70 Fun Facts About Morocco

What is the capital city of Morocco?

Casablanca is the far bigger city and main port, but the seat of government sits on the Bou Regreg estuary.

Which body of water separates Morocco from Spain?

At its narrowest the strait is only about 13 km wide, and ferries cross from Tangier in under an hour.

Which country borders Morocco to the east?

The land border between the two has been closed since 1994, one of the longest shut borders in the world.

What is the highest peak in Morocco and all of North Africa?

At 4,167 metres it is visible from Marrakesh and is a popular two-day trek with no technical climbing.

Which mountain range runs like a backbone through central Morocco from northeast to southwest?

The range is divided into the Middle Atlas, High Atlas and Anti-Atlas, and most Moroccans live north of it.

Which two Spanish enclaves on Morocco's Mediterranean coast does Morocco claim as its own?

Spain kept both when it gave up its protectorate in 1956; a third, Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera, is a tiny fortress rock.

What is Morocco's longest river?

It rises in the High Atlas and mostly runs dry before reaching the Atlantic north of Tan-Tan.

Which Moroccan city is nicknamed the 'Blue Pearl' for its blue-washed houses?

Founded in 1471 as a small kasbah by a descendant of Idris I, it sits in the mountains of the far north.

Which Moroccan town, built by the French in 1929, is nicknamed 'Little Switzerland'?

It gets real snow in winter and hosts Al Akhawayn, the first English-language university in Northwest Africa.

Erg Chebbi, whose dunes rise up to 150 metres, lies on the edge of which desert?

The dune sea near Merzouga is about 28 km long and runs right along the Algerian border.

Roughly what is Morocco's population?

It was only 11.6 million at independence-era 1960, tripling in six decades.

Morocco was the first nation to recognise the independence of which country, in 1777?

Sultan Mohammed III declared American merchant ships under his protection, and the resulting 1786 treaty is still in force.

In which year did the Treaty of Fez make Morocco a French protectorate?

Spain took the north and Tangier became an international zone, an arrangement that lasted until 1956.

In which year did Morocco regain independence from France?

Sultan Mohammed V, exiled by the French to Madagascar three years earlier, returned to lead the new kingdom.

Which sultan founded the Idrisid dynasty in 788, the origin of the Moroccan state?

He was a great-grandson of Hasan ibn Ali who fled an Abbasid massacre in Arabia and won over the local tribes.

Which dynasty has ruled Morocco since the 17th century?

They claim descent from the Prophet Muhammad, and their dynastic red became the background of the national flag.

Morocco was the only North African nation never to fall under the rule of which power?

Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli all became Ottoman provinces; the Saadi and Marinid dynasties kept the Turks out.

Morocco's Saadi dynasty conquered which West African state in the late 16th century, seizing Timbuktu?

Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur sent an army with muskets across the Sahara to seize Timbuktu and its gold and salt trade.

Fes el Bali, the walled quarter holding the Chouara tannery, is a famous example of what kind of city core?

Its car-free lanes make it one of the largest urban pedestrian zones in the world.

The 1578 Battle of the Three Kings in Morocco killed the young king of which European country?

Sebastian I disappeared on the field at Alcácer Quibir; without an heir, Portugal passed to Philip II of Spain for 60 years.

The 1975 'Green March' of about 350,000 Moroccans was aimed at taking over which territory from Spain?

Spain withdrew weeks later; the territory's status is still unresolved and patrolled by a UN mission.

Which two Allied leaders met at the January 1943 Casablanca Conference?

The meeting at the Anfa Hotel produced the demand for the Axis powers' 'unconditional surrender'.

Which rebel leader established the short-lived Republic of the Rif in the 1920s?

Spain resorted to mustard gas bombing before a Franco-Spanish force crushed the republic in 1926-27.

Which king has ruled Morocco since 1999?

He succeeded his father Hassan II, whose 38-year reign was known as the 'years of lead' for its repression.

The Roman ruins of Volubilis, near Meknes, were the capital of which ancient kingdom?

The city grew rich on olive oil and its town houses still have superb mosaic floors.

The 14th-century traveller Ibn Battuta was born in which Moroccan city?

His account, the Rihla, covers some 117,000 km across Africa, Arabia, India and China.

Which two languages are official in Morocco?

French is widely used in business and government but has no official status; the Berber language became official in 2011.

What is the name of the Moroccan dialect of Arabic that serves as the everyday lingua franca?

It is peppered with French, Spanish and Berber loanwords and is often hard for other Arabic speakers to follow.

What is the currency of Morocco?

It replaced the Moroccan franc in 1960 and is divided into 100 santimat.

What symbol sits at the centre of Morocco's red flag?

The pentagram, said to stand for the five pillars of Islam, was added by Sultan Yusef in 1915.

Besides being head of state, the Moroccan king holds which religious title?

The title Amir al-Mu'minin rests on the dynasty's claimed descent from the Prophet Muhammad.

The University of al-Qarawiyyin, cited as the world's oldest, was founded in which city?

It was founded as a mosque by a woman, Fatima al-Fihri, who spent her whole inheritance on it.

Who founded al-Qarawiyyin as a mosque in the 9th century?

She and her sister Mariam had inherited a fortune from their merchant father, originally from Kairouan in Tunisia.

Before 1948, Morocco had the Muslim world's largest Jewish community, numbering about how many?

By 2022 the community had shrunk to about 3,500, with most Moroccan Jews now living in Israel and France.

The Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, completed in 1993, has the world's second-tallest what?

It stands 60 storeys high on a promontory over the Atlantic and fires a laser beam toward Mecca at night.

The Koutoubia tower in Marrakesh is thought to have inspired which famous tower in Seville?

Both were built by the Almohads within a few decades of each other in the late 12th century, along with the unfinished Hassan Tower.

Marrakesh's famous main square, home to snake charmers, storytellers and food stalls, is called what?

One reading of the name is 'mosque of ruination', after a Saadian mosque begun on the site and never finished; the city also gave the whole country its English name, via the Spanish Marruecos.

Which fashion designer bought and restored the Majorelle Garden in Marrakesh in 1980?

He and partner Pierre Bergé rescued the garden created by painter Jacques Majorelle; a museum in his name opened next door in 2017.

Aït Benhaddou, the mud-brick village seen in Lawrence of Arabia and Game of Thrones, is what kind of settlement?

The clay ksar on the old caravan route to the Sahara has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.

Atlas Studios, where Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven were shot, is just outside which Moroccan town?

Founded in 1983, the studio leaves its sets standing and now runs guided tours for tourists.

The classic 1942 film Casablanca was shot almost entirely where?

Only one sequence, at Van Nuys Airport, was shot outside the studio lot; nobody involved went to Morocco.

'Marrakesh Express', a 1969 hit about a train ride in Morocco, was recorded by which trio?

It reached No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remains the group's only UK top-40 single.

Which American author of The Sheltering Sky settled in Morocco, drawing Tennessee Williams and Burroughs to visit?

Bowles lived in Tangier for over 50 years and set The Sheltering Sky in North Africa.

Which Orson Welles film won at Cannes in 1952 while entered under the Moroccan flag?

Welles shot much of it in Essaouira (then Mogador), and Morocco was the only country willing to sponsor the entry.

Which dish is described as Morocco's national delicacy?

Traditionally served on Fridays after prayers, it is steamed several times over a stew in a two-tier pot.

A tagine is both a Moroccan stew and the earthenware pot it cooks in, distinguished by what shape of lid?

The design traps steam and drips it back onto the food; the conical version originated in Tafraout.

Moroccan mint tea is made from spearmint, sugar and which kind of tea?

By tradition it is poured by the head of the household and at least three glasses are served to a guest.

Which animal famously climbs Morocco's argan trees to eat the fruit?

The tree grows almost nowhere else on earth, and photos of tree-climbing goats have become a Moroccan tourist staple.

Which sweet-savoury Moroccan pigeon or chicken pie, dusted with sugar and cinnamon, is also spelled bsteeya?

It is a party dish, wrapped in paper-thin warqa pastry and served at weddings.

The macaque species native to Morocco's mountains is famous for an introduced population on which European rock?

About 300 live on the Rock, the only wild monkeys in Europe.

The last wild specimen of which big cat, a Moroccan emblem, was shot in Morocco in 1922?

Descendants survive in zoos, and the national football team's nickname keeps the memory alive.

What is the nickname of Morocco's national football team?

They play home games at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in the capital.

At the 2022 World Cup, Morocco became the first African team to reach which stage?

They knocked out Belgium and both Iberian sides before losing to France, then finished fourth.

Morocco was chosen to co-host the 2030 FIFA World Cup with which two countries?

It won on its sixth bid, having lost out for 1994, 1998, 2006, 2010 and 2026.

Nawal El Moutawakel, the first woman from an Arab country to win Olympic gold, won which event in 1984?

Saïd Aouita won the 5,000 metres at the same Los Angeles Games, giving Morocco two track golds.

Which Moroccan won the 1500 m and 5000 m in 2004 and still holds the mile record?

His 3:43.13 mile from 1999 is one of the longest-standing records in athletics.

Al Boraq, opened in 2018 between Casablanca and the north coast, was the first what in Africa?

Trains reach 320 km/h on the Tangier–Kenitra stretch, cutting the trip to about two hours.

Morocco's Noor complex, backed by the World Bank, is a giant plant generating which kind of energy?

The country aims to export renewable electricity to Europe and cut its reliance on imported coal.

Roughly how many people were killed by the September 2023 earthquake near Marrakesh?

The epicentre was in the High Atlas about 70 km southwest of the city, and many remote mud-brick villages were flattened.

About 80% of Europe's hashish comes from which Moroccan mountain region?

Cannabis has been grown around Ketama for centuries, and Morocco legalised it for medical and industrial use in 2021.

How many regions is Morocco officially divided into, including those covering the disputed south?

They are subdivided into 62 provinces and 13 prefectures.

Morocco was the first Arab and African country to reach the second round of a World Cup in which year?

They topped a group containing England, Poland and Portugal before losing to West Germany in the round of 16.

Morocco set a tourism record in 2023 with roughly how many international arrivals?

Agadir alone accounts for about a third of the country's hotel bed nights.

Marrakesh was founded around 1070 as the capital of which Berber dynasty?

Abu Bakr ibn Umar founded the city, and the red walls built in 1122-23 gave Marrakesh its nickname, the Red City.

Roughly how far do the 12th-century ramparts of Marrakesh stretch around the medina?

Built of orange-red clay and chalk, the walls stand up to 5.8 metres high with 20 gates and 200 towers.

Which medina quarter is described as the oldest continuously inhabited walled city in the Arab world?

It sits on both shores of the Oued Fes, and the whole UNESCO-listed medina is one of the world's largest car-free urban zones.

Which Almohad ruler established the Menara Gardens of Marrakesh in 1157?

Centred on a large reservoir surrounded by olive groves, the Menara and the Agdal are the city's largest and oldest gardens.

In which year was Fez first founded by Idris I on the bank of the Jawhar River?

His son Idris II founded a second city across the river, and the Almoravids merged the two into one around 1070.

Until the late 19th century, Fez was the only place in the world that made which item?

Tanning has sustained the city since its earliest days, and the tanneries of Fes el-Bali still operate today.

Under which dynasty did Fez reach its golden age and regain its status as capital in 1250?

The new administrative city of Fes Jdid was founded in 1276, and many of the madrasas from this era still survive.