Visiting Morocco
For travel guide for Morocco and practical advice regarding eating, drinking, shopping, how to get around, price levels on lodging and holiday
accomodation (e.g. hotels, vacation rentals by owner, b&b's, vacation rental homes, holiday villas, condos, cabins, hostels, self-catering cottages)
and safety hints please click here.
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Morocco facts, geography & history
Facts
Government: Constitutional monarchy.
Population (est.): 33,250,000.
Capital, population (est.): Rabat, 1,650,000.
Language: Arabic (official), Berber dialects, French often used for business, government, and diplomacy.
Monetary unit: Dirham.
Geography
At 172,402 sq.mi (446,550 sq.km), Morocco is the fifty-seventh largest country in the world (after Uzbekistan). It is comparable in size to Iraq, and
is somewhat larger than the US state of California.
Algeria 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: Ceuta, Melilla, Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera, Peñón de Alhucemas, and the Chafarinas islands, as well as the disputed
islet Perejil. 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 Strait of Gibraltar, giving it power over the waterways in and out of the Mediterranean sea. The Rif mountains occupy the region
bordering the Mediterranean from the north-west to the north-east. The Atlas Mountains 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 Sahara, a former
Spanish colony that was annexed by Morocco in 1975 (see Green March). Morocco claims that the Western Sahara is part of its territory and refers to that
as its Southern Provinces.
Morocco's capital city is Rabat; its largest city is its main port, Casablanca.
Other cities include Agadir, Essaouira, Fes, Marrakech, Meknes, Mohammadia, Oujda, Ouarzazat, Safi, Salè, Tangier and Tétouan.
The climate is Mediterranean, which becomes more extreme towards the interior regions where it is mountainous. The terrain is such that the coastal plains
are rich and accordingly, they comprise the backbone for agriculture................
Adopted from and read more at:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morocco
History
If you are interested in this country's history, please take a look
here. |
