointed by the King. The Youssoufi government continued to implement a reform program to develop greater judicial independence and impartiality. Morocco is divided into 16 administrative regions; the regions are administered by the Walis and governors appointed by the King.
Administrative divisions
As part of a 1997 decentralization/regionalization law passed by the legislature 16 new regions (provided below) were created. It is the primary administrative division of Morocco : Chaouia-Ourdigha,
Doukkala-AbdaDoukkala-Abda is one of the sixteen regions of Morocco. It is situated in west-central Morocco. It covers an area of 13,285 km² and has a population of 1,984,039 . The capital is Safi....
, Fes-Boulmane,
Gharb-Chrarda-Beni HssenGharb-Chrarda-Béni Hssen is one of the sixteen regions of Morocco. It is situated in north-western Morocco. It covers an area of 8805 km² and has a population of 1,859,540 . The capital is Kenitra....
, Greater Casablanca, Guelmim-Es Smara,
Laayoune-Boujdour-Sakia El HamraLaâyoune-Boujdour-Sakia El Hamra is one of the sixteen regions of Morocco. It covers an area of 139,480 km² and has a population of 256,152 . The capital of the region is El Aaiún...
,
Marrakech-Tensift-El HaouzMarrakech-Tensift-El Haouz is one of the sixteen regions of Morocco. It is situated in central Morocco. It covers an area of 31,160 km² and has a population of 3,102,652...
,
Meknes-TafilaletMeknès-Tafilalet is one of the sixteen regions of Morocco. It is situated in north-central Morocco, bordering Algeria. It covers an area of 79,210 km² and has a population of 2,141,527...
, Oriental, Oued Eddahab-Lagouira,
Rabat-Sale-Zemmour-ZaerRabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaer is one of the sixteen regions of Morocco. It is situated in north-western Morocco. It covers an area of 9,580 km², and has a population of 2,366,494...
,
Souss-Massa-DraaSouss-Massa-Draâ is one of the sixteen regions of Morocco. It is situated in central Morocco. It covers an area of 70,880 km² and has a population of 3,113,653 . The capital is Agadir. One of the major languages spoken in this region of Morocco, along with Moroccan Arabic and a minor amount...
,
Tadla-AzilalTadla-Azilal is one of the sixteen regions of Morocco. It is situated in central Morocco. It covers an area of 17,125 km² and has a population of 1,450,519 . The capital is Beni Mellal....
,
Tangier-TetouanTangier-Tétouan is one of the sixteen regions of Morocco. It is situated in north-western Morocco. It covers an area of 11,570 km² and has a population of 2,470,372...
,
Taza-Al Hoceima-TaounateTaza-Al Hoceima-Taounate is one of the sixteen regions of Morocco. It is situated in northern Morocco. It covers an area of 24,155 km² and has a population of 1,807,113 . The capital is ALHOCEIMA]....
Morocco is divided also into 37 provinces and 2 wilayas*:
AgadirAgadir is a major city in southwest Morocco, capital of the Agadir province and the Sous-Massa-Draa economic region .-Etymology:...
,
Al HoceimaAl Hoceima is a city and port in the north of Morocco and in the center of the Rif Mountains. The Al Hoceima city region has a population of 395.644...
,
AzilalAzilal is a town in central Morocco, in the Atlas Mountains. It is located at around ....
,
Beni MellalBeni-Mellal is a Moroccan city located at . It is the capital city of the Tadla-Azilal Region, with a population of 163,286...
,
Ben SlimaneBen Slimane is a town in Morocco, in the Province of Ben Slimane. The town, previously known as Boulhaut, is the capital of the province, and is between the cities of Casablanca and Rabat....
,
BoulemaneBoulemane is a town in northern Morocco, in the Atlas Mountains. It is located at around , in the Fès-Boulemane Region....
,
CasablancaCasablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean...
*, Chaouen,
El Jadida El Jadida is a province of Morocco, in the area of Doukkala-Abda. The province takes its name from the chief city - El Jadida...
,
El Kelaa des SraghnaEl Kelaa des Sraghna is a town in central Morocco. It is located at around .The main sector in this small town is the agriculture....
,
Er RachidiaErrachidia, formerly Ksar es Souk, is a partially Amazigh-speaking town in the province of Errachidia in eastern Morocco....
,
EssaouiraEssaouira is an isolated city in the western Moroccan economic region of Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz , on the Atlantic coast.-History:...
,
FesFes may refer to:* Fes, Morocco, also known as Fez, a city in Morocco* Persona 3 FES, an 'add-on' disk for Shin Megami Tensei:Persona 3.FES is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:...
,
FiguigFigig - Ifiyey is a Berber town in eastern Morocco near the Atlas Mountains, on the border with Algeria.The town is built around an oasis of date palms, called tazdayt in the Berber languages, surrounded by rugged, mountainous wilderness...
,
GuelmimGoulimime AirportGuelmim , is a town in southern Morocco, often nicknamed Gateway to the Desert . The population of the city is 95,749 . It is the capital of the Guelmim-Es Semara region which includes southern Morocco and northern Western Sahara...
,
IfraneIfrane
[p] is a town and ski resort in the Middle Atlas region of Morocco ....
,
KenitraKenitra is a city in Morocco, formerly known as Port Lyautey...
,
KhemissetKhemisset is a city in Morocco, population 111,971 . It is situated on the A2 motorway between Rabat and Meknès , and is the capital of the province Zemmour....
,
KhenifraKhenifra is a city in northern Morocco, in the Atlas Mountains....
,
KhouribgaKhouribga is a city in the Chaouia-Ouardigha region of Morocco with a population of approximately 172,000. Khouribga owes its growth to the phosphate deposits nearby.-See also:* Office Cherifien des Phosphates...
,
LaayouneEl-Aaiún , is a city in Western Sahara founded by the Spanish in 1928. Managed by Morocco since 1976, El-Aaiún is the capital of the Moroccan region of Laâyoune-Boujdour-Sakia El Hamra. It is also claimed by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as their de jure capital...
,
Larache'Larache' العرائش in Arabic is an important harbour town in the region Tanger-Tétouan in northern Morocco. It was founded in the 7th century when a group of Muslim soldiers from Arabia extended their camp at Lixus onto the south bank of the Loukkos River.In 1471, the Portuguese settlers from Asilah...
,
MarrakechMarrakech or Marrakesh , known as the "Red City", is an important and former imperial city in Morocco...
,
MeknesMeknes is a city in northern Morocco, located from the capital Rabat and from Fes. It is served by the A2 expressway between those two cities and by the corresponding railway. Meknes was the capital of Morocco under the reign of Moulay Ismail , before it was relocated to Marrakech. The...
,
NadorNador is a northeastern Moroccan city located in the Rif region. The city is a Mediterranean port on the Bhar Amezzyan lagoon and a trading centre for fish, fruit, and livestock...
,
OuarzazateOuarzazate , is a city and capital of Ouarzazate Province in the Souss-Massa-Draâ of southern-central Morocco. As of 2004 it had a population of 56,616. Ouarzazate is located at an altitude of 1,160 m in the middle of a bare plateau, south of the High Atlas Mountains. To the south of the town is...
,
OujdaOujda is a city in eastern Morocco with an estimated population of half a million. The city is located about 15 kilometers west of Algeria and about 60 kilometers south of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Rabat-Sale*,
SafiSafi is a city in western Morocco on the Atlantic Ocean. The capital of the Doukkala-Abda Region, it has a population of 284,750 , but is also the centre of an agglomeration which has an estimated 793,000 inhabitants ....
,
SettatSettat is a town in Morocco between the national capital Rabat and Marrakech. Settat is located at the heart of the country, south of Casablanca. Settat is the capital of the prefecture of Chaouia-Ouardigha and Settat province, the oldest and largest city in the province, in both size and population...
,
Sidi KacemSidi Kacem is a city in Morocco. It is located at around . Oil drilling exploration commenced in the vicinity of Sidi Kacem by the French in 1934; production of crude oil began locally in 1939....
,
TangierTangier or Tangiers [
pronounce] is a city of northern Morocco with a population of about 700,000...
,
Tan-TanTan-Tan is a city in southern Morocco. It is a desert town with a small population, with only few claims to fame:*The nearby port, Tan-Tan Plage, or Port of Tan-Tan, about 25 kilometres away from Tan-Tan itself...
,
TaounateTaounate is a town in northern Morocco, in the Rif Mountains. It is located at around ....
, Taroudannt,
TataTata is a town in Morocco with a population around 40,000.It is situated at the Sahara plain southeast of Agadir and Taroudannt close to the Algerian border and the mountain range Anti Atlas at the foot of Jebel Bani....
,
TazaTaza is a city in northern Morocco, about 100 km east of Fez. It has a population of 139,686 and is the capital of Taza Province.-Geography:...
,
TetouanTétouan , also spelled Tetuan, sometimes Tettawen or Tettawin, is a city in northern Morocco. It is the only open port of Morocco on the Mediterranean Sea, a few miles south of the Strait of Gibraltar, and about 40 mi E.S.E. of Tangier. In 2004 the city had 320,539 inhabitants...
,
TiznitTiznit or Tiznet is a town in the southern Moroccan economic region of Sous-Massa-Draa , founded in 1881 by the sultan Hassan I. It has a population of approximately 50,000...
; three additional provinces of Ad Dakhla (Oued Eddahab), Boujdour, and Es Smara as well as parts of
Tan-TanTan-Tan is a city in southern Morocco. It is a desert town with a small population, with only few claims to fame:*The nearby port, Tan-Tan Plage, or Port of Tan-Tan, about 25 kilometres away from Tan-Tan itself...
and
LaayouneEl-Aaiún , is a city in Western Sahara founded by the Spanish in 1928. Managed by Morocco since 1976, El-Aaiún is the capital of the Moroccan region of Laâyoune-Boujdour-Sakia El Hamra. It is also claimed by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as their de jure capital...
fall within Moroccan-claimed
Western SaharaWestern Sahara is a territory of North Africa, bordered by Morocco to the north, Algeria to the northeast, Mauritania to the east and south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Its surface area amounts to . It is one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world, mainly consisting of...
International organization affiliations
ABEDA,
ACCTThe Agence de coopération culturelle et technique was founded in 1970 and was the precursor to what is now the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie....
(associate),
AfDBThe African Development Bank Group is a development bank established in 1964 with the intention of promoting economic and social development in Africa...
,
AFESDThe Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, or AFESD, is a Kuwait based, pan-Arab development finance institute. All members of the League of Arab States are members of the fund. As of 2003, it held around U.S. $7.3 billion in assets....
,
ALThe Arab League , officially called the League of Arab States , is a regional organization of Arab states in Southwest Asia, and North and Northeast Africa. It was formed in Cairo on March 22, 1945 with six members: Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan , Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria...
,
AMFThe Arab Monetary Fund is a regional Arab organization, founded 1976, and operational from 1977, it is a working sub-organization to the Arab League.-Objectives:...
,
AMUThe Arab Maghreb Union is a Pan-Arab trade agreement aiming for economic and political unity in North Africa....
,
EBRDFounded in 1991, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development uses the tools of investment to help build market economies and democracies in 30 countries from central Europe to central Asia...
,
ECAThe United Nations Economic Commission for Africa was established in 1958 by the United Nations Economic and Social Council to encourage economic cooperation among its member states following a recommendation of the United Nations General Assembly...
,
FAOThe is a specialised agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and debate policy...
,
G-77The Group of 77 at the United Nations is a loose coalition of developing nations, designed to promote its members' collective economic interests and create an enhanced joint negotiating capacity in the United Nations. There were 77 founding members of the organization, but the organization has...
,
IAEAThe International Atomic Energy Agency is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for military purposes. It was established as an autonomous organization on 29 July 1957...
,
IBRDThe International Bank for Reconstruction and Development is one of five institutions that comprise the World Bank Group. The IBRD is an international organization whose original mission was to finance the reconstruction of nations devastated by World War II. Now, its mission has expanded to fight...
,
ICAOThe International Civil Aviation Organization , a major agency of the United Nations, codifies the principles and techniques of international air navigation and fosters the planning and development of international air transport to ensure safe and orderly growth...
,
ICCtThe International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .The court came into being on 1 July 2002 — the...
,
ICFTUThe International Confederation of Free Trade Unions was an international trade union. It came into being on 7 December 1949 following a split within the World Federation of Trade Unions , and was dissolved on 31 October 2006 when it merged with the World Confederation of Labour to form the...
,
ICRMThe International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is an international humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers worldwide which started to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for the human being, and to prevent and alleviate human suffering, without any...
,
IDAThe International Development Association , is the part of the World Bank that helps the world’s poorest countries. It complements the World Bank's other lending arm — the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development — which serves middle-income countries with capital investment and...
,
IDBIslamic Development Bank , is a multilateral development financing institution located in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It was founded by the first conference of Finance Ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference , convened 18 December 1973.The bank officially began its activities on 15...
,
IFADThe International Fund for Agricultural Development , a specialized agency of the United Nations, was established as an international financial institution in 1977 as one of the major outcomes of the 1974 World Food Conference. IFAD is dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in developing countries...
,
IFCThe International Finance Corporation promotes sustainable private sector investment in developing countries as a way to reduce poverty and improve people's lives.IFC is a member of the World Bank Group and is headquartered in Washington, DC...
,
IFRCSThe International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is an international humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers worldwide which started to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for the human being, and to prevent and alleviate human suffering, without any...
,
IHOThe International Hydrographic Organization was originally established in 1921 as the International Hydrographic Bureau . The present name was adopted in 1970 as a result of a revised international agreement among member nations...
(pending member),
ILOThe International Labour Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that deals with labour issues. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. Its secretariat — the people who are employed by it throughout the world — is known as the International Labour Office...
,
IMFThe International Monetary Fund is an international organization that oversees the global financial system by following the macroeconomic policies of its member countries, in particular those with an impact on exchange rates and the balance of payments...
,
IMOThe International Maritime Organization , formerly known as the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization , was established in Geneva in 1948, and came into force ten years later, meeting for the first time in 1959...
,
IntelsatIntelsat, Ltd. is the world’s largest commercial satellite communications services provider. Originally formed as International Telecommunications Satellite Organization , it was an intergovernmental consortium owning and managing a constellation of communications satellites providing international...
,
InterpolInterpol, whose full name is the International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL, is an organization facilitating international police cooperation...
, IOC,
IOMThe International Organization for Migration is an intergovernmental organization. It was initially established in 1951 as the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration to help resettle people displaced by World War II....
,
ISOThe International Organization for Standardization , widely known as ISO , is an international-standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Founded on 23 February 1947, the organization promulgates worldwide proprietary industrial and commercial...
,
ITUThe International Telecommunication Union is the second-oldest international organization still in existence , established to standardize and regulate international radio and telecommunications. It was founded as the International Telegraph Union in Paris on 17 May 1865...
,
NAMThe Non-Aligned Movement is an international organisation of states considering themselves not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. The movement is largely the brainchild of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, former president of Egypt Gamal Abdul Nasser and Yugoslav...
,
OASThe Organization of American States is an international organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States. Its members are the thirty-five independent states of the Americas with two countries suspended...
(observer),
OICThe Organisation of the Islamic Conference is an international organisation with a permanent delegation to the United Nations. It groups 57 member states, from the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, Caucasus, Balkans, Southeast Asia and South Asia...
,
OPCWThe Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is an international agency, located in The Hague, The Netherlands. Its mission is to promote membership of the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty which entered into force in 1997 and mandated the elimination of "the scourge of chemical...
,
OSCEThe Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe is the world's largest security-oriented intergovernmental organization. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, human rights, freedom of the press and fair elections...
(partner),
UNThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
,
UNCTADThe United Nations Conference on Trade and Development was established in 1964 as a permanent intergovernmental body. It is the principal organ of the United Nations General Assembly dealing with trade, investment, and development issues....
,
UNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on 16 November 1945...
,
UNHCRThe Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is a United Nations agency mandated to protect and support refugees at the request of a government or the UN itself and assists in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country...
,
UNIDOThe United Nations Industrial Development Organization , French/Spanish acronym ONUDI, is a specialized agency in the United Nations system, headquartered in Vienna, Austria...
,
UPUThe Universal Postal Union is an international organization that coordinates postal policies among member nations, and hence the worldwide postal system. Each member country agrees to the same set of terms for conducting international postal duties...
,
WCO]The World Customs Organization is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. With its worldwide membership, the WCO is recognized as the voice of the global customs community...
,
WHOThe World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health...
,
WIPOThe World Intellectual Property Organization is one of the 16 specialized agencies of the United Nations. WIPO was created in 1967 "to encourage creative activity, to promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world."...
,
WMOThe World Meteorological Organization is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 188 Member States and Territories. It originated from the International Meteorological Organization , which was founded in 1873...
,
WToOThe World Tourism Organization , based in Madrid, Spain, is a United Nations agency dealing with questions relating to tourism. It compiles the World Tourism rankings. The World Tourism Organization is a significant global body, concerned with the collection and collation of statistical information...
,
WTrOThe World Trade Organization is an international organization designed by its founders to supervise and liberalize international capital trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakesh Agreement, replacing the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade , which...
Affiliations
| Organization |
Dates |
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
|
since November 12, 1956 |
Arab LeagueThe Arab League , officially called the League of Arab States , is a regional organization of Arab states in Southwest Asia, and North and Northeast Africa. It was formed in Cairo on March 22, 1945 with six members: Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan , Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria...
|
since October 1, 1958 |
International Olympic CommitteeThe International Olympic Committee is an organization based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas on 23 June 1894. Its membership consists of the 205 National Olympic Committees....
|
since 1959 |
| Organisation of African Unity The Organisation of African Unity or Organisation de l'Unité Africaine was established on 25 May 1963. It was disbanded on 9 July 2002 by its last chairperson, South African President Thabo Mbeki, and replaced by the African Union .-Aims:The OAU had two primary aims:* To promote the unity and...
|
co-founder May 25, 1963; withdrew November 12, 1984 |
| Group of 77 The Group of 77 at the United Nations is a loose coalition of developing nations, designed to promote its members' collective economic interests and create an enhanced joint negotiating capacity in the United Nations. There were 77 founding members of the organization, but the organization has...
|
since June 15, 1964 |
Organisation of the Islamic ConferenceThe Organisation of the Islamic Conference is an international organisation with a permanent delegation to the United Nations. It groups 57 member states, from the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, Caucasus, Balkans, Southeast Asia and South Asia...
|
since September 22, 1969 |
World Trade OrganizationThe World Trade Organization is an international organization designed by its founders to supervise and liberalize international capital trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakesh Agreement, replacing the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade , which...
|
since January 1, 1995 |
Mediterranean Dialogue groupThe Mediterranean Dialogue, first launched in 1994, is a forum of cooperation between NATO and seven countries of the Mediterranean. Its stated aim is "to create good relations and better mutual understanding and confidence throughout the region, promoting regional security and stability and...
|
since February 1995 |
Major non-NATO allyMajor non-NATO ally is a designation given by the United States government to exceptionally close allies who have close strategic working relationships with American forces but are not members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization...
of the United States |
since January 19, 2004 |
Bilateral and multilateral agreements
- Council of Arab Economic Unity
The Council of Arab Economic Unity was established by Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Mauritania, Palestine, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Yemen on 3 June 1957...
- Middle East Free Trade Area
The U.S. MEFTA initiative started in 2003 with the purpose of creating a U.S. Middle East Free Trade Area by 2013.The U.S. objective with this initiative has been to gradually increase trade and investment in the Middle East, and to assist the Middle East countries in implementing domestic reforms,...
- General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was the outcome of the failure of negotiating governments to create the International Trade Organization . GATT was formed in 1947 and lasted until 1994, when it was replaced by the World Trade Organization in 1995...
- Euro-Mediterranean free trade area
The Europe-Mediterranean Free Trade Area is based on the Barcelona Process and European Neighbourhood Policy . The Barcelona Process, developed after the Barcelona Conference in successive annual meetings, is a set of goals designed to lead to a free trade area in the Middle East by 2010.It is...
- US-Morocco Free Trade Agreement
Regions and prefectures
Morocco is divided into 16
regionRegion is most commonly a geographical term that is used in various ways among the different branches of geography. In general, a region is a medium-scale area of land or water, smaller than the whole areas of interest , and larger than a specific site...
s, and subdivided into 62
prefecturePrefecture indicates the office, seat, territorial circumscription of a Prefect. The term prefecture is also used to refer to offices analogous to prefectures.-Antiquity:...
s and
provinceA province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.-Roman provinces:The word is attested in English since c.1330, deriving from Old French province , which comes from the Latin word provincia, which referred to the sphere of activity which a...
s.
As part of a 1997 decentralization/regionalization law passed by the legislature, sixteen new regions were created. These regions are:
Western Sahara status
Because of the conflict over
Western SaharaWestern Sahara is a territory of North Africa, bordered by Morocco to the north, Algeria to the northeast, Mauritania to the east and south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Its surface area amounts to . It is one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world, mainly consisting of...
, the status of both regions of "
Saguia el-HamraSaguia el-Hamra, in Arabic الساقية الحمراء, al-Saqiyah al-Hamra'a , is, with Río de Oro, one of the two territories that formed the Spanish province of Spanish Sahara after 1969. Its name comes from a waterway that goes through the capital....
" and "
Río de OroRío de Oro , is, with Saguia el-Hamra, one of the two territories that formed the Spanish province of Spanish Sahara after 1969; it was originally taken as a Spanish colonial possession in the late 19th century...
" is disputed.
The government of Morocco has suggested that a
self-governingSelf-governance is an abstract concept that refers to several scales of organization. It may refer to personal conduct or family units but more commonly refers to larger scale activities, i.e., professions, industry bodies, religions and political units, up to and including autonomous regions and...
entity, through the
Royal Advisory Council for Saharan AffairsThe Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs or Corcas, from the French abbreviation of Conseil royal consultatif pour les affaires sahariennes, is an advisory committee to the Moroccan government on the Western Sahara...
(CORCAS), should govern the territory with some degree of autonomy for Western Sahara. The project was presented to the
United Nations Security CouncilThe United Nations Security Council is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of...
in mid-April 2007. The stalemating of the Moroccan proposal options has led the UN in the recent "Report of the UN Secretary-General" to ask the parties to enter into direct and unconditional negotiations to reach a mutually accepted political solution. The autonomy is rejected by the group Polisario which fought against the
Spanish colonial ruleSpanish Sahara was the name used for the modern territory of Western Sahara when it was ruled as a territory by Spain between 1884 and 1975. The territory represented one of the last remnants of the Spanish Empire, and was abandoned under internal pressures from native populations and the external...
and now for the Western Sahara
decolonizationDecolonization refers to the undoing of colonialism, the establishment of governance or authority through the creation of settlements by another country or jurisdiction. The term generally refers to the achievement of independence by the various Western colonies and protectorates in Asia and...
with the name of
Sahrawi Arab Democratic RepublicThe Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is a partially recognised state which claims sovereignty over the entire territory of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony. SADR was proclaimed by the Polisario Front on February 27, 1976...
.
On September 29 2009, the Ministry of the Interior, decided to the close the office of the daily newspaper, Ahkbar al-Yom, in Casablanca.
Geography
The geography of Morocco spans from the
Atlantic OceanThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres , it covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface and about one-quarter of its water surface area. The first part of its name refers to the Atlas of Greek...
, to mountainous areas, to the
SaharaThe Sahara , , "The Greatest Desert") is the world's largest hot desert. At over 9,000,000 square kilometres , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as the United States or the continent of Europe. The desert stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean...
(desert). Morocco is a Northern African country, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean and the
Mediterranean SeaThe Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by the Levant. The sea is technically a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it...
, between
AlgeriaAlgeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country on the Mediterranean sea, the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area.It is bordered by Tunisia in...
and the annexed
Western SaharaWestern Sahara is a territory of North Africa, bordered by Morocco to the north, Algeria to the northeast, Mauritania to the east and south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Its surface area amounts to . It is one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world, mainly consisting of...
.
A large part of Morocco is mountainous. The
Atlas MountainsThe Atlas Mountains are a mountain range across a northern stretch of Africa extending about 2,500 km through Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. The highest peak is Jbel Toubkal, with an elevation of in southwestern Morocco. The Atlas ranges separate the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines...
are located mainly in the center and the south of the country. The Rif Mountains are located in the north of the country. Both ranges are mainly inhabited by the
Berber peopleBerbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are discontinuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke various Berber languages, which together form a branch of the...
.
At , Morocco is the fifty-seventh largest country in the world (after
UzbekistanUzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan , is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia, formerly part of the Soviet Union...
).
AlgeriaAlgeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country on the Mediterranean sea, the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area.It is bordered by Tunisia in...
borders Morocco to the east and southeast though the border between the two countries has been closed since 1994. There are also four Spanish enclaves on the Mediterranean coast:
CeutaCeuta is an autonomous city of Spain located on the North African side of the Strait of Gibraltar, on the Mediterranean, which separates it from the Spanish mainland. The area of Ceuta is approximately ....
,
MelillaMelilla is an autonomous Spanish city located on the Mediterranean, on the north coast of North Africa. It was regarded as a part of Málaga province prior to 14 March 1995, when the city's Statute of Autonomy was passed.Melilla was a free port before Spain joined the European Union. As of 2008 it...
,
Peñón de Vélez de la GomeraPeñón de Vélez de la Gomera is one of the Spanish territories in North Africa off the Moroccan coast , along with the coastal cities of Ceuta and Melilla, the island of Peñón de Alhucemas and Islas Chafarinas. Vélez de la Gomera is administered from Melilla...
,
Peñón de AlhucemasPeñón de Alhucemas, or "Lavender Rock", is one of the Spanish plazas de soberanía just off the Moroccan coast.Peñón de Alhucemas and the islets of "Isla de Mar" and "Isla de Tierra" slightly to the west form the Alhucemas Islands...
, and the
ChafarinasIslas Chafarinas is a Spanish archipelago. A group of three small islets located in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Morocco with an aggregate area of 0.525 km², 45 km to the east of Melilla and 3.3 km off the Moroccan town of Ra'su l-Ma'...
islands, as well as the disputed islet
PerejilFor the armed conflict, see Perejil Island crisisThe Perejil Island is a small, uninhabited rocky islet located in the Strait of Gibraltar. Its sovereignty is disputed between Spain and Morocco. It was the subject of an armed incident between the two countries in 2002.-Name:Spanish Isla Perejil...
. Off the Atlantic coast the
Canary IslandsThe Canary Islands are a Spanish archipelago which, in turn, forms one of the Spanish Autonomous Communities and an Outermost Region of the European Union. The archipelago is located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the disputed border between Morocco and the...
belong to Spain, whereas
MadeiraMadeira is a Portuguese archipelago in the mid Atlantic Ocean that lies between and . It is one of the Autonomous regions of Portugal, with Madeira Island and Porto Santo Island being the only inhabited islands...
to the north is
PortuguesePortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...
. To the north, Morocco is bordered by and controls part of the
Strait of GibraltarThe Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain from Morocco...
, giving it power over the waterways in and out of the Mediterranean sea. The
Rif mountainsThe Rif is a mainly mountainous region of northern Morocco, stretching from Cape Spartel and Tangier in the west to Ras Kebdana and the Moulouya River in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the river of Ouargha in the south.It is part of the Cordillera Bética that also...
occupy the region bordering the Mediterranean from the north-west to the north-east. The
Atlas MountainsThe Atlas Mountains are a mountain range across a northern stretch of Africa extending about 2,500 km through Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. The highest peak is Jbel Toubkal, with an elevation of in southwestern Morocco. The Atlas ranges separate the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines...
run down the backbone of the country, from the south west to the north east. Most of the south east portion of the country is in the Sahara Desert and as such is generally sparsely populated and unproductive economically. Most of the population lives to the north of these mountains, while to the south is the desert. To the south, lies the
Western SaharaWestern Sahara is a territory of North Africa, bordered by Morocco to the north, Algeria to the northeast, Mauritania to the east and south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Its surface area amounts to . It is one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world, mainly consisting of...
, a former Spanish colony that was annexed by Morocco in 1975 (see
Green MarchThe Green March was a strategic mass demonstration in November 1975, coordinated by the Moroccan government, to force Spain to hand over the disputed, autonomous semi-metropolitan Spanish Province of Sahara to Morocco.-The Green March:...
). Morocco claims that the Western Sahara is part of its territory and refers to that as its
Southern ProvincesThe Southern Provinces or Moroccan Sahara are the Moroccan names for Western Sahara in reference to the provinces of Río de Oro and Saguia el-Hamra. Following the Madrid Accords with Spain in 1975, Morocco took control of Saguia el-Hamra, and the northern part of Rio de Oro, while Mauritania took...
.
Morocco's capital city is
RabatRabat , population 2 million , is the capital of the Kingdom of Morocco. It is also the capital of the Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaer region....
; its largest city is its main port,
CasablancaCasablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean...
.
Other cities include
AgadirAgadir is a major city in southwest Morocco, capital of the Agadir province and the Sous-Massa-Draa economic region .-Etymology:...
,
EssaouiraEssaouira is an isolated city in the western Moroccan economic region of Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz , on the Atlantic coast.-History:...
,
FesFes may refer to:* Fes, Morocco, also known as Fez, a city in Morocco* Persona 3 FES, an 'add-on' disk for Shin Megami Tensei:Persona 3.FES is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:...
,
MarrakechMarrakech or Marrakesh , known as the "Red City", is an important and former imperial city in Morocco...
,
MeknesMeknes is a city in northern Morocco, located from the capital Rabat and from Fes. It is served by the A2 expressway between those two cities and by the corresponding railway. Meknes was the capital of Morocco under the reign of Moulay Ismail , before it was relocated to Marrakech. The...
, Mohammadia,
OujdaOujda is a city in eastern Morocco with an estimated population of half a million. The city is located about 15 kilometers west of Algeria and about 60 kilometers south of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Ouarzazat,
SafiSafi is a city in western Morocco on the Atlantic Ocean. The capital of the Doukkala-Abda Region, it has a population of 284,750 , but is also the centre of an agglomeration which has an estimated 793,000 inhabitants ....
,
SalèSalé is the twin city to Rabat, capital of Morocco. Today it is home to just over 900,000 people, mostly impoverished factory workers. It was once a self-contained, self-ruled Republic with international scope, situated on the mouth of the Bou Regreg river on the Atlantic coast...
,
TangierTangier or Tangiers [
pronounce] is a city of northern Morocco with a population of about 700,000...
and
TétouanTétouan , also spelled Tetuan, sometimes Tettawen or Tettawin, is a city in northern Morocco. It is the only open port of Morocco on the Mediterranean Sea, a few miles south of the Strait of Gibraltar, and about 40 mi E.S.E. of Tangier. In 2004 the city had 320,539 inhabitants...
.
Morocco is represented in the
ISO 3166-1 alpha-2ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes are two-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization , to represent countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest...
geographical encoding standard by the symbol
MA. This code was used as the basis for Morocco's internet domain, .ma.
Climate
The climate is
MediterraneanA hi Mediterranean climate resembles the climate of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, which includes most of the area with this climate type worldwide...
, which becomes more extreme towards the interior regions where it is mountainous. The terrain is such that the coastal
plainIn geography, a plain is a land with relatively high relief, as well as flat. Prairies and steppes are types of plains, and the archetype for a plain is often thought of as a grassland, but plains in their natural state may also be covered in shrublands, woodland and forest, or vegetation may be...
s are rich and accordingly, they comprise the backbone for
agricultureAgriculture is the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of human civilization, with the husbandry of domesticated animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more densely populated and...
.
ForestA forest is an area with a high density of trees. There are many definitions of a forest, based on the various criteria. These plant communities presently cover approximately 9.4% of the Earth's surface in many different regions and function as habitats for organisms, hydrologic flow modulators,...
s cover about 12% of the land while arable land accounts for 18%. 5% is irrigated.
In mountainous areas (like the Atlas range) temperatures often drop below zero and mountain peaks remain snow-capped throughout most of the year. Northern Morocco gets very wet and rainy during the winter, whereas in the south, at the edge of the Sahara, it gets bitterly dry and cold. In Marrakech the average temperature in summer is 38°C (100°F). In winter, its around 21°C (70°F).
The average annual temperatures of Morocco´s major cities are as follows: Rabat, 22°C (71°F); Casablanca, 20°C (69°F); Marrakesh, 22°C (71°F); Fez, 20°C (66°F); Meknes, 21°C (68°F); and, Tangier, 20°C (66°F).
Wildlife
Morocco is known for its
wildlifeWildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals, and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative....
biodiversityBiodiversity is the variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or for the entire Earth. Biodiversity is often used as a measure of the health of biological systems...
.
BirdBirds are winged, bipedal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay eggs. There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Birds range in size from the Bee Hummingbird to the ...
s represent the most important
faunaFauna is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g...
. The
avifaunaThe term avifauna can be used in one of two senses:* to mean "bird fauna" i.e. the bird species found in a particular geographic region...
of Morocco includes a total of 454 species, of which five have been
introducedAn introduced, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its native distributional range, which has arrived there by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
by humans, and 156 are rare or accidental.
Economy
Morocco's economy is considered a relatively liberal economy governed by the
law of supply and demandSupply and demand is an economic model based on price, utility and quantity in a market. It concludes that in a competitive market, price will function to equalize the quantity demanded by consumers, and the quantity supplied by producers, resulting in an economic equilibrium of price and...
. Since 1993, the country has followed a policy of
privatizationPrivatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector...
of certain economic sectors which used to be in the hands of the
governmentPolitics of Morocco take place in a framework of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, whereby the Prime Minister of Morocco is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government...
.
Government reforms and steady yearly growth in the region of 4-5% from 2000 to 2007, including 4.9% year-on-year growth in 2003-2007 helped the Moroccan economy to become much more robust compared to a few years ago. Economic growth is far more diversified, with new service and industrial poles, like
CasablancaCasablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean...
and
TangierTangier or Tangiers [
pronounce] is a city of northern Morocco with a population of about 700,000...
, developing. The
agriculture sectorAgriculture in Morocco employs about 40% of the nations workforce. And thus, is the largest employer in the country. In the rainy sections of the northeast, barley, wheat, and other cereals can be raised without irrigation. On the Atlantic coast, where there are extensive plains, olives, citrus...
is being rehabilitated, which in combination with good rainfalls led to a growth of over 20% in 2009.
The services sector accounts for just over half of GDP and industry, made up of mining, construction and manufacturing, is an additional quarter. The sectors who recorded the highest growth are the
tourismTourism in Morocco is well developed, with a strong tourist industry focused on the country's coast, culture, and history. Most of Morocco's tourists are European....
, telecoms and textile sectors. Morocco , however, still depends to an inordinate degree on agriculture. The sector accounts for only around 14% of GDP but employs 40-45% of the
Moroccan populationThis article is about the demographic features of the population of Morocco, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population....
. With a semi-arid climate, it is difficult to assure good rainfall and Morocco’s GDP varies depending on the weather. Fiscal prudence has allowed for consolidation, with both the budget deficit and debt falling as a percentage of GDP.
The economic system of the country presents several facets. It is characterized by a large opening towards the outside world.
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
remains the primary
tradeTrade is the voluntary exchange of goods, services, or both. Trade is also called commerce or transaction. A mechanism that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and services. Later one side of the barter were the metals, precious...
partner (supplier and customer) of Morocco. France is also the primary
creditorA creditor is a party that has a claim to the services of a second party. It is a person or institution to whom money is owed. The first party, in general, has provided some property or service to the second party under the assumption that the second party will return an equivalent property or...
and foreign investor in Morocco. In the
Arab worldThe Arab World refers to Arabic-speaking countries stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean in the southeast...
, Morocco has the second-largest non-oil GDP, behind Egypt, as of 2005.
Since the early 1980s the
Moroccan governmentPolitics of Morocco take place in a framework of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, whereby the Prime Minister of Morocco is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government...
has pursued an economic program toward accelerating real economy growth with the support of the
International Monetary FundThe International Monetary Fund is an international organization that oversees the global financial system by following the macroeconomic policies of its member countries, in particular those with an impact on exchange rates and the balance of payments...
, the
World BankThe World Bank is an international financial institution that provides leveraged loans to poorer countries for capital programs, tied to neoliberal market restructurings...
, and the
Paris ClubThe Paris Club is an informal group of financial officials from 19 of the world's richest countries, which provides financial services such as debt restructuring, debt relief, and debt cancellation to indebted countries and their creditors...
of creditors. The country's currency, the
dirhamThe dirham is the currency of Morocco. The plural form is pronounced darahim, although in French and English "dirhams" is commonly used. Its ISO 4217 code is "MAD". It is subdivided into 100 santimat . The dirham is issued by the Bank Al-Maghrib, the central bank of Morocco...
, is now fully convertible for current account transactions; reforms of the financial sector have been implemented; and state enterprises are being privatized.
The major resources of the Moroccan economy are
agricultureAgriculture is the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of human civilization, with the husbandry of domesticated animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more densely populated and...
,
phosphateA phosphate, an inorganic chemical, is a salt of phosphoric acid. In organic chemistry, a phosphate, or organophosphate, is an ester of phosphoric acid. Organic phosphates are important in biochemistry and biogeochemistry or ecology. Inorganic phosphates are mined to obtain phosphorus for use in...
s, and
tourismTourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people who "travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for more than twenty-four hours and not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other...
. Sales of fish and seafood are important as well.
IndustryAn industry is the manufacturing of a good or service within a category. Although industry is a broad term for any kind of economic production, in economics and urban planning industry is a synonym for the secondary sector, which is a type of economic activity involved in the manufacturing of raw...
and mining contribute about one-third of the annual GDP. Morocco is the world's third-largest producer of phosphates (after the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
), and the price fluctuations of phosphates on the international market greatly influence Morocco's economy. Tourism and workers' remittances have played a critical role since independence. The production of textiles and clothing is part of a growing manufacturing sector that accounted for approximately 34% of total exports in 2002, employing 40% of the industrial workforce. The government wishes to increase textile and clothing exports from $1.27 billion in 2001 to $3.29 billion in 2010.
The high cost of imports, especially of
petroleumPetroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid found in rock formations in the Earth consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights, plus other organic compounds.The term "petroleum" was first used in the treatise De Natura Fossilium, published in...
imports, is a major problem. Another chronic problem is unreliable rainfall, which produces
droughtA drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...
or sudden floods; in 1995, the country's worst drought in 30 years forced Morocco to import grain and adversely affected the economy. Another drought occurred in 1997, and one in 1999–2000. Reduced incomes due to drought caused GDP to fall by 7.6% in 1995, by 2.3% in 1997, and by 1.5% in 1999. During the years between drought, good rains brought bumper crops to market. Good rainfall in 2001 led to a 5% GDP growth rate. Morocco suffers both from unemployment (9.6% in 2008), and a large external debt estimated at around $20 billion, or half of GDP in 2002.
Among the various
free tradeFree trade is a type of trade policy that allows traders to act and transact without interference from government. According to the law of comparative advantage the policy permits trading partners mutual gains from trade of goods and services....
agreements that Morocco has ratified with its principal economic partners, are The
Euro-Mediterranean free trade areaThe Europe-Mediterranean Free Trade Area is based on the Barcelona Process and European Neighbourhood Policy . The Barcelona Process, developed after the Barcelona Conference in successive annual meetings, is a set of goals designed to lead to a free trade area in the Middle East by 2010.It is...
agreement with the
European UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...
with the objective of integrating the
European Free Trade AssociationThe European Free Trade Association was established on 3 May 1960 as a trade bloc-alternative for European states who were either unable to, or chose not to, join the then-European Economic Community .The EFTA Convention was signed on 4 January 1960 in...
at the horizons of 2012; the Agadir Agreement, signed with Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia, within the framework of the installation of the Greater Arab Free Trade Area; the US-Morocco Free Trade Agreement with
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
which came into force in January 1, 2006, and lately the agreement of free exchange with
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
.(See
Economy of MoroccoMorocco's economy is considered a relatively liberal economy governed by the law of supply and demand. Since 1993, the country has followed a policy of privatization of certain economic sectors which used to be in the hands of the government....
)
Demographics
Morocco is the third most populous Arab country, after
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
and
SudanSudan is a country in northeastern Africa. It is the largest country in Africa and in the Arab World, and tenth largest in the world by area...
. Most Moroccans practice
Sunni IslamSunni Islam is the largest denomination of Islam. It is also referred to as Ahl as-Sunnah wa’l-Jamā‘ah or Ahl as-Sunnah for short...
and are of
BerberBerbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are discontinuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke various Berber languages, which together form a branch of the...
,
ArabArab people or Arabs are an ethnic group whose members identify along linguistic, cultural or genealogical grounds...
or mixed Arab-Berber stock. Berbers comprise about 60% of the Moroccan population.
There is no significant
geneticGenetics, , a discipline of biology, is the science of heredity and variation in living organisms. The fact that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding...
difference between Arabic-speaking and Berber-speaking Moroccans. Thus, it is likely that
ArabizationArabization describes a growing cultural influence on a non-Arab area that gradually changes into one that speaks Arabic and/or incorporates Arab culture...
was mainly a cultural process without significant genetic replacement. However, according to the
European Journal of Human GeneticsThe European Journal of Human Genetics is an official monthly human genetics publication. It is published by the British Nature Publishing Group, the publisher and owner of the well-known journal Nature...
, North-Western Africans were genetically closer to
IberiansThe Iberians were a set of peoples that Greek and Roman sources identified with that name in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian peninsula at least from the 6th century BC...
and to other Europeans than to
Sub-Saharan AfricaSub-Saharan Africa is a geographical term used to describe the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara, or those African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
ns.
Morocco has been inhabited by Berbers for at least the last 5000 years. The Arabs conquered the territory that would become Morocco in the 7th and 11th centuries, at the time under the rule of various late Byzantine Roman leaders and indigenous Berber and Romano-Berber principalities, laying the foundation for the emergence of an Arab-Berber culture. A sizeable portion of the population is identified as
HaratinHaratin is a name for black oasis-dwellers in north western Africa. It is an exonym with negative connotations...
and
GnawaGnawa or Gnaoua refers to an ethnic group and a Sufi religious order in Morocco, in part descended from former slaves from Sub-Saharan Africa or black Africans who migrated in caravans with the trans-Saharan trade, or a combination of both.-Etymology:The name appears to originate from the Saharan...
(or Gnaoua), black or mixed race. Morocco's
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
ish minority (265,000 in 1948) has decreased significantly and numbers about 5,500
(See History of the Jews in MoroccoMoroccan Jews constitute an ancient community. Before the founding of Israel in 1948, there were about 250,000 Jews in the country, but fewer than 7,000 or so remain. -Under the Romans:...
). Most of the 100,000 foreign residents are
FrenchFrench people can refer to:* The legal residents and citizens of France, regardless of ancestry. For a legal discussion, see French nationality law.* People whose ancestors lived in France or the area that later became France....
or
SpanishSpanish people or Spaniards constitute the nationality and ethnic group of natives of Spain, a European country in the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. The Spanish nationality is in essence made up of regional nationalities, reflecting the complex history of Spain...
, largely colonists' descendants primarily professionals working for European multinationals. Prior to independence, Morocco was home to half a million Europeans, mainly Spanish and French settlers (
colons).
Recent studies make clear no significant
geneticGenetics, , a discipline of biology, is the science of heredity and variation in living organisms. The fact that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding...
differences exist between Arabic and non-Arabic speaking populations, highlighting that in common with most of the Arab World,
ArabizationArabization describes a growing cultural influence on a non-Arab area that gradually changes into one that speaks Arabic and/or incorporates Arab culture...
was mainly via acculturation of indigenous populations over time. According to the
European Journal of Human GeneticsThe European Journal of Human Genetics is an official monthly human genetics publication. It is published by the British Nature Publishing Group, the publisher and owner of the well-known journal Nature...
, Moroccans from North-Western
AfricaAfrica is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. With a billion people in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.8% of the...
were genetically closer to
IberiansThe Iberians were a set of peoples that Greek and Roman sources identified with that name in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian peninsula at least from the 6th century BC...
than to Sub-Saharan Africans of Bantu ethnicity..
The largest concentration of
MoroccansThe Moroccan diaspora consists of emigrants from Morocco and their descendants. Of the estimated 4.5 million Moroccans living abroad, roughly two thirds live in Europe; the remainder are distributed throughout the Americas , Australia, Africa , and the countries of the Arab World.-History:Europe...
outside Morocco is in France, which has reportedly over one million Moroccans. There are also large Moroccan communities in Spain (about 700,000 Moroccans), the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Canada.
Languages
Morocco's official language is (modernized) Classical Arabic. The country's distinctive Arabic dialect is called
Moroccan ArabicMoroccan Arabic is the variety of Arabic spoken in the Arabic-speaking areas of Morocco, as opposed to the official communications of government and other public bodies which use Modern Standard Arabic, as is the case in most Arabic-speaking countries, while a mixture of French and Moroccan...
. Approximately 12 million (40% of the population), mostly in rural areas, speak Berber which exists in Morocco in three different dialects (Tarifit, Tashelhiyt, and Tamazight) either as a first language or bilingually with the spoken Arabic dialect.
FrenchFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
, which remains Morocco's unofficial second language, is taught universally and still serves as Morocco's primary language of commerce and economics. It also is widely used in education and government. About 20,000 Moroccans in the northern part of the country speak
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
as a second language in parallel with Tarifit.
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
, while still far behind French and Spanish in terms of number of speakers, is rapidly becoming the second foreign language of choice among educated youth (after French). As a result of national education reforms entering into force in late 2002, English will be taught in all public schools from the fourth year on. French however, will remain the second foreign language because of Morocco's close economic and social links with other French-speaking countries and especially France.
Most people live west of the
Atlas MountainsThe Atlas Mountains are a mountain range across a northern stretch of Africa extending about 2,500 km through Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. The highest peak is Jbel Toubkal, with an elevation of in southwestern Morocco. The Atlas ranges separate the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines...
, a range that insulates the country from the Sahara Desert.
CasablancaCasablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean...
is the center of commerce and industry and the leading port;
RabatRabat , population 2 million , is the capital of the Kingdom of Morocco. It is also the capital of the Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaer region....
is the seat of government;
TangierTangier or Tangiers [
pronounce] is a city of northern Morocco with a population of about 700,000...
is the gateway to Morocco from Spain and also a major port;
FesFes may refer to:* Fes, Morocco, also known as Fez, a city in Morocco* Persona 3 FES, an 'add-on' disk for Shin Megami Tensei:Persona 3.FES is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:...
is the cultural and religious center; and Marrakech is a major tourist center.
There is a European expatriate population of 100,000, mainly of
FrenchFrench people can refer to:* The legal residents and citizens of France, regardless of ancestry. For a legal discussion, see French nationality law.* People whose ancestors lived in France or the area that later became France....
or
SpanishSpanish people or Spaniards constitute the nationality and ethnic group of natives of Spain, a European country in the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. The Spanish nationality is in essence made up of regional nationalities, reflecting the complex history of Spain...
descent; many are teachers or technicians and more and more retirees, especially in
MarrakechMarrakech or Marrakesh , known as the "Red City", is an important and former imperial city in Morocco...
.
Culture
Morocco is an ethnically diverse country with a rich
cultureCulture is a term that has different meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
and
civilizationA civilization is a complex society or culture group characterized by dependence upon agriculture, long-distance trade, state form of government, occupational specialization, population, and class stratification.-Definition:...
. Through
Moroccan historyThe Capsian culture brought Morocco into the Neolithic about 8000 BC, at a time when the Maghreb was less arid than it is today. The Berber language probably was formed at roughly the same time as agriculture , and was developed by the existing population and adopted the immigrants who arrived later...
, Morocco hosted many people coming from East (Phoenicians, Carthaginians,
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
s and
ArabArab people or Arabs are an ethnic group whose members identify along linguistic, cultural or genealogical grounds...
s), South (
Sub-Saharan AfricaSub-Saharan Africa is a geographical term used to describe the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara, or those African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
ns) and North (
RomansAncient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, it became one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
,
VandalsThe Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Goth Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths and regent of the Visigoths, was allied by marriage with the Vandals as well as with the Burgundians and the Franks under .The Vandals are perhaps...
,
AndalusiansAl-Andalus was the Arabic name given to the parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Arab and North African Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492....
(including
MoorsThe description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of Muslim people of Berber, Black African and Arab descent from North Africa, some of whom came to conquer and occupy the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. The North Africans termed it Al Andalus, comprising most...
and Jews)). All those civilizations have had an impact on the social structure of Morocco. It conceived various forms of beliefs, from
paganismPaganism is a word with several different meanings.In its broadest definition, pagan denotes all non-Abrahamic religions, that is to say it denotes all religions other than Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.Other usages are:*Paganism may mean Polytheism: The group so defined includes most of the...
,
JudaismJudaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts...
, and
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
to
IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
.
The production of Moroccan literature has continued to grow and diversify. To the traditional genres—poetry, essays, and historiography—have been added forms inspired by Middle Eastern and Western literary models. French is often used in publishing research in the social and natural sciences, and in the fields of literature and literary studies, works are published in both Arabic and French. Moroccan writers, such as Mohammed Choukri,
Driss ChraïbiDriss Chraïbi was a Moroccan author whose novels deal with colonialism, culture clashes, generational conflict and the treatment of women and are often semi-autobiographical....
,
Abdallah LarouiAbdallah Laroui is a Moroccan historian and novelist writing in Arabic and French.He is considered one of Morocco's leading intellectuals.He was born in Azemmour in 1933. He taught at the University Mohammed V in Rabat until 2000....
,
Abdelfattah KilitoAbdelfattah Kilito is a well known Moroccan writer. He was born in Rabat in 1945. He is the author of several books in Arabic and in French. He has also written articles for magazines like Poétique and Studia Islamica...
, and Fatima Mernissi, publish their works in both French and English. Expatriate writers such as
Pierre LotiPierre Loti , born January 14, 1850 in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime and died June 10, 1923 in Hendaye, was a French novelist and naval officer.-Biography:...
,
William S. BurroughsWilliam Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, essayist, social critic, painter and spoken word performer.Much of Burroughs's work is semi-autobiographical, drawn from his experiences as an opiate addict, a condition that marked the last fifty years of his life...
, and
Paul BowlesPaul Frederic Bowles was an American expatriate composer, author, and translator.Following a cultured middle-class upbringing in New York City, during which he displayed a talent for music and writing, Bowles pursued his education at the University of Virginia before making various trips to Paris...
have drawn attention to Moroccan writers as well as to the country itself.
Since independence a veritable blossoming has taken place in painting and sculpture, popular music, amateur theatre, and filmmaking. The Moroccan National Theatre (founded 1956) offers regular productions of Moroccan and French dramatic works. Art and music festivals take place throughout the country during the summer months, among them the
World Sacred Music Festival at FèsThe World Festival of Sacred Music brings together performers from every corner of our planet for a week of artistic show in Fes, Morocco's ancient holy city...
.
Moroccan music, influenced by Arab, Amazigh, African, and Andalusian traditions, makes use of a number of traditional instruments, such as the flute (nāy), shawm (ghaita), zither (qanūn), and various short necked lutes (including the ʿūd and gimbrī). These are often backed by explosive percussion on the darbūkka (terra-cotta drum). Among the most popular traditional Moroccan artists internationally are the Master Musicians of Jajouka, an all-male guild trained from childhood, and Hassan Hakmoun, a master of gnāwa trance music, a popular spiritual style that traces its roots to sub-Saharan Africa. Younger Moroccans enjoy raï, a style of plain-speaking Algerian music that incorporates traditional sounds with those of Western rock, Jamaican reggae, and Egyptian and Moroccan popular music.
Each region possesses its own specificities, thus contributing to the national culture and to the legacy of
civilizationA civilization is a complex society or culture group characterized by dependence upon agriculture, long-distance trade, state form of government, occupational specialization, population, and class stratification.-Definition:...
. Morocco has set among its top priorities the protection of its diverse legacy and the preservation of its cultural heritage.
Culturally speaking, Morocco has always been successful in combining its Berber, Jewish and Arabic cultural heritage with external influences such as the French and the Spanish and, during the last decades, the Anglo-American lifestyles.
Cuisine
Moroccan cuisine has long been considered as one of the most diversified cuisines in the world. This is a result of the centuries-long interaction of Morocco with the outside world. The cuisine of Morocco is a mix of Berber, Spanish, Corsican, Portuguese, Moorish, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, and African cuisines. The cuisine of Morocco has been influenced by the native
Berber cuisineThe Berber cuisine is considered as a traditional cuisine which evolved little in the course of time.Berber cuisine differs from one area to another within North Africa. Thus, it is not easy to speak about a typically Berber cuisine. A classification is essential, in order to emphasize the...
, the Arabic Andalusian cuisine brought by the Moriscos when they left Spain, the Turkish cuisine from the Turks and the
Middle Eastern cuisineMiddle Eastern cuisine is the cuisine of the various countries and peoples of the Middle East. The cuisine of the region is diverse while having a degree of homogeneity...
s brought by the Arabs, as well as
Jewish cuisineJewish Cuisine is the collection of cooking traditions of the Jewish people. It is a diverse cuisine that has evolved over many centuries, shaped by Jewish dietary laws and Jewish Festival and Sabbath traditions...
.
Spices are used extensively in Moroccan food. While spices have been imported to Morocco for thousands of years, many ingredients, like
saffronSaffron is a spice derived from the flower of the saffron crocus , a species of crocus in the family Iridaceae. A C. sativus flower bears three stigmas, each the distal end of a carpel. Together with their styles—stalks connecting stigmas to their host plant—stigmas are dried and used in cooking...
from Tiliouine,
mintMentha is a genus of about 25 species of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae . Species within Mentha have a subcosmopolitan distribution across Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and North America. Several mint hybrids commonly occur.Mints are aromatic, almost exclusively perennial, rarely...
and
oliveThe Olive is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin, from Lebanon, Syria and the maritime parts of Turkey and northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea...
s from Meknes, and
orangeAn orange—specifically, the sweet orange—is the citrus Citrus ×sinensis and its fruit. The orange is a hybrid of ancient cultivated origin, possibly between pomelo and tangerine...
s and
lemonThe lemon is a small evergreen tree originally native to Asia, and is also the name of the tree's oval yellow fruit. The fruit is used for culinary and nonculinary purposes throughout the world – primarily for its juice, though the pulp and rind are also used, mainly in cooking and baking...
s from Fez, are home-grown.
ChickenThe chicken is a domesticated fowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other bird...
is the most widely eaten meat in Morocco. The most commonly eaten red meat in Morocco is
beefBeef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle . Beef is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of Australia, Europe and America, and is also important in Africa, East Asia, and Southeast Asia...
;
lambDomestic sheep are quadrupedal, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Although the name "sheep" applies to many species, in everyday usage it almost always refers to Ovis aries...
is preferred, but is relatively expensive.
CouscousCouscous or kuskus as it is known in Brazil, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt is a dish consisting of spherical granules made by rolling and shaping moistened semolina wheat and then coating them...
is the most famous Moroccan dish along with
pastillaIt is a pie which combines sweet and salty flavours; a combination of crisp layers of the crêpe-like warka dough , savory meat slow-cooked in broth and spices and shredded, and a crunchy layer of toasted and ground almonds, cinnamon, and sugar.The filling is made a day ahead, and is made by...
,
tajineA tagine or tajine is a type of dish found in the North African cuisines of Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, which is named after the special pot in which it is cooked. A similar dish, known as Tavvas, is found in the cuisine of Cyprus. The traditional tagine pot is formed entirely of a heavy clay...
, and
hariraHarira is the traditional soup of Morocco. It is usually eaten during dinner in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan to break the fasting day. It is considered as a meal in itself....
. The most popular drink is
green teaGreen tea is a type of tea made solely with the leaves of Camellia sinensis that has undergone minimal oxidation during processing. Green tea originates from China and has become associated with many cultures in Asia from Japan to the Middle East. Recently, it has become more widespread in the...
with mint. The tea is accompanied with hard sugar cones or lumps.
Literature
Moroccan literature is written in Arabic, Berber and French. It also contains literature produced in
Al-AndalusAl-Andalus was the Arabic name given to the parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Arab and North African Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492....
. Under the
AlmohadThe Almohad Dynasty , was a Berber, Muslim dynasty that was founded in the 12th century, which conquered all of northern Africa as far as Libya, together with Al-Andalus .Between 1130 and his death in 1163, Abd al-Mu'min al-Kumi, the only one Berber from Nedroma among the Masmudas...
dynasty Morocco experienced a period of prosperity and brilliance of learning. The Almohad built the
MarrakechMarrakech or Marrakesh , known as the "Red City", is an important and former imperial city in Morocco...
Koutoubia MosqueThe Koutoubia Mosque is the largest mosque in Marrakech, Morocco. The minaret was completed under the reign of the Almohad Caliph Yaqub al-Mansur and was used as the model for the Giralda of Seville and for the Hassan Tower of Rabat....
, which accommodated no fewer than 25,000 people, but was also famed for its books, manuscripts, libraries and book shops, which gave it its name; the first book bazaar in history. The Almohad Caliph Abu Yakub had a great love for collecting books. He founded a great library, which was eventually carried to the
CasbahThe Casbah is specifically the citadel of Algiers and the traditional quarter clustered around it. The Casbah is specifically the citadel of Algiers and the traditional quarter clustered around it. The Casbah is specifically the citadel of...
and turned into a
public libraryA public library is a library which is accessible by the public and is generally funded from public sources and may be operated by civil servants...
.
Modern Moroccan literature began in the 1930s. Two main factors gave Morocco a pulse toward witnessing the birth of a modern literature. Morocco, as a
FrenchFrench 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...
and
Spanish protectorateSpanish Protectorate of Morocco was the area of Morocco under colonial rule by the Spanish Empire, established by the Treaty of Fez in 1912 and ending in 1956, when both France and Spain recognized Moroccan independence.-Territorial borders:...
left Moroccan intellectuals the opportunity to exchange and to produce literary works freely enjoying the contact of other
Arabic literatureArabic literature is the writing produced, both prose and poetry, by writers of the Arabic language. It does not usually include works written using the Arabic alphabet but not in the Arabic language such as Persian literature and Urdu literature...
and Europe.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Morocco was a refuge and artistic centre and attracted writers as
Paul BowlesPaul Frederic Bowles was an American expatriate composer, author, and translator.Following a cultured middle-class upbringing in New York City, during which he displayed a talent for music and writing, Bowles pursued his education at the University of Virginia before making various trips to Paris...
,
Tennessee WilliamsTennessee Williams , né Thomas Lanier Williams, was an American playwright who received many of the top theatrical awards for his works of drama...
and
William S. BurroughsWilliam Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, essayist, social critic, painter and spoken word performer.Much of Burroughs's work is semi-autobiographical, drawn from his experiences as an opiate addict, a condition that marked the last fifty years of his life...
. Moroccan literature flourished with novelists such as
Mohamed ZafzafMohamed Zafzaf was a Moroccan novelist and poet from Kenitra writing in classical Arabic. In 2002, one of the most prestigious Arab literature awards created the "Mohamed Zafzaf Prize for Arabic Literature" in his honour....
and
Mohamed ChoukriMohamed Choukri , was a Moroccan author who is best known for his autobiography For Bread Alone , which was described by the American playwright Tennessee Williams as 'A true document of human desperation, shattering in its impact.Choukri was born in 1935, in Ayt Chiker, a small village in the Rif...
, who wrote in Arabic, and
Driss ChraïbiDriss Chraïbi was a Moroccan author whose novels deal with colonialism, culture clashes, generational conflict and the treatment of women and are often semi-autobiographical....
and
Tahar Ben JellounTahar Ben Jelloun is a Moroccan poet and writer. Professor at Tetouan and then in Casablanca. He has lived and worked in France since 1971.Ben Jelloun studied philosophy in Rabat and psychology in Paris....
who wrote in French. Other important Moroccan authors include,
Abdellatif LaabiAbdellatif Laâbi is a Moroccan poet, born in 1942 in Fes, Morocco.Laâbi, then teaching French, founded with other poets the artistic journal Anfas/Souffles, an important literary review in 1966...
,
Abdelkarim GhellabAbdelkarim Ghellab is a Moroccan writer. Ghellab's received his education at the Al-Qarawiyyin University of Fes and Cairo University where he got his BA in Arabic Literature. When he returned to Morocco he worked in many different government administration, especially foreign affairs and education...
,
Fouad LarouiFouad Laroui is a Moroccan economist and writer, born in Oujda, Morocco. After his studies in the Lycée Lyautey , he joined the prestigious École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, where he studied engineering...
,
Mohammed BerradaMohammed Berrada , also transliterated Muhammad Baradah, is a Moroccan novelist, literary critic and translator writing in Arabic. He is considered one of Morocco's most important modern authors....
and
Leila AbouzeidLeila Abouzeid is a Moroccan author who writes in Arabic rather than in French and is the first Moroccan woman writer of literature to be translated into English. She was born in 1950...
. It should be noted also, that orature (oral literature) is an integral part of Moroccan culture, be it in Moroccan Arabic or Amazigh.
Ethnic groups and languages
Morocco is considered by some as an Arab-Berber country. Others insist on the Berber-African identity of Morocco. About 42% acknowledge a Berber identity, though many more have Berber ancestry. Berbers are also by
languageA language is a system for encoding and decoding information. In its most common use, the term refers to so-called "natural languages" — the forms of communication considered peculiar to humankind. In linguistics the term is extended to refer to the human cognitive facility of creating and using...
but also by traditional customs and culture - such as the distinctive music and dances.
BerberBerbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are discontinuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke various Berber languages, which together form a branch of the...
language (Also called
TamazightThe Berber languages are a group of very closely related languages and dialects spoken in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and the Egyptian area of Siwa, as well as by large Berber communities in parts of Niger and Mali. A relatively sparse but very old population extends into the whole Sahara and...
) is now more or less officially recognized in Morocco. Classical
ArabicArabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...
remains the only official language of Morocco and is used in limited socio-economic and cultural activities and written newspapers but it is never spoken between Moroccans. The most common spoken variety of Arabic in Morocco,
Moroccan ArabicMoroccan Arabic is the variety of Arabic spoken in the Arabic-speaking areas of Morocco, as opposed to the official communications of government and other public bodies which use Modern Standard Arabic, as is the case in most Arabic-speaking countries, while a mixture of French and Moroccan...
, has also been significantly influenced by
Berber languagesThe Berber languages are a group of very closely related languages and dialects spoken in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and the Egyptian area of Siwa, as well as by large Berber communities in parts of Niger and Mali. A relatively sparse but very old population extends into the whole Sahara and...
.
Linguistically,
BerberThe Berber languages are a group of very closely related languages and dialects spoken in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and the Egyptian area of Siwa, as well as by large Berber communities in parts of Niger and Mali. A relatively sparse but very old population extends into the whole Sahara and...
belongs to the Afro-Asiatic group, and has many accents or variants. The three main accents used in Morocco are Tachelhit, Tamazight and Tarifit (Also called
Thamazight by its speakers). Collectively, those
Berber languagesThe Berber languages are a group of very closely related languages and dialects spoken in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and the Egyptian area of Siwa, as well as by large Berber communities in parts of Niger and Mali. A relatively sparse but very old population extends into the whole Sahara and...
they are known as "Chelha" in Moroccan Arabic and as "Barbaria" in Classical Arabic used in the Middle East. The terms "Barbar" and "Chelha" are considered by most Berber activists as extremely offending and humiliating. They prefer the word
Amazigh.
Tachelhit (sometimes known as "soussia" or "chelha") is spoken in south-west Morocco, in an area between Sidi Ifni in the south, Agadir in the north and Marrakech and the Draa/Sous valleys in the east. Tamazight is spoken in the Middle Atlas, between
TazaTaza is a city in northern Morocco, about 100 km east of Fez. It has a population of 139,686 and is the capital of Taza Province.-Geography:...
,
KhemissetKhemisset is a city in Morocco, population 111,971 . It is situated on the A2 motorway between Rabat and Meknès , and is the capital of the province Zemmour....
, Azilal and Errachidia. Tarifit is spoken in the Rif area of northern Morocco in towns like
NadorNador is a northeastern Moroccan city located in the Rif region. The city is a Mediterranean port on the Bhar Amezzyan lagoon and a trading centre for fish, fruit, and livestock...
,
Al HoceimaAl Hoceima is a city and port in the north of Morocco and in the center of the Rif Mountains. The Al Hoceima city region has a population of 395.644...
,
AjdirAjdir is a small city in Morocco near Al Hoceima. It was the capital of the Republic of the Rif from 1922 to 1926 under the leadership of Abd el-Krim .-See also:*Republic of the Rif*Aith Ouriaghel...
,
TangierTangier or Tangiers [
pronounce] is a city of northern Morocco with a population of about 700,000...
and
TaourirtTaourirt is a village in northern Algeria. It is located in Bouïra Province.Nearby towns and villages include Tassift , M'Chedallah, Chorfa , Boudjellil and Sidi Brahim .....
,
Larache'Larache' العرائش in Arabic is an important harbour town in the region Tanger-Tétouan in northern Morocco. It was founded in the 7th century when a group of Muslim soldiers from Arabia extended their camp at Lixus onto the south bank of the Loukkos River.In 1471, the Portuguese settlers from Asilah...
and
TazaTaza is a city in northern Morocco, about 100 km east of Fez. It has a population of 139,686 and is the capital of Taza Province.-Geography:...
.
For more detailed information on this subject see: Berber languagesThe Berber languages are a group of very closely related languages and dialects spoken in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and the Egyptian area of Siwa, as well as by large Berber communities in parts of Niger and Mali. A relatively sparse but very old population extends into the whole Sahara and...
.
Berbers willingly embraced
IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
, though their non-Arab ethnic and linguistic purity has remained. Hundreds of Amazigh (Berber) associations were created in the last few years. Newsstands and bookstores in all the major cities are filled with new Amazigh magazines and other publications that provide articles about the Amazigh culture and art. The state owned TV station RTM (now
TVM) has started broadcasting a daily 10-minute long news bulletin in the 3 Berber accents since the mid 90's. Berber activists are repeatedly demanding a 50% share of broadcasting time in standardized
AmazighThe Berber languages are a group of very closely related languages and dialects spoken in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and the Egyptian area of Siwa, as well as by large Berber communities in parts of Niger and Mali. A relatively sparse but very old population extends into the whole Sahara and...
language on all 5 state owned satellite channels
TVM,
2M,
3,
4 and
Laayoune TV. The state still refuses or ignores these demands.
Music
Moroccan music is predominantly of Arab origins. There also exist other varieties of
Berber folk musicThe Berbers are an ethnic group in North and West Africa. Their music is widely varying across the area they inhabit, but is best known for its place in Moroccan music, the popular Kabylian and chawi music of Algeria and the widespread Tuareg music of Algeria, Burkina Faso, Niger and...
.
AndalusianAndalusia is a region in Spain that is best-known for flamenco, a form of music and dance that is mostly performed by andalusian people and popular throughout the world...
and other imported influences have had a major effect on the country's musical character. Rock-influenced
chabbiChaabi is a popular music of Morocco, combines folk music with chaabi from Fes, some would consider it similar to the Algerian Raï.- Artists :* Haj Bouzoubaa* Khalid bennani* Jedwane* Mohammed Merrakchi* Orchestre Faisal* Stati* Bhiri* Senhaji...
bands are widespread, as is
trance musicTrance is a style of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s. Trance music is generally characterized by a tempo of between 130 and 155 BPM, short melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that builds up and down throughout a track. Trance can be understood as a combination of...
with historical origins in Muslim music.
Morocco is home to
Andalusian classical musicAndalusian classical music is a style of Arabic music found across North Africa, though it evolved out of the music of Andalusia between the 9th and 15th centuries, during a period known as Al-Andalus....
that is found throughout North Africa. It probably evolved under the Moors in
Cordoba||-||-||}Córdoba is a city in Andalusia, southern Spain, and the capital of the province of Córdoba. Located at 37.88° North, 4.77° West, on the Guadalquivir river, it was founded in ancient Roman times as Corduba by Claudius Marcellus...
, and the Persian-born musician
ZiryabAbu l-Hasan ‘Ali Ibn Nafi‘ , nicknamed Ziryab , was a Persian or Kurdish polymath: a poet, musician, singer, cosmetologist, fashion designer, celebrity, trendsetter, strategist, astronomer, botanist and geographer...
is usually credited with its invention.
Chaabi (
popular) is a music consisting of numerous varieties which are descended from the multifarious forms of Moroccan folk music. Chaabi was originally performed in markets, but is now found at any celebration or meeting.
Popular Western forms of music are becoming increasingly popular in Morocco, such as
fusionA fusion genre is a music genre which combines two or more genres. For example, rock and roll originally developed as a fusion of blues, gospel and country music. The main characteristics of fusion genres are variations in tempo, rhythm and sometimes the use of long musical "journeys" that can be...
,
rockRock music is a genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the 1960s. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, rhythm and blues, country music and also drew on folk music, jazz and classical music....
,
countryIn geography, a country is a geographical region. The term is often applied to a political division or the territory of a state, or to a smaller, or former, political division of a geographical region...
, metal and particularly
hip hopHip hop music is a musical genre which developed alongside hip hop culture, and is commonly based on concepts of loop, rapping, freestyle, DJing, scratching, sampling and beatboxing. The music is used to express concerns of political, social, and personal issues...
.
Transport
The railway network of Morocco consists of 1907 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge and 1003 km electrified with 3 kV DC. There are connections to Algeria, and consecutively Tunisia, but since the '90 the connections are closed. The Gibraltar Tunnel is a rail tunnel link proposed between Tangier, Morocco and Spain under the Strait of Gibraltar to be in operation in 2025.
There are plans for high-speed lines: Work by ONCF could begin in 2007 from Marrakech to Tangier in the north via Marrakesh to Agadir in the south, and from Casablanca on the Atlantic to Oujda on the Algerian border. If the plans are approved, the 1,500 kilometres of track may take until 2030 to complete at a cost of around 25 billion dirhams ($3.37 billion). Casablanca to Marrakesh could be cut to 1 hour and 20 minutes from over three hours, and from the capital Rabat to Tangier to 1 hour and 30 minutes from 4 hours and 30 minutes.
There are around 56986 kilometres of roads(national, regional and provincial) in Morocco. In addition to 610,5 kilometre of highways.
Military
Military service lasts for 18 months in Morocco, and the country’s reserve obligation lasts until age 50. The country’s military consists of the Royal Armed Forces—this includes the army (the largest branch) and a small navy and air force—the National Police Force, the Royal Gendarmerie (mainly responsible for rural security), and the Auxiliary Forces. Internal security is generally effective, and acts of political violence are rare (one exception, a terrorist bombing in May 2003 in Casablanca, killed scores). The UN maintains a small observer force in Western Sahara, where a large number of Morocco’s troops are stationed. The Saharawi group
PolisarioThe Polisario, Polisario Front, or Frente Polisario, from the Spanish abbreviation of Frente Popular de Liberación de Saguía el Hamra y Río de Oro is a Sahrawi rebel movement working for the independence of Western Sahara from Morocco...
maintains an active militia of an estimated 5,000 fighters in Western Sahara and has engaged in intermittent warfare with Moroccan forces since the 1980s.
The military of Morocco is composed of the following main divisions:
- Royal Armed Forces
- Army
The Royal Moroccan Army forms is a branch of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces.- Origins :During the period of the French Protectorate large numbers of Moroccans were recruited for service in the Spahi and Tirailleur regiments of the French Army of Africa...
- Navy
The Royal Moroccan Navy is the naval branch of the military of Morocco. The location of its largest base is Casablanca with smaller bases at Agadir, Al Hoceima, Dakhla, Kenitra, Safi and Tangier and a new naval base is in building at Ksar Sghir...
- Air Force
The Royal Moroccan Air Force is the air force branch of the Moroccan Armed Forces.- The beginnings:...
- Gendarmerie
The Moroccan Royal Gendarmerie is the Gendarmerie body of Morocco.-History:The Moroccan Royal Gendarmerie was founded in 1957 by late King Mohammed V. The structure of its functions has been determined by the two major different but complementary traditions. One of them has its roots in the...
- Auxiliary Forces
- Moroccan Royal Guard
The Moroccan Royal Guard is officially part of the Royal Moroccan Army. However it is under the direct operational control of the Royal Military Household of His Majesty the King. The sole duty of the guard is to provide for the security and safety of the King and royal family of Morocco...
- Marche Verte
Marche Verte is the aerobatic demonstration team of the Royal Moroccan Air Force and the official aerobatic team of Morocco. Named for the 1975 "Green March" , the team was formed recently ....
Education
EducationEducation in its broadest sense is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character or physical ability of an individual...
in Morocco is free and compulsory through primary school (age 15). Nevertheless, many children particularly girls in rural areas still do not attend school. The country's illiteracy rate has been stuck at around 50% for some years, but reaches as high as 90% among girls in rural regions. On September 2006, UNESCO awarded Morocco amongst other countries;
CubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean. It consists of the island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city. Cuba is home to over 11 million people and is...
,
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia...
,
RajasthanRājasthān is the largest state of the Republic of India in terms of area. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with Pakistan...
(India) and
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
the "UNESCO 2006 Literacy Prize".
Morocco has about 230,000 students enrolled in fourteen public universities. The
Mohammed V UniversityMohammed V University was founded in 1957 under a royal decree . It is the first modern university in Morocco.The university is named after Mohammed V d. 1961, the former King of Morocco. In 1993, it was divided into two independent universities:* Mohammed V University at Agdal* Mohammed V...
in Rabat and
Al Akhawayn UniversityAl Akhawayn University or AUI is a university located in Ifrane, Morocco, just 60 kilometers from the imperial city of Fez, in the midst of the Middle Atlas Mountains...
in
IfraneIfrane
[p] is a town and ski resort in the Middle Atlas region of Morocco ....
(a public university) are highly regarded. Al-Akhawayn, founded in 1993 by
King Hassan IIKing Hassan II ; July 9, 1929–July 23, 1999) was King of Morocco from 1961 until his death in 1999...
and
King Fahd of Saudi ArabiaKing Fahad bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, was the King of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Head of the House of Saud as well as Prime Minister...
, is an English-language American-style university comprising about 1,000 students. The
University of Al KaraouineThe University of Al-Karaouine or Al-Qarawiyyin is a university located in Fes, Morocco. Founded in 859, as a madrasah, the university is one of the leading spiritual and educational centers of the Muslim world...
, in Fez, is considered the oldest continuously operating university in the world and has been a center of learning for more than 1,000 years.
Morocco allocates approximately one-fifth of its budget to education. Much of this is spent on building schools to accommodate the rapidly growing population. Education is mandatory for children between the ages of 7 and 13 years. In urban areas the majority of children in this age group attend school, though on a national scale the level of participation drops significantly. About three-fourths of school-age males attend school, but only about half of school-age girls; these proportions drop markedly in rural areas. Slightly more than half of the children go on to secondary education, including trade and technical schools. Of these, few seek higher education. Poor school attendance, particularly in rural areas, has meant a low rate of literacy, which is about two-fifths of the population.
Universities
Morocco has more than four dozen universities, institutes of higher learning, and polytechnics dispersed at urban centres throughout the country. Its leading institutions include Muḥammad V University in Rabat, the country’s largest university, with branches in Casablanca and Fès; the Hassan II Agriculture and Veterinary Institute in Rabat, which conducts leading social science research in addition to its agricultural specialties; and Al-Akhawayn University in Ifrane, the first English-language university in North Africa, inaugurated in 1995 with contributions from Saudi Arabia and the United States.
List of universities in Morocco
- Abdelmalek Essaâdi University , Tétouan
Tétouan , also spelled Tetuan, sometimes Tettawen or Tettawin, is a city in northern Morocco. It is the only open port of Morocco on the Mediterranean Sea, a few miles south of the Strait of Gibraltar, and about 40 mi E.S.E. of Tangier. In 2004 the city had 320,539 inhabitants...
- Tanger
- Al Akhawayn University
Al Akhawayn University or AUI is a university located in Ifrane, Morocco, just 60 kilometers from the imperial city of Fez, in the midst of the Middle Atlas Mountains...
, IfraneIfrane
[p] is a town and ski resort in the Middle Atlas region of Morocco ....
- Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech
Marrakech or Marrakesh , known as the "Red City", is an important and former imperial city in Morocco...
- Chouaib Doukkali University , El Jadida
El Jadida is a port city on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, in the province of El Jadida. It has a population of 144,440...
- Hassan II Ain Chok University , Casablanca
Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean...
- Hassan II Mohammedia University , Mohammedia
Mohammédia is a port city located 15 miles northeast of Casablanca in western Morocco. It has a population of 188,619 . The city was originally named Fedala, but was renamed in 1959 in honor of King Muhammad V...
- Hassan Premier University , Settat
Settat is a town in Morocco between the national capital Rabat and Marrakech. Settat is located at the heart of the country, south of Casablanca. Settat is the capital of the prefecture of Chaouia-Ouardigha and Settat province, the oldest and largest city in the province, in both size and population...
- Ibn Tofail University , Kenitra
Kenitra is a city in Morocco, formerly known as Port Lyautey...
- Ibnou Zohr University , Agadir
Agadir is a major city in southwest Morocco, capital of the Agadir province and the Sous-Massa-Draa economic region .-Etymology:...
- Institute of Management and Business Technology (IMBT) in Rabat
- Mohamed Premier University , Oujda
Oujda is a city in eastern Morocco with an estimated population of half a million. The city is located about 15 kilometers west of Algeria and about 60 kilometers south of the Mediterranean Sea...
- Mohammed V University
Mohammed V University was founded in 1957 under a royal decree . It is the first modern university in Morocco.The university is named after Mohammed V d. 1961, the former King of Morocco. In 1993, it was divided into two independent universities:* Mohammed V University at Agdal* Mohammed V...
, RabatRabat , population 2 million , is the capital of the Kingdom of Morocco. It is also the capital of the Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaer region....
- Mohammed V University at Agdal
Mohammed V University is a Moroccan university which was founded in 1957. It was split in 1997 to become two independent universities, Mohammed V University at Agdal and Mohammed V University at Soussi.-Faculties:...
, RabatRabat , population 2 million , is the capital of the Kingdom of Morocco. It is also the capital of the Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaer region....
- Mohammed V University at Souissi
Mohammed V University at Souissi is a Moroccan university which was founded in 1993 by splitting Mohammed V University into two independent universities.As of the academic season 2005-2006, the university counted 18,531 alumni....
, RabatRabat , population 2 million , is the capital of the Kingdom of Morocco. It is also the capital of the Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaer region....
- Moulay Ismail University , Meknès
Meknes is a city in northern Morocco, located from the capital Rabat and from Fes. It is served by the A2 expressway between those two cities and by the corresponding railway. Meknes was the capital of Morocco under the reign of Moulay Ismail , before it was relocated to Marrakech. The...
- Sidi Mohamed Benabdellah University , Fez
Fes or Fez is the third largest city in Morocco, after Casablanca and Rabat with a population of 946,815 . It is the capital of the Fès-Boulemane region....
- University of Al Karaouine
The University of Al-Karaouine or Al-Qarawiyyin is a university located in Fes, Morocco. Founded in 859, as a madrasah, the university is one of the leading spiritual and educational centers of the Muslim world...
, FesFes may refer to:* Fes, Morocco, also known as Fez, a city in Morocco* Persona 3 FES, an 'add-on' disk for Shin Megami Tensei:Persona 3.FES is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:...
- Université Moulay Slimane (formerly called Cadi Ayyad University until late 2007), Beni Mellal
Beni-Mellal is a Moroccan city located at . It is the capital city of the Tadla-Azilal Region, with a population of 163,286...
Sport
Spectator sports in Morocco traditionally centred on the art of horsemanship until European sports—football (soccer), polo, swimming, and tennis—were introduced at the end of the 19th century. Football is the country’s premier sport, popular among the urban youth in particular, and in 1970 Morocco became the first African country to play in World Cup competition. At the 1984 Olympic Games, two Moroccans won gold medals in track and field events, one of whom—Nawal El Moutawakel in the 400 metre hurdles—was the first woman from an Arab or Islamic country to win an Olympic gold medal. Tennis and golf have also become popular. Several Moroccan professional players have competed in international competition, and the country fielded its first Davis Cup team in 1999.
As of 2007, Moroccan society participated in many sports, including handball,
footballAssociation football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players using a spherical ball...
,
golfGolf is a precision club-and-ball sport, in which competing players , using many types of clubs, attempt to hit balls into each hole on a golf course while employing the fewest number of strokes. Golf is one of the few ball games that does not require a standardized playing area...
,
tennisTennis is a sport played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a strung racquet to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court....
,
basketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of 5 players try to score points against one another by placing a ball through a
10 foot high hoop under organized rules...
, and athletics.
Hicham El GuerroujHicham El Guerrouj is a Moroccan former middle distance runner. He is the current holder of the 1500 metres, mile and outdoor 2000 metres world records, as well as a double Olympic gold medalist....
, a retired middle distance runner for Morocco, won 2 gold medals for Morocco at the Athletics at the
2004 Summer OlympicsThe 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
.
International rankings
- The 2002 Reporters Without Borders' worldwide press freedom index ranked Morocco 119th out of 167 countries.
- The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in an office in the City of Westminster, London. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843. While The Economist calls itself a...
's ranked Morocco 65th out of 111 countries.
See also
- List of Morocco-related topics
- Medieval territorial expansion in Morocco
-Beginnings :As a Shi'i refugee, Moulay Idriss starts his campaign in 787 willing to try to unite the Moroccan scattered states.With this he created a dynasty known as the Idrissid dynasty which also becomes among the first line of kings ever created in Morocco...
- Shiite Tide
Shiite Tide, in Arabic المد الشيعي, is the term used to describe the growing number of Shiite Muslims in countries where Sunni Muslims form the huge majority.- The Phenomenon of conversion to Shiism :...
, as one of the issues that led Morocco to cut diplomatic relations with Iran in 03/2009.
External links
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