"Morocco" a Morocco Travel Page by traveldave

Morocco is a beautiful and exotic country situated in the northwest corner of Africa. One of its most predominant geographical features is the Atlas Mountains, which run for 450 miles (725 kilometers) down the center of the country and attain heights of up to 13,665 feet (4,167 meters). Although Morocco has a warm, semi-desert climate, the higher parts of the Atlas Mountains have a permanent covering of snow. The mountains serve to separate the fertile coastal plain in the west from the Sahara Desert in the east.

The indiginous people of Morocco are the Berbers. Many of them have fair skin and blue eyes, which leads ethnographers to believe they may have a European origin. They were overrun by Arab invaders in the eighth century and as a result, Morocco became a Muslim country dominated by the Arabic culture. There are still two cultures in Morocco, however; the Berbers inhabit the mountainous regions, and the Arabs tend to live in the lower coastal regions.

Morocco was also colonized by the Spanish and then the French. It gained its independence from France in 1956, and to this day the French influence is strong. Many of the country's elite speak only French, and even many other people throughout the country are able to speak at least some French.

My trip to Morocco involved visits to Casablanca, Rabat, Meknčs, Fez, Marrakech, and the Atlas Mountains. This itinerary gave me a good overview of the various regions and cultures of this fascinating country.

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