Ah, Morocco!
It's not a Latin country. You're thinking "maracas." It's in the Arab world.
It's not really Arab much. It's in Africa and not the Middle East. But it borders Spain, literally. Like three times.
This is gonna be a fun one.
[Geography Now! theme]
Hey everybody, I'm your host Barbs.
Most of you may have at least *heard* of the country Morocco.
So many iconic images of Casablanca, the markets of Marrakesh, couscous,
and fez hats! Although they did not originate here. But they totally made it popular.
There's a lot going on and a lot of stuff to cover. So let's just find this place on the map first. Shall we?
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For Morocco, they have their own interesting way of doing things and you kind of have that West Coast Arab vibe.
They're kind of like the California of the Arab world, I guess you could say.
Oddly enough, they also kind of have the same size and population of California
Anyway, the country is located in the North African region known as the Maghreb.
It straddles the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Mediterranean to the northeast,
with a narrow 8 mile wide (or 13 kilometer) corridor between them and the tip of Spain
known as the Strait of Gibraltar.
Even though Gibraltar, an overseas territory of the UK, is here
and the actual closest tip of Spain is here, on the town and island of Tarifa.
They are bordered by Algeria to the east and ... we'll talk about these things in a sec, it's a tricky subject.
The country is divided into 12 regions, 3 of which are locked in areas with a confusing dispute,
and the capital Rabat, located along the west Atlantic coast.
The largest city, Casablanca, is just a skip away, whereas the next largest cities are Fez, closer inland,
while Tangier and Marrakesh have almost identical populations and sometimes switch off for third place.
Of course, the busiest airport is Casablanca's Mohammed V International.
However, the next busiest are actually Marrakesh and Agadir,
both incredibly popular destinations for business and tourism.
Now, let's get into the good stuff.
You guys know how much I love territorial anomalies and Morocco is loaded with them.
First off, context! Morocco has gone through a lot of sovereignty switches.
Historically, they were a French protectorate and parts of it were colonized by the Spanish.
United Nations labels this area as the largest and most populous non-self governing territory in the world
And in a nutshell, it kind of went like this:
Spain: Okay, guys, I'm leaving.
It seems like you guys are the ones that want this land the most so I'll let you guys figure it out. See ya!
Mauritania: Sweet, it's mine. Morocco: It's mine. Mauritania: No, it's mine!
[arguing]
Polisario: IT'S MINE!
Basically, there was a war between all three sides. Mauritania eventually stepped down but Morocco kept going,
and to this day about 80% of the land, starting at around the 27th parallel,
(including almost the entire coast and most of the resources, with a sizable offshore oil deposit)
is de facto run by Morocco.
Out of the half million residents in this area, only about 1/5 live in the Polisario claimed areas,
and about 40% alone live in the Moroccan-run city of Laayoune, or El Aaiún.
If you move inland though, you reach the sand berm, a militarized wall in the middle of the sands
that separates the SADR separatists from the rest of Morocco.
Here you reach the last and probably most intense Moroccan outpost,
Guerguera, which sits right on the berm wall.
And from there the map literally says "No Man's Land" until you reach the very tip of the Nouadhibou peninusla
that we talked about in the Mauritania episode, and it has an abandoned town called La Guera at the very tip.
This is technically the only coastal land that the Polisario Front has in their territorial claim.
However, they don't really use it much because most of their imports come in from Mauritania or Algeria.
Their headquarters is located in the town of Tindouf.
Plus, you know, Morocco is kind of keeping a very close eye on making sure that they don't try anything funny with access to the ocean.
If you want to visit the Western Sahara, though, you can pretty much only enter from Morocco
and even then it might get closed off during times of tension.
Whereas entrance to the Polisario Front-claimed territory is almost impossible to any outsiders.
To this day, about 40 countries have diplomatic relations with the SADR.
No nation fully recognizes Morocco's full sovereignty over the entire area.
However, many do support the idea of Morocco annexing the area
as an autonomous self-governing region under the Kingdom of Morocco.
And if that wasn't enough, say hello to Spain's little friends!
If you go up north on the Mediterranean, you'll find the plazas de soberanía.
These are like the last and final remnants of the Spanish Empire in northern Africa scattered along the coast.
According to international law,
the legality of these areas fall under Spain as scholars have been able to defend the claim
that the modern state of Morocco was founded after these areas were already constitutionally part of Spain.
Even though Morocco was like:
Spain: That's mine.
Morocco: Really? I mean this button is literally attached to my shirt.
Spain: It's still *my* button, though.
The two largest entities being the cities of Ceuta, closer to Spain in the west with a population of about 82,000,
and Melila, a little further east with a population about 80,000, and it has its own airport!
In addition, you have the three Alhucemas Islands, the three Chafarinas Islands,
and finally, Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera, an incredibly small military outpost
only connected by an 85 meter wide sandy isthmus, making it the world's shortest international land border.
In addition, two more islands fall under disputed territory.
There's Isla Perejil, Nube Island and Isla de Alboran.
Whoo! Otherwise I asked you guys, the Moroccan geograpeeps,
to give us a list of some of the coolest notable sites of Morocco.
Some of the stuff you guys mentioned were:
Baadi Castle,
the blue city of Chefchaouen,
Jardins majorelle,
Mohammed V mausoleum,
the Hercules cave,
Ibn Danan synagogue,
the Gates of Fez,
and Fez disputably has the largest car-free urban zone,
these ruins of a Roman city,
the castle of Meknes,
this university which is like the oldest in the world,
the Merenid tombs,
and of course Hassan II mosque in Casablanca,
the seventh largest mosque in the world and it has the highest minaret in the world.
And speaking of things that have height, Morocco has some amazing mountains which brings us to...
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Now people tend to think that northern Africa is all sand,
but when you head west, they have more rocks in Mo-rocc-o.
[slap]
Man, I haven't done a slap gig in a long time. Thank you, Hannah.
First of all, the country lies right on the boundary where the African plate meets the Eurasian plate,
with the Atlas thrust fault lines cutting through the country just at the very northern tip at the Rif mountains.
This also creates the other three mountain chains: the Middle Atlas, the Anti-Atlas, and the High Atlas,
where the tallest peak and tallest in north Africa can be found, Toubkhal.
Also you can find the largest lake, the Bin el Ouidane reservoir, and the source of the longest river, the Draa river,
which flows all the way into the Atlantic.
If you include Western Sahara down south, you get more dry and empty vast desert land
with a decent mineral deposit used for mining.
Basically, the coastal areas north of the mountains, where the majority of the population lives,
are of course flatter and arable with more lush vegetation.
Sometimes it even snows in the high altitudes. Morocco even has the largest ski resort in Africa.
Whereas everything south of that is pretty much dry, rocky, and hot.
Alright, and that's that! Now, it's time for my triple shot of espresso break like usual, which means Noah comes --
Did somebody say Noah?
Now despite the arid terrain, Morocco actually has quite a comfortable set of natural resources,
About 18% of the land is arable and about 12% of the country is forested.
The country also has a wide range of biodiversity.
Many are endemic, like gazelles, boars, and fennec foxes, over 90 species of reptiles, and macaque monkeys.
And yes, you may have seen the pictures of those tree climbing goats? Yep, they do exist.
They are found here as well, mostly in the town of Tamri.
Unfortunately, due to illegal animal trade and human intervention, much of the species are disappearing.
And some like the national symbol of Morocco, the Barbary lion, have gone extinct in the area.
The last one was seen in 1922.
Otherwise, Morocco has the fifth largest economy in Africa by GDP per person with parity.
Service industry jobs, mostly in mining, take the largest chunk of the workforce.
I mean, they do hold about 75% of the world's known phosphorus mines.
Nonetheless, they are still a heavily agrarian-dependent nation as the sector employs about 40% of the populace.
It is said that Morocco has the largest fish market in Africa, taking about 3% of their entire GDP
and they are the largest exporter of sardines in the world.
Finally, a little interesting side note, even though it's illegal to smoke it,
they are the top exporter of legally grown cannabis in the world, sold in the form of hashish.
On average, they produce about 70 percent of Europe's imports.
Speaking of resources, food!
Some top dishes you guys, the Moroccan geograpeeps, mentioned include things like:
anything cooked in a Tajine pot,
Rfissa,
Harira soup,
Pastilla,
Seffa,
Mrouzia,
Mechoui,
ad of course, the national dish of couscous. Everyone knows this one.
And sweets like these amazing things.
And finally, you cannot go around Morocco without stumbling upon their favorite drink, mint tea.
Oh, and Morocco is pretty much the only country that produces and exports argan oil.
It is used in a variety of ways, sometimes in food, sometimes in cosmetics or hair products.
It's pretty much the only thing that controls my hair.
And speaking of things with hair, people! Let's get to it, shall we?
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Ah, that was a good transition, wasn't it? "People," because people have hair.
Uh, yeah, I get it. I mean you wrote it. So, uh...
Yeah, and you said it good.
In the Arab world, Morocco is kind of seen as like the strange cousin that got brought into the family by marriage.
Most Moroccans probably wouldn't even identify as Arab. Let's explain.
First of all, the country has about 36 million people
and has the largest native Berber / Amazigh community in all of Africa.
It's hard to get exact estimates, but the censuses say that somewhere around 41 to 80% of the entire population
has Berber / Amazigh ancestry whether it be full or partial, whereas 90% are non-Berber identifying Arabs.
The remaining 1% are made up of other groups, mostly French and Spanish, as well as West African immigrants.
They use the Moroccan dirham as their currency, they use the type C and E plug outlets,
and they drive on the right side of the road.
And on that note, what is Berber / Amazigh?
Now, we've talked about this in quite a few other videos before but basically, in a nutshell,
they are the native indigenous semi-nomadic peoples that have inhabited various regions of North Africa prior to Arab conquests.
They have a completely different story and background from Arabs.
They have their own traditions, customs, art, clothing, and language.
Today, Berber / Amazigh is an official language alongside Arabic in both Morocco and Algeria
and it can be written in both the Latin and Neo-Tifinagh script, which looks awesome.
It looks like dancing people and you can find it on street signs and billboards all over.
That being said, most metropolitan Moroccans are trilingual,
growing up with both languages and a European one as a third, mostly French.
They were a French protectorate at one point.
Keith, if I asked you to ask all the Arabs around the world which country they probably think
has the weirdest dialect, which one do you think they'd say?
Well considering, I think this is the Moroccan episode we're on, right? So I'm gonna go with Moroccan.
-Yep. -Is that all you need me for?
Yeah, I mean you just needed more screen time because the subscribers love you.
All right! Well, I'm gonna go awkwardly dance in the back
-So I will catch you ... -I don't see why not.
Moroccan speak Arabic with a distinct dialect known as Darija.
Very hard to understand from a standard speaker, and some say it could even be classified as its own language.
Much of it is influenced off of Berber / Amazigh.
For example, here's one of our subscribers from Morocco explaining.
Wow! On another note, Morocco is also a monarchy,
a kingdom ruled under Mohammed VI, claiming to be a direct descendant of the Islamic prophet Mohammed.
He belongs to the Alaouite dynasty, the second oldest ruling dynasty in the world
after Japan's Yamato imperial family.
The country's state religion is Islam, the vast majority at about 99% identify as adhering to the faith,
mostly in the Sunni branch, and the remainder are mostly Christians and a small Jewish community.
Speaking of which, Morocco used to have the largest Jewish population in the Arab world,
some estimates claiming to be up to 350,000.
After war-times of the 20th century though, nearly all of them either fled or were expelled,
most heading to Israel, and today Moroccan Jews make up the second largest Jewish ethnic subgroup in Israel.
And today less than 3,000 remain in Morocco.
Culturally speaking, Moroccans have a very vibrant background, most of which being Berber / Amazigh influenced.
Keep in mind though, there are many different types of Berber / Amazigh peoples and tribes.
Some are light-skinned, some are dark skinned, some have different customs,
but overall there are some universal traits that they all kind of share.
-You know what, Hannah? Come on in, just take this one. You know, why not? -Okay.
Prior to the spread of Islam, most Berber / Amazigh were traditionally Animus,
that practiced things like ancestor veneration
Facial and body tattoos were common a long time ago amongst women,
with each image symbolizing something important, but the practice has been dying out since the 1940s
and today you can only find it mostly amongst the elderly.
The national dress for both men and women, a unisex garb, is called djellaba,
a long loose hooded garment which serves to keep the person warm, but also protected from the sun.
Moroccan architecture and literature is unique in itself.
The high-walled dar structure is common to help ward off thieves and animals while minimizing heat.
Metalwork, textiles, and pottery are, of course, world-renowned.
Much of the traditional music incorporates a fusion of Arab and Berber / Amazigh undertones,
with a touch of French and maybe Andalusian Spanish.
Geez, this list is getting pretty long. Ken, what else do we have to cover?
Oh, let's see. There's the fortune-teller thing, the Hammam baths house,
the Rif independence thing, the weird dentists you can find in the market place....
Eh, we don't have time. Let's just save it for Fan Friday.
Thank you, Hannah. I'll do the history part now.
For Morocco's history, in the quickest way I can condense it:
the state of Carthage,
independent Berber kingdoms,
Roman empire,
Muslim conquests,
Berber revolt,
first Moroccan state under this dynasty,
these dynasties come in which are responsible for Muslim Spain,
Reconquista occurs,
these dynasties,
finally the Alaouite dynasty, which is the current one,
first Moroccan crisis,
Treaty of Fez
independence,
Green March,
Arab Spring,
and here we are today.
I asked you guys, the Moroccan geograpeeps, for a list of some famous Moroccans,
whether they are partial or fully Moroccan. Some people you mentioned were
historical figures like: Ibn Rushd, or Averroes,
Ibn Tashfin,
Ibn Battuta,
Princess Dihya,
Tariq Ibn Ziyad,
contemporaries: like Samira Said,
Saad Lamjarred,
Badr Hari,
Merieme Chadid,
Mehdi Benatia,
Othman Benjelloun,
Gad Elmaleh,
Red One,
French Montana,
Edith Piaf -
yeah, she was part Moroccan -
technically, kind of, David Guetta
Hicham Gerouj,
and of course the Moroccan royal family.
Whoo! Yeah, Morocco has quite a lot of interesting people in backstory.
No wonder why they have such a unique set of friends.
See what I did there? It's a transition into the...
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Now Morocco's proximity to Europe and access to the Atlantic
has always meant that they had way more exposure to the Western world than most of their cousins
which has played a crucial role in their diplomacy.
For one, they were the first country in the world to recognize the USA as a country. Yeah, Morocco!
During the Revolution time, Sultan Muhammad III in 1777 said
any American merchant ship in his trade routes were under his protection,
and in 1786, they signed the Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship,
which is actually the oldest friendship treaty in the USA.
With Spain, it's kind of like a love-hate relationship as they do great business and have history,
but there's always the exclave thing.
Saudi Arabia is like a close friend that typically supports and funds many projects and deals in Morocco.
Morocco sent troops to help Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War, and the two kings get along pretty well.
When it comes to their best friends, however, it's interesting because most Moroccans I have talked to have actually said France.
Despite the past colonial issues, they've moved on and France does the most business with Morocco.
French is widely spoken, both countries peoples are always visiting or moving to each other,
France has the highest Moroccan population outside of Morocco, and today they work together beautifully.
In conclusion, Morocco is kind of like the uncle that married into the Arab family.
It's probably one of the most beautiful places to visit in the Arab world,
but maybe not the best place to learn what it truly means to be Arabic.
Stay tuned, Mozambique is coming up next!
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