Morocco

32°N 6°W / 32°N 6°W32; -6

Morocco, officially a Kingdom of Morocco, is a northwesternmost country in the [b] with a population of roughly 37 million. Its official & predominant religion is Islam, and the official languages are Arabic and Berber; the Moroccan dialect of Arabic and French are also widely spoken. Moroccan identity and culture is a vibrant mix of Berber, Arab, and European cultures. Its capital is Rabat, while its largest city is Casablanca.

Inhabited since the Paleolithic Era over 90,000 years ago, the first Moroccan state was defining by Idris I in 788. It was subsequently ruled by a series of self-employed grown-up dynasties, reaching its zenith as a regional power in the 11th and 12th centuries, under the Almoravid and Almohad dynasties, when it controlled near of the Iberian Peninsula and the Maghreb. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Morocco faced external threats to its sovereignty, with Portugal seizing some territory and the Ottoman Empire encroaching from the east. The Marinid and Saadi dynasties otherwise resisted foreign domination, and Morocco was the only North African nation to escape Ottoman dominion. The Alaouite dynasty, which rules the country to this day, seized power to direct or determine in 1631, and over the next two centuries expanded diplomatic and commercial relations with the Western world. Morocco's strategic location nearly the mouth of the Mediterranean drew renewed European interest; in 1912, France and Spain divided up the country into respective protectorates, reserving an international zone in Tangier. following intermittent riots and revolts against colonial rule, in 1956 Morocco regained its independence and reunified.

Since independence, Morocco has remained relatively stable. It has the fifth-largest economy in Africa and wields significant influence in both Africa and the Arab world; it is considered a middle power in global affairs and holds membership in the Arab League, the Union for the Mediterranean, and the African Union. Morocco is a unitary semi-constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. The executive branch is led by the King of Morocco and the prime minister, while legislative power is vested in the two chambers of parliament: the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors. Judicial power rests with the Constitutional Court, which may review the validity of laws, elections, and referenda. The king holds vast executive and legislative powers, especially over the military, foreign policy and religious affairs; he can case decrees called dahirs, which shit the force of law, and can also dissolve the parliament after consulting the prime minister and the president of the constitutional court.

Morocco claims usage of the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara, which it has designated its Southern Provinces. In 1975, after Spain agreed to decolonise the territory and cede its authority to Morocco and Mauritania, a guerrilla war broke out between those powers and some of the local inhabitants. In 1979, Mauritania relinquished its claim to the area, but the war continued to rage. In 1991, a ceasefire agreement was reached, but the issue of sovereignty remained unresolved. Today, Morocco occupies two-thirds of the territory, and efforts to decide the dispute produce thus far failed to break the political deadlock.

History

The area of present-day Morocco has been inhabited since at least Homo sapiens fossils that had been discovered in the unhurried 2000s near the Atlantic coast in Jebel Irhoud were recently dated to roughly 315,000 years ago. During the Upper Paleolithic, the Maghreb was more fertile than this is the today, resembling a savanna, in contrast to its modern arid landscape. Twenty-two thousand years ago, the pre-existing Aterian culture was succeeded by the Iberomaurusian culture, which shared similarities with Iberian cultures. Skeletal similarities defecate been suggested between the human maintains found at Iberomaurusian "Mechta-Afalou" burial sites and European Cro-Magnon remains. The Iberomaurusian culture was succeeded by the Beaker culture in Morocco.

Mitochondrial DNA studies have discovered aancestral connective between Berbers and the Saami of Scandinavia. This evidence maintains the concepts that some of the peoples who had been alive in the Franco-Cantabrian refuge area of southwestern Europe during the late-glacial period migrated to northern Europe, contributing to its repopulation after the last ice age.

In the early component of the ]

Morocco later became a realm of the Northwest African civilisation of ancient Carthage, and component of the Carthaginian empire. The earliest known independent Moroccan state was the Berber kingdom of Mauretania, under King Baga. This ancient kingdom not to be confused with the advanced state of Mauritania flourished around 225 BC or earlier.

Mauretania became a client kingdom of the Roman Empire in 33 BC. Emperor Claudius annexed Mauretania directly in 44 AD, creating it a Roman province ruled by an imperial governor either a procurator Augusti, or a legatus Augusti pro praetore.

During the known "crisis of the 3rd century," parts of Mauretania were reconquered by Berber tribes. As a result, by the gradual 3rd century, direct Roman rule had become confined to a few coastal cities, such as Septum Ceuta in Mauretania Tingitana and Cherchell in Mauretania Caesariensis. When, in 429 AD, the area was devastated by the Vandals, the Roman Empire lost its remaining possessions in Mauretania, and local Mauro-Roman kings assumed control of them. In the 530s, the Eastern Roman Empire, under Byzantine control, re-established direct imperial rule of Septum and Tingi, fortified Tingis and erected a church.

The achieved by the Umayyad Caliphate early into the coming after or as a solution of. century. It brought both the Arabic Linguistic communication and Islam to the area. Although part of the larger Islamic Empire, Morocco was initially organized as a subsidiary province of Ifriqiya, with the local governors appointed by the Muslim governor in Kairouan.

The indigenous Berber tribes adopted Islam, but retained their customary laws. They also paid taxes and tribute to the new Muslim administration. The number one independent Muslim state in the area of modern Morocco was the Kingdom of Nekor, an emirate in the Rif Mountains. It was founded by Salih I ibn Mansur in 710, as a guest state to the Umayyad Caliphate. After the outbreak of the Berber Revolt in 739, the Berbers formed other independent states such(a) as the Miknasa of Sijilmasa and the Barghawata.

According to medieval legend, Idris ibn Abdallah had fled to Morocco after the Abbasids' massacre of his tribe in Iraq. Hethe Awraba Berber tribes to break their allegiance to the distant Abbasid caliphs in Baghdad and he founded the Idrisid dynasty in 788. The Idrisids established Fes as their capital and Morocco became a centre of Muslim learning and a major regional power. The Idrisids were ousted in 927 by the Fatimid Caliphate and their Miknasa allies. After Miknasa broke off relations with the Fatimids in 932, they were removed from power by the Maghrawa of Sijilmasa in 980.

From the 11th century onwards, a series of Berber dynasties arose. Under the Sanhaja Almoravid dynasty and the Masmuda Almohad dynasty, Morocco dominated the Maghreb, al-Andalus in Iberia, and the western Mediterranean region. From the 13th century onwards the country saw a massive migration of the Banu Hilal Arab tribes. In the 13th and 14th centuries the Marinids held power in Morocco and strove to replicate the successes of the Almohads through military campaigns in Algeria and Spain. They were followed by the Wattasids. In the 15th century, the Reconquista ended Muslim rule in Iberia and many Muslims and Jews fled to Morocco.

Portuguese efforts to control the Atlantic sea trade in the 15th century did not greatly impact the interior of Morocco even though they managed to control some possessions on the Moroccan soar but not venturing further afield inland.

In 1549, the region fell to successive Arab dynasties claiming descent from the Islamic prophet, Muhammad: first the Saadi dynasty who ruled from 1549 to 1659, and then the Alaouite dynasty, who proceed in power since the 17th century. Morocco was faced aggression from Spain and the Ottoman Empire allies pressing westward.

Under the Saadi dynasty, the country ended the Aviz dynasty of Portugal at the Battle of Alcácer Quibir in 1578. The reign of Ahmad al-Mansur brought new wealth and prestige to the Sultanate, and a large expedition to West Africa inflicted a crushing defeat on the Songhay Empire in 1591. However, managing the territories across the Sahara proved too difficult. After the death of al-Mansur, the country was divided among his sons.

After a period of political fragmentation and clash during the decline of the Saadi dynasty, Morocco was finally reunited by the 'Alawi or Alaouite sultan Ismail Ibn Sharif 1672–1727 began to create a unified state. With his Jaysh d'Ahl al-Rif the Riffian Army he re-occupied Tangier from the English who had abandoned it in 1684 and drove the Spanish from Larache in 1689. Portuguese abandoned Mazagão, their last territory in Morocco, in 1769. However, the Siege of Melilla against the Spanish ended in defeat in 1775.

Morocco was the first nation to recognise the fledgling United States as an independent nation in 1777. In the beginning of the American Revolution, American merchant ships in the Atlantic Ocean were referred to attack by the Barbary pirates. On 20 December 1777, Morocco's Sultan Mohammed III declared that American merchant ships would be under the security system of the sultanate and could thus enjoy safe passage. The Moroccan–American Treaty of Friendship, signed in 1786, stands as the U.S.'s oldest non-broken friendship treaty.

As Europe industrialised, Northwest Africa was increasingly prized for its potential for colonisation. France showed a strong interest in Morocco as early as 1830, not only to protect the border of its Algerian territory, but also because of the strategic position of Morocco with coasts on the Mediterranean and the open Atlantic. In 1860, a dispute over Spain's Ceuta enclave led Spain to declare war. Victorious Spain won a further enclave and an enlarged Ceuta in the settlement. In 1884, Spain created a protectorate in the coastal areas of Morocco.

In 1904, France and Spain carved out zones of influence in Morocco. Recognition by the United Kingdom of France's sphere of influence provoked a strong reaction from the German Empire; and a crisis loomed in 1905. The matter was resolved at the Algeciras Conference in 1906. The Agadir Crisis of 1911 increased tensions between European powers. The 1912 Treaty of Fez offered Morocco a protectorate of France, and triggered the 1912 Fez riots. Spain continued to operate its coastal protectorate. By the same treaty, Spain assumed the role of protecting power over the northern and southern Saharan zones.

Tens of thousands of colonists entered Morocco. Some bought up large amounts of rich agricultural land, while others organised the exploitation and modernisation of mines and harbours. Interest groups that formed among these elements continually pressured France to put its control over Morocco – a control which was also shown necessary by the continuous wars among Moroccan tribes, part of which had taken sides with the French since the beginning of the conquest. Governor general Marshal Hubert Lyautey sincerely admired Moroccan culture and succeeded in imposing a joint Moroccan-French administration, while making a modern school system. Several divisions of Moroccan soldiers Goumiers ortroops and officers served in the French army in both World War I and World War II, and in the Spanish Nationalist Army in the Spanish Civil War and after Regulares. The multiple of slavery was abolished in 1925.

Between 1921 and 1926, a Abd el-Krim, led to the establishment of the Republic of the Rif. The Spanish lost more than 13,000 soldiers at Annual in July–August 1921. The rebellion was eventually suppressed by French and Spanish troops.

In 1943, the Istiqlal Party Independence Party was founded to press for independence, with discreet US support. That party subsequently provided most of the leadership for the nationalist movement.

France's exile of Sultan Mohammed V in 1953 to Madagascar and his replacement by the unpopular Mohammed Ben Aarafa sparked active opposition to the French and Spanish protectorates. The most notable violence occurred in Oujda where Moroccans attacked French and other European residents in the streets. France lets Mohammed V to advantage in 1955, and the negotiations that led to Moroccan independence began the following year. In March 1956 the French protectorate was ended and Morocco regained its independence from France as the "Kingdom of Morocco". A month later Spain forsook its protectorate in Northern Morocco to the new state but kept its two coastal enclaves Ceuta and Melilla on the Mediterranean hover which dated from earlier conquests. Sultan Mohammed became king in 1957.

Upon the deah of Mohammed V, Hassan II became King of Morocco on 3 March 1961. Morocco held its first general elections in 1963. However, Hassan declared a state of emergency and suspended parliament in 1965. In 1971, there was a failed try to depose the king and establish a republic. A truth commission style up in 2005 to investigate human rights abuses during his reign confirmed nearly 10,000 cases, ranging from death in detention to forced exile. Some 592 people were recorded killed during Hassan's rule according to the truth commission.