Morocco

Morocco faces two seas, the Mediterranean along its northern shore and the Atlantic down its long western coast, with Spain in sight across the Strait of Gibraltar. The Rif mountains curve along the north, and the Middle and High Atlas cross the country on a diagonal, rising to Toubkal, the highest peak in North Africa. Between the mountains and the Atlantic lie farmed plains and the coastal cities; beyond them the Anti-Atlas and the palm groves of the Draa and Ziz valleys lead into the Sahara and the dunes of Erg Chebbi.

Amazigh peoples have lived here since prehistory, and Phoenicians and Romans traded along the coast, leaving the Roman town of Volubilis. Islam came with Arab conquerors in the late seventh century, and dynasties such as the Almoravids and Almohads ruled from Marrakesh over an empire reaching into Spain. The Alaouite dynasty came to power in the seventeenth century. France and Spain divided the country into protectorates in 1912, and Morocco regained its independence in 1956.

The medina of Fez, a maze of lanes, holds al-Qarawiyyin, founded in 859 and often described as the oldest university still teaching. Gnawa music, mint tea poured from a height, and tagines slow-cooked in clay pots belong to daily life, and Amazigh languages are spoken across the mountains. Phosphates and fertilisers, cars built at Tangier and Kenitra, citrus, tomatoes and sardines, and tourism to Marrakesh and the coast are the main earners, along with money sent home by Moroccans in Europe.