Morocco

Mountainous country of western North Africa, Morocco borders Algeria to the east and southeast, Western Sahara to the south, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north. Morocco has been subject to extensive migration and has long been the location, of urban communities that were originally settled by peoples from outside the region. The indigenous people of Moroccan are primarily Arab and Berber, as in other neighbouring countries in the Maghreb region. The Berbers are native to North Africa and it is estimated that there are between 30 and 40 Million Berber, speaking people in Africa. These Berber, form the majority of the population that live in Morocco and Algeria, with pockets of Berbers residing in Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania, Mali and Niger. It has been controlled by Carthage from an early date, the region was later the westernmost province of the Roman Empire. Following the Arab conquest of the late 7th Century CE, the broader area of North Africa came to be known as the Maghrib (Arabic: “the West”), and the majority of its people accepted Islam. Subsequent Moroccan kingdoms enjoyed political influence that extended beyond the coastal regions, and in the 11th century the first native Amazigh dynasty of North Africa, the Almoravids, gained control of an empire stretching from Andalusian (southern) Spain to parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Attempts by Europeans to establish permanent footholds in Morocco beginning in the late 15th Century were largely repulsed, but the country later became the subject of Great Power politics in the 19th Century. Morocco was made a French protectorate in 1912 but regained independence in 1956. Today it is the only monarchy in North Africa. Spain however, owns the two Coastal Port Cities of; Ceuta and Melilla. Morocco borders Algeria to the east and southeast, Western Sahara to the south, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north. It is the only African country with coastal exposure to both the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Its area—excluding the territory of Western Sahara, which Morocco controls—is slightly larger than the U.S. state of California. Two small Spanish enclaves, Ceuta and Melilla, are situated on the country’s northern coast.