Morocco

For other uses, see Morocco (disambiguation).

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, though the Algerian border is closed, Western Sahara to the south and Mauritania, and the Atlantic Ocean to its north and west.

Morocco claims ownership of Western Sahara and has administered most of the territory since 1975. The status of Western Sahara is disputed, pending a United Nations referendum.

المملكة المغربية
Al Mamlakah al-Maghribiyah

Missing image Morocco_flag_large.png Flag of Morocco (Flag) (Coat of Arms)
Motto: الله، الوطن، الملك (God, Country, King)
Anthem: Hymne Cherifien
Missing image LocationMorocco.png Location of Morocco
Capital	Rabat Template:Coor dm
Largest city	Casablanca
Official languages	Arabic
Government King Prime Minister	Constitutional Monarchy Mohammed VI Driss Jettou
Independence From France	March 2 1956
Area  • Total  • Water (%)	446,550 km² (56th) -
Population  • 2003 est.  • — census  • Density	31,689,267 (36th) — 481/km² (123)
GDP (PPP)  • Total  • Per capita	1999 estimate $108 billion (54th) $4,444 (110th)
Currency	Dirham (MAD)
Time zone  • Summer (DST)	UTC (UTC+0) UTC (UTC+0)
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 Morocco in most other languages originates from the name of the former capital, Marrakech (meaning "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. It remained a Kingdom until it achieved independence in 1956. It then recovered 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 by any nation.

Morocco was the first nation to recognize the fledging United States 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 (consulate) in Tangier, is the first property the U.S. owned abroad. It now houses the Tangier American Legation Museum. Morocco was granted Major Non-Nato Ally status in June 2004 and signed with the United States and the European Union free trade agreements.

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

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, primarily 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. There are also four Spanish enclaves on the Mediterranean coast: Ceuta (or Sebta), 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 Free Trade Agreements with the European Union (to take effect 2010) and the United States of America. The United States Senate approved by a vote of 85 to 13 on July 22, 2004 the Free Trade Agreement with Morocco (http://www.moroccousafta.com/ftafulltext.htm), which, as soon as it goes into effect, will allow for 95% of the two-way trade of consumer and industrial products to be without tariffs.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Morocco

Culture

Main article: Culture of Morocco

• Cuisine of Morocco
• List of writers from Morocco
• Music of Morocco

Miscellaneous topics

• Communications in Morocco
• Transportation in Morocco
• Military of Morocco
• Foreign relations of Morocco
• Grands Caids
• Moroccan Wall
• List of newspapers#Morocco 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

Template:Portal Template:Commonscat Template:Wiktionary

Government

• Kingdom of Morocco (http://www.mincom.gov.ma/english/e_page.html) official portal
• Parliament of Morocco (http://www.parlement.ma/) official site (Arabic)

News

• allAfrica - Morocco (http://allafrica.com/morocco/) news headline links
• Maghreb Arabe Presse (http://www.map.ma/eng) government news agency
• The North Africa Journal (http://www.north-africa.com/one.htm) financial news

Overviews

• Arab Gateway – Morocco (http://www.al-bab.com/maroc/)
• BBC News – Country Profile: Morocco (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/country_profiles/791867.stm)
• CIA World Factbook – Morocco (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/mo.html)
• Background note of the US Dept. of State on Morocco, Oct. 2004 (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5431.htm).
• GlobalAdrenaline – Morocco (http://www.globaladrenaline.com/africa/morocco/)

Directories

• LookSmart – Morocco (http://search.looksmart.com/p/browse/us1/us317916/us559898/us559899/us10065673/us559936/)
• MoroccoLinks.com (http://www.moroccolinks.com/) directory
• Open Directory Project – Morocco (http://dmoz.org/Regional/Africa/Morocco/)
• University of Pennsylvania – African Studies Center: Morocco (http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/Country_Specific/Morocco.html)
• Yahoo! – Morocco (http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/Countries/Morocco/)

Tourism

• Template:Wikitravel

Other

• Morocco365 (http://www.morocco365.com/) portal
• Moroccans on the world (http://www.yabiladi.com/) portal (French)
• Portal of Moroccans in the U.S. (http://www.wafin.com)

• Higher education and professional training in Morocco (in French) (http://www.hec.ac.ma/Enseignement.html)
• The EU's relations with Morocco (http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/morocco/intro/)
• The American Legation in Tangier (http://www.legation.org)
• Moroccan American Trade Council (http://www.moroccanamericantrade.com)
• Description of the Moroccan-American FTA and components (http://www.moroccousafta.com/index_ang.htm)
• Final text of the Moroccan-American FTA (http://www.moroccousafta.com/ftafulltext.htm)
• Description of benefits of the Moroccan-American FTA (http://www.moroccanamericantrade.com/FTAsummEn.pdf)
• Moroccousafta (http://www.moroccousafta.com/index_ang.htm) a site about the Morocco/US Free Trade Agrement

• Map: [1] (http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/morocco.pdf) (pdf); links to more: [2] (http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/map_sites/country_sites.html#morocco)

• Guest houses Guide of Morocco (http://www.marocvoyages.net/) travel guide
• Lexicorient – Morocco (http://lexicorient.com/morocco/index.htm) travel site
• The Magic Morocco (http://www.magicmorocco.com/) travel site
• Moroccan Culture Series (http://french.about.com/library/travel/bl-ma-index.htm) – observations by an American woman living in Morocco
• Pictures from a backpacker's trip through Morocco in 2000 (http://www.ianandwendy.com/OtherTrips/SpainPortugalMorocco/Morocco/index.htm)

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