MOROCCO

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TABLE

OF

CONTENT

History

Geography

Environment

Population

Economy

Language

Religion

Art & Architecture

Food

Sport

Holidays

HI

STORY

The Arabs brought Islam their re-ligion and their commitment to learn-ing that led to great advances in math-ematics, chemistry and other sciences and arts.

In the thirteenth century the Spaniards began to push the Arabs back, retak-ing Seville and Cordoba. The Moors (Arabs) from Andalusia in Spain were expelled to Morocco where they had a major effect on the architecture and culture of the region.

In 1912 Morocco became a French Protectorate, though Spain reclaimed control of certain territories. Tangiers was an international city ruled by the main European powers.

After many years of struggle, France finally conceded Morocco’s indepen-dence in 1956. Hassan II became king in 1961 and in 1969 Tangiers returned to Moroccan control. The provinces of the Spanish Sahara were taken over in the Green March of 1975 when thou-sands of people marched to assert Mo-rocco’s control of the region.

GEOGRAPHY

Morocco is situated on the north west of Africa and is over 446,000sq km in area. The Atlantic Ocean lies to the west and the Mediterranean to the north.

The capital city is Rabat on the Atlantic Coast. Casablanca, also on the Atlantic coast, is the country’s chief port. The city of Fes is the spiritual and cultural centre of Morocco, famous for its ancient uni-versity. Marrakesh, an oasis at the edge of the desert, is also an important trade centre and the main city of southern Morocco.

Along the coastline of the Atlantic lies a fertile plain which stretches to the Atlas mountains.

To the south and east lies the Sahara Desert. The Sahara is the world’s larg-est desert and in Arabic its name means “wilderness”. The desert is not entirely flat and waterless. The streams in the hills and the oases in the desert support both human and animal life.

ENVI

RONMENT

In the desert regions we find the type of plants that can survive with little water; some have very deep roots, others have small leaves or spines instead. The desert animals must also survive with little water and many remain hidden during the heat of the day (like the desert fox); others, such as the gazelles, travel many miles in search of water.

The mountains are often heavily wooded, with firs and cedars on the higher slopes. In winter many of the mountains are covered in snow. Here we will find typi-cal mountain animals and birds such as eagles with some unusual species such as the Atlas monkeys.

In the plains below the mountains where most of the country’s agricultural pro-duction is to be found there are orange groves, date palms and forests of cork trees.

Morocco is a very important staging point on the flight path of migratory birds which winter in Africa and spend the summer in Europe.

POPULATI

ON

The population of Morocco was esti-mated at 33,241,259 in 2006.

The original inhabitants of Morocco were succeeded by Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Romans.Three quarters of the people of modern Morocco are of Berber descent. The Berbers were conquered by the Arabs in the seventh and eighth centuries.

ECONOMYAgriculture employs forty percent

of the labour force. The crops grown include barley, potatoes, tomatoes and pulses. Olives, oranges, lemons, almonds, dates and grapes are all-important reve-nue earners.

There are major fishing ports at Agadir, Safi, Essaouira, Casablanca and Tan Tan. Among these ports are the world’s larg-est centres for sardine fishing.

The most economically important min-eral found in Morocco is phosphate used as fertilizer. There are also significant de-posits of iron ore, lead, manganese, zinc and salt. Morocco is also well supplied with hydroelectric power.

Tourism is a high earner of foreign ex-change with millions of tourists a year visiting Morocco. Another important source of foreign currency is the money remitted from the many Moroccan citi-zens working abroad. (2004)

LANGUAGE

Morocco’s official language is Ara-bic.

For historical reasons most Moroccans also speak French and many are fluent in Spanish and English.

The Berber language, Tamazight, is still spoken in the Rif and Atlas mountains.

Both the Berber language and Arabic are used in a number of local dialects.

RELI

GI

ON

The official religion in Morocco is Is-lam and the King is spiritual leader of his people as well as the monarch.

The mosque is the centre of Muslim wor-ship and Morocco contains many beauti-ful and historic examples.

Although the Berbers are Muslims they have retained certain aspects of their own religion, including a reverence for na-ture.

One percent of the people are Christians (mainly French and Spanish). A small number of the people are Jewish, de-scended from Jews exiled from Spain in the Middle Ages.

ART

&

ARCHI

TECTURE

Music and dance play a large part in Moroccan culture.

The great traditions of Islamic art and ar-chitecture have generated a wealth of na-tional treasures from the past and are still followed today.

The architecture of Morocco is basi-cally Islamic and has been heavily influ-enced by the traditions of those expelled from Spain in the Middle Ages.

The horseshoe shaped Islamic arches, courtyard gardens at the heart of the houses and elaborate decoration of the outside walls are all to be seen through-out Morocco. Other traditional aspects of Moroccan architecture reflect the country’s turbulent past in fortified pal-aces and desert strongholds.

Alongside the historic architecture are the modern buildings of the rapidly growing cities such as Rabat and Casablanca. These modern buildings, while European in style, are still distinctively Moroccan.

FOOD

Tajine is the national dish of Moroc-co. It is a stew cooked in an earthenware bowl and made with vegetables and either meat, chicken or fish.

The national drink is mint tea.

Couscous is the traditional Friday lunch made from semolina-like grains of flour and served with vegetables or with sugar, goat’s milk and cinnamon as a pudding.

Other Moroccan dishes are harira which is a soup made with chick peas and len-tils and pastilla, a flaky pastry filled with pigeon and almonds. Kefta (spicy meat balls) and mechoui (oven or spit roasted lamb) are very popular. Sweets include doughnuts and honey cakes made with almonds, raisins and sesame seeds.

With its long coastline Morocco is par-ticularly well supplied with fish and sea-foods.

SP

ORT

Soccer is a very popular national sport in Morocco but there are opportunities for a wide range of activities.

The mountains of the High and Middle Atlas are snow-covered for part of the year and provide good skiing. The long coastlines of the Atlantic and Mediterra-nean make a variety of water-sports pos-sible such as swimming, sailing, surfing, water-skiing and scuba diving.

Climbing, trekking and white-water raft-ing or canoeing are all possible in Moroc-co’s four mountain ranges. Finally, with the worldwide fame of Arab horses it is not surprising that riding is also a popular sport.

HOLI

DAYS

Throughout the year there are festivi-ties celebrating local events or natural re-sources, such as the almond tree and rose festivities in February and May and the camel and horse festivals in July and Sep-tember. Moussems are festivals devoted to the memory of important holy men.

New Year’s Day, the end of the month of Ramadan, National Day, the Anniversary of The Green March and Independence Day are among the National celebra-tions.

Soumaya ChakirMouna Ziatt

COM 3325Lynne Dahmen