The Kingdom of Morocco is a country in northwest Africa. It has a long coastline on the Atlantic Ocean that reaches past the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Algeria to the east, Western Sahara to the south, and the Atlantic Ocean to its north and west.

المملكة المغربية
Al Mamlakah al-Maghribiyah

In Detail (Full size )
National motto: الله، الوطن، الملك (God, Country, King)
Official language	Arabic
Capital	Rabat
Largest city	Casablanca
King	Mohammed VI
Prime Minister	Driss Jettou
Area  - Total	Ranked 56th 446,550 km²
Population  - Total (2003)  - Density	Ranked 36th 31,689,267 70/km²
Independence	From France March 2 1956
Currency	Dirham
Time zone	UTC
Internet TLD	.ma
Calling Code	212

Name

The full Arabic name of the country translates to The Western Kingdom. Al-Maghreb (meaning The West) is commonly used in Arabic. The name in most other languages originates from the name of the former capital, Marrakech (it means the Country of God in the Berber language).

History

Main article: History of Morocco

Morocco became a French protectorate by the signing of the Treaty of Fez on March 30, 1912, remaining a Kingdom, and achieved independence in 1956. It then took control over Tangier, formerly an international city. The northern area of Morocco was under a Spanish protectorate concurrently. Morocco annexed Western Sahara in the 1970s, which had been a colony under the Spaniards since the 19th century. Previous to that it had been an area of Moroccan influence, but this annexation has not been recognized any nations.

Morocco was the first nation to recognize the fledging American republic in 1777 and has the oldest non-broken friendship treaty with the country, the Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship, which has been in effect since 1783. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were the American signatories. The United States legation (embassy) in Tangier, is the first property the US owned abroad. It now houses the Tangier american legation museum.

Politics

Main article: Politics of Morocco

The King of Morocco is an active leader, although decreasingly so. Political parties are legal and a plethora of them exist.

See also: List of political parties in Morocco

Provinces

Map of Morocco

Main article: Provinces of Morocco

Morocco is divided into 37 provinces and 2 wilayas:

Three additional provinces, Ad Dakhla (Oued Eddahab ), Boujdour , and Es Smara, as well as parts of Tan-Tan and Laayoune, fall within Moroccan-claimed Western Sahara.

As part of a 1997 decentralization/regionalization law passed by the legislature, 16 new regions were created, although the full details and scope of the reorganization are limited. These 16 regions are:

Geography

Main article: Geography of Morocco

Algeria borders Morocco to the east and southeast, though the Algerian border is closed [1]. There are also four Spanish enclaves on the Mediterranean coast: Ceuta, Melilla Peñon Velez de la Gomera and Peñon de Alhucemas, as well as several islands including Perejil (status disputed) and Chafarinas. Off the Atlantic coast the Canary Islands belong to Spain, whereas Madeira to the north is Portuguese.To the north, Morocco is bordered by and controls part of the Straits of Gibraltar, giving it power over the waterways in and out of the Mediterranean sea. Most of the South East portion of the country is in the Sahara Desert and as such is generally sparsely populated and unproductive economically. The High Atlas Mountains run down the backbone of the country, from the south west to the north east. Most of the population lives to the north of these mountains, while to the south is the desert.

Morocco's capital city is Rabat, and its largest city is the modern port of Casablanca.

Other cities include Agadir, Essaouira, Fes, Marrakech, Meknes, Oujda, Ouarzazat, Safi, Tangier, Tiznit, Salè and Tan-Tan.

• List of cities in Morocco

Economy

Main article: Economy of Morocco

Morocco has signed a Free Trade Agreement with the European Union and the United States of America.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Morocco [2]

Culture

Main article: Culture of Morocco

• Cuisine of Morocco
• List of writers from Morocco
• Music of Morocco
• Moroccan Culture Series Observations of an American woman living in Morocco

Miscellaneous topics

• Communications in Morocco
• Transportation in Morocco
• Military of Morocco
• Foreign relations of Morocco
• Moroccan Wall
• Portal of Moroccans in the U.S.
• Moroccan newspapers

See also

• List of Spanish territories in Morocco
• Morocco (1930 movie)

Much of the material in these articles comes from the CIA World Factbook 2000 and the 2002 U.S. Department of State website.

External links

• Directories
  • MoroccoLinks.com - Moroccan Directory, with categorized links to Moroccan sites, updates, resources and more.
  • Open Directory Project - Morocco
  • LookSmart - Morocco
  • Yahoo! - Morocco
  • Higher education and professionnel training in Morocco (in French)

• AllAfrica - Morocco news
• The American Legation in Tangier
• CIA World Factbook - Morocco
• A good overview of Morocco
• Guest houses Guide of Morocco
• Lexicorient a very complete guide to Morocco
• Map: [3] (pdf); links to more: [4]
• Moroccan Constitution
• Moroccans on the world - Morrocan Portal
• Morocco365 Guide to Morocco
• Moroccousafta a site about the Morocco/US Free Trade Agrement
• Traditional Moroccan music from Morocco's Ministry of Communication
• Pictures from a backpacker's trip through Morocco in 2000
• Wikitravel's version of Morocco