Where is Morocco -Where is Morocco?

Where is Morocco

Where is Morocco?

Morocco is an African country and the closest to Europe. Only 8.6 miles ( 14km ) separate Morocco and Spain on the Gibraltar strait. Morocco borders east and south with Algeria and deep South with Mauritania in the Moroccan Western Sahara region.



Morocco has the particularity of being a multi-featured country in matter of geography. Its geographic diversity is amazing and who thinks that whatever you’re about to spot in this country is nothing much than Sahara, well, think again. Take a close look to see how I break up Morocco in its geography:

1-NORTH 2-CENTER 3-ATLAS MOUNTAINS 4-SOUTH AND DESERT 5-WESTERN SAHARA

Of course this opinion can be disputed, and, my BLOG is not a political statement of any kind. If you look closely to the map above you’ll notice how deep Western Sahara goes, making the exact center of the country in Sahara Desert following the Oued Draa to Erfoud in the east.

What I do here is to separate north and south with the Atlas Mountains which actually gives a strange diagonal line separating the country. I do this just to make sure I don’t mix the Mountainous regions which I want to give special attention.

In this personal division you’ll notice how I don’t include Azrou or Ifrane in center Morocco being just a few miles away from Fez for instance, while including other cities lower than Azrou ( but to the west side ) hehe  I know you’re confused now. The problem here is that the Atlas Mountain Range spreads the country diagonally from northeast southwest. Got it?

Check out this map below which I changed just to make you quickly understand this division and where exactly the Atlas are located:



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where is morocco

traveled around Morocco with our friends Kathy and Abdul.  We flew from Seattle to New York and then directly from New York to Casablanca on Morocco's national airline, Royal Air Maroc.
Our "home base" while in Morocco was Settat, a city about one hour south of Casablanca and the hometown of our pal Abdul.  From there we made several excursions around the country.


Morocco is a country with a large population which is located in the continent/region of Africa.
Countries near Morocco include Gibraltar, Portugal, Algeria and Spain.

Professor Ron Messier, Professor Emeritus Middle Tenessee State University and Senior Lecturer in history at Vanderbilt University and his codirector Professor Abdallah Fili faculte des letters Universite d’El Jadida have been following a trail of gold a it was part of the camel caravan routes from sub-Saharan Africa through the ancient city of Sijilmassa which Ron Messier’s team excavated through to Morocco’s Medieval Capital, Aghmat. Coins minted in Sijilmassa have been  found in  an excavation in Jordan and Aghmat too minted coins for the Almoharavid empire which stretched into Spain.

The international archaeological program has been studying Aghmat Since June 2005 Medieval texts suggest  that Aghmat existed before advent of Islam in the 7th Century. It flourished under the Idrissids  in the 8th and 9th centuries and attained the rank of an Amazight city state in the late 10th Century. It became a capital under the Almoravid dynasty from 1056 to 1070 when the Almoravids moved their capital to Marrakech. Aghmat  gradually declined in competition to Marrakech.

It was an important city for routes through the Atlas Mountains on the trans Saharan trade and attracted scholars from Ifriqiyya (Tunisia) and Andalusia. The site contains the tombs the Andalusian kings al-Mu’tamid ibn Abbad of Seville and Abdallah ibn Bulukhin of Granada. Zaynab Nafzawiyya settled in Aghmat married three successive rulers,the independent Maghrawa emir and the first two Almoravid emirs.

Aghmat consisted of two towns Aghmat Ourika and Aghmat Haylana home to Bani Masmuda tribesmen. It was a rich city fully irrigated and minting gold currency for  the Almoravids.

Its biggest cities and towns include Casablanca, Rabat, Fez and Marrakesh.


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Casablanca

Many travellers stay in Casablanca just long enough to change planes or catch a train, but the sprawling metropolis deserves more time. It may not be as exotic as other Moroccan cities, but it is the country’s economical and cultural capital, and it represents Morocco on the move: Casablanca is where the money is being made, where the industry is, where art galleries show the best contemporary art and where fashion designers have a window on the world. The old pirate lair is looking towards the future, showing off its wealth and achievements.


The city saw a rapid expansion during the early days of the French Protectorate, and still attracts droves of the rural poor dreaming of a better lifestyle. Many have made it good and proudly flaunt their newfound wealth, but many others languish in the grimy shanty towns on the city’s edge.
Casablancais are cosmopolitan, and more open to Western ways than other places in Morocco. This is reflected in their dress, and in the way men and women hang out together in restaurants, bars, beaches and hip clubs. But Europe is not the only inspiration. More and more young Casablancais are realising that they come from a country with a fascinating history.
Casablanca is full of contradictions. It is home to suffocating traffic jams, simmering social problems and huge shanty towns as well as wide boulevards, well-kept public parks, fountains and striking colonial architecture.
The bleak facades of the suburbs stand in sharp contrast to the Hispano-Moorish, art-deco and modernist gems of the city centre, and to Casablanca’s modernist landmark, the enormous and incredibly ornate Hassan II Mosque.
Ready to go?


Read more: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/morocco/the-atlantic-coast/casablanca#ixzz2IiCluIer



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