Morocco

Morocco A country in the north-west corner of Africa bounded inland by Algeria and Western Sahara and with coasts on both the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

Physical

Much of Morocco consists of the Atlas Mountains, running from the south-west to the north-east. Near the coasts it is warm and wet; in the mountains, arid. South of the mountains begins the very hot and windy Sahara Desert. Rivers from the mountains water the coastal plains and permit a wide variety of crops.

Economy

Morocco's main export is phosphates, of which it has the world's largest reserves; other minerals extracted include anthracite, iron, lead, and manganese. Morocco is dependent on imported fuel for most of its energy needs, and also relies on imports to meet food requirements. Other than phosphate production, industry concentrates on textiles and motor vehicles. Tourism is regarded as an expanding source of revenue.

History

By the 5th century BC PHOENICIANS had stations on the Moroccan coast, when the Carthaginian admiral, Hanno, passed the Straits of Gibraltar, and perhaps reached the Gulf of Guinea. A kingdom of Mauritania was formed in northern Morocco in the 4th century BC; the Romans made it the province of Mauritania Tingitana, based on Tangier. Vandals from Spain occupied the region from 428, but the Berbers controlled the interior even after the Byzantines had recovered the coast in 533. It did not come under Arab control until Musa ibn Nusayr's conquest in c.705. Under Byzantium the puritanism of the Berber character had been manifested in the DONATIST heresy; under Islam a similarly austere movement, Kharijism, arose. True Arab domination was brief, and Berber dynasties emerged, Idrisids (788–974), FATIMIDS (909–73), ALMORAVIDS (1056–1147), ALMOHADS (1145–1257), Merinids (1248–1548), and finally the Sharifian dynasties from 1524 until the present. Having defeated the Portuguese at Alcazarquivir (1578), Morocco itself attempted colonial expansion, defeating the SONGHAY empire with the help of firearms in 1591, but ruling it inefficiently.

By the 19th century, Morocco had lapsed into endemic disorder and became the target for French and Spanish imperial ambitions. In the early 20th century, German opposition to French expansionism produced serious international crises in 1905 and 1911 which almost resulted in war. In 1912 it was divided between a French protectorate, a Spanish protectorate, and the international Zone of Tangier. Rif rebels under ABD EL-KRIM fought the Spanish and French occupying powers in the 1920s, and Morocco became an independent monarchy under Muhammad V in 1956 when it absorbed Tangier. Muhammad was succeeded by his son Hassan II in 1961, but opposition sparked the suspension of parliamentary government in 1965, and royal authority has been maintained in the face of abortive military coups in the early 1970s and intermittent republican opposition. Hassan II was succeeded by his son Mohammed VI in 1999. In 1980 a new constitution proclaimed the kingdom of Morocco to be a constitutional monarchy. From the mid-1970s Morocco has been involved in an inconclusive desert war in the former Spanish Sahara. A convention was signed in 1976 dividing this mineral-rich area between Morocco and Mauritania; but the latter renounced its claims in 1979 in favour of a nationalist group, the Polisario Front. Morocco annexed the land from which Mauritania had withdrawn, despite violent resistance from the Polisario Front. Major battles were fought in 1979 and 1980, and Moroccan troops built a series of desert walls; but increasing international support was given to the Polisario Front, who in 1976 had proclaimed the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic. A ceasefire was negotiated in 1991, pending a UN-conducted referendum, but little progress has been made in negotiations to secure a permanent peace accord. Morocco was the only Maghreb country to send troops in support of the UN in the GULF WAR. A new constitution, adopted in 1992, increased the powers of the government while retaining the hereditary monarch as head of state. A programme of privatization was launched by the government in 1993. The first general election since 1984 was held in 1993. In 1998 a new national assembly was elected, with the socialist Abderrahmane el Youssouffi as Prime Minister.

Capital:	Rabat
Area:	458,730 sq km (177,117 sq miles)
Population:	27,772,000 (1998 est)
Currency:	1 dirham = 100 francs
Religions:	Muslim (mostly Sunni) 98.7%; Christian 1.1%
Ethnic Groups:	Arab-Berber 99.5%
Languages:	Arabic (official); Berber; Spanish; French
International Organizations:	UN; Non-Aligned Movement; Arab League; Maghreb Union