Geography
Perched on the upper North-west corner of Africa, and
beaconing to Europe over the Gibraltar Straits, Morocco
shares borders with Algeria in the east and with
Mauritania in the south. Bordered by the Mediterranean
Sea in the North and the Atlantic Ocean in the West,
Morocco has a coast that extends over 3,500 Km.
Population
According to the 2004 general population and housing
census, the population of Morocco is just over 30
millions inhabitants. This census is the fifth since the
declaration of independence.
Regions
The kingdom of Morocco is composed of 16 main regions.
These include :
1.Chaouia-Ouardigha
2.Doukkala-Abda
3.Fès-Boulemane
4.Gharb-Chrarda-Béni Hssen
5.Greater Casablanca
6.Guelmim-Es Semara
7.Laâyoune-Boujdour-Sakia El Hamra
8.Marrakech-Tensift-El Haouz
9.Meknès-Tafilalet
10.Oriental
11.Oued Ed-Dahab-Lagouira
12.Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaer
13.Souss-Massa-Draâ
14.Tadla-Azilal
15.Tangier-Tétouan
16.Taza-Al Hoceima-Taounate
The Greater
Casablanca region is the most densely populated region,
with over 3.6 Million people (according to the 2004
census); it is considered the economic capital of
Morocco, as it contains most of the economic activities
of the country.
The Atlantic coast
Morocco's Atlantic coast stretches over 3,000 km from
Legouira, near the border with Mauritania up to Cap
Spartel and the Straits of Gibraltar. Morocco offers
hundreds of kilometres of sand and dunes facing the
ocean waves.
The Atlantic coast of Morocco plays a big roll in the
tourism industry as well as provides shipping ports
and cater for the fishing industry.
Great cities of the plains
Marrakesh is a city in southwestern Morocco at foot
of the Atlas Mountains. Marrakesh is a city of immense
beauty loaded with outstanding attractions, events and
accommodation.
Fez is the third largest city in Morocco, after Casablanca
and Rabat.
Fez is the cultural, intellectual, and spiritual capital
of Morocco. Inherited from time immemorial when Fès,
then an imperial city, ruled over most of the Maghreb,
a multitude of vestiges and treasures are only waiting to be discovered by its visitors, notably behind the
walls of its haunting medieval city, the Medina.
The mountains
There are several fantastic mountain ranges in Morocco.
The High Atlas is the biggest one in North Africa. It
has many fertile valleys surrounded by rivers and waterfalls.
The Moroccan desert
The Sahara consists of volcanic mountains, sand, rocks
and gravel-covered plains and small areas of vast permanent
vegetation. The vegetation includes shrubs, grasses,
and trees in the highland and in the oases along the
river beds. Some of the plants are well adjusted to
the climate and sprout within three days of rain and
sow their seeds within two weeks after that. Only a
small part of the Sahara is fertile, where corn, dates
and other fruits grow, these parts are fed by underground
rivers and oases.
Languages
Morocco is a multilingual country; multiple languages
and dialects are spoken by the population in most
places.
This is the
language of the holy Qur’an and the official language of
the country. Classical Arabic is used in the
educational, administration, cultural, and in the other
official and intellectual fields in Morocco. Most
Moroccans can understand this form of Arabic, which is
spoken and written much throughout the rest of the
Middle East and North Africa. Most Arabic television
programs are in this form of Arabic
This is the daily,
conversational language for most of the population. This
dialect was introduced to Morocco over time, especially
with the spread of the troops and education from the
East. This process resulted in the emergence of
different, yet very similar dialects spoken in the
different regions of Morocco.
- The Urban
Dialect (Mdini) spoken in cities such Fez, Rabat,
Sale and Tetouan;
- The Bedouin
Dialect known as (Aroubi) spoken in the regions of
Gharb. Chaouïa, Doukkala, etc.
- The Hassani: A
form of Arabic dialect Spoken in the Shraoui regions.
This
is the oldest language in the Maghreb region, and is the
language spoken by Berbers.
It has three forms corresponding to three geographical
locations:
-
Tamazight: spoken by the population of the Middle
Atlas
-
Tashelhit: spoken by people in the South and the
Small Atlas
-
Tarifit: spoken by the population of the North and
the Rif Mountains
Tifinnagh is the name of the Berber
alphabet used to write down theses dialects.
A form of Arabic
spoken in the Moroccan Sahara area.
This language is
strongly present in Morocco since it was heavily used
during the French protectorate in1912-1956. Since
independence, French has remained as an influential
language in the country, as it is still widely used in
education and the economic domains. Some among the
educated Moroccan elite use French in their daily life
work, and even at home.
As with French;
Spanish was introduced to Morocco through the
colonisation process. Now it is still spoken in the
North and the Sahara, which were both colonized by
Spanish Troops. Spanish is found in some educational
systems in these regions.
Following the rise
of English as a global language, Morocco became very
open to this language. Today many Moroccan institutions
teach in English. Moreover, Moroccan people are also
keen to learn and use English in different areas of
life, especially in research, science, technology and
business. |