Morocco Trivia
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69 free Morocco trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Morocco is one of the world's oldest continuously existing states, the only North African country the Ottomans never conquered, and the first nation on earth to recognise the United States. This Morocco trivia quiz covers all of it: the geography of the Atlas and Rif mountains, the Sahara dunes and the Strait of Gibraltar; the history from Idris I and the Almohads through the French protectorate, the Green March and today's king; the culture of Fez's medina, Marrakesh's Jemaa el-Fnaa square, the blue town of Chefchaouen and the world's oldest university; the food (couscous, tagine, mint tea, argan oil, pastilla); the films shot at Ouarzazate; and the sport, from the Atlas Lions' 2022 World Cup run to Olympic champions El Moutawakel and El Guerrouj. The 69 questions start easy enough for anyone planning a first trip and finish with genuine stumpers for people who have lived there. It works for a travel night, a geography classroom or an Africa round in a pub quiz. Every answer is checked against encyclopaedic and primary sources, and the explanations add the detail that makes each fact stick.
30 of 69 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the capital city of Morocco?
Rabat
Rabat, on the Bou Regreg estuary, has been the seat of government since the French protectorate; Casablanca is far bigger and the main port but not the capital.
Q 02Which body of water separates Morocco from Spain?
Strait of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar separates Morocco from Spain; at its narrowest it is about 13 km wide, and ferries cross from Tangier to Tarifa in under an hour.
Q 03Which country borders Morocco to the east?
Algeria
Algeria shares Morocco's entire eastern frontier; the land border between the two has been closed since 1994, one of the longest-shut borders in the world.
Q 04What is the highest peak in Morocco and all of North Africa?
Toubkal
Toubkal, at 4,167 metres in the High Atlas, is the highest peak in North Africa; it is a popular two-day trek from Imlil with no technical climbing.
Q 05Which mountain range runs like a backbone through central Morocco from northeast to southwest?
The Atlas Mountains
The range is divided into the Middle Atlas, High Atlas and Anti-Atlas, and most Moroccans live north of it.
Q 06Which two Spanish enclaves on Morocco's Mediterranean coast does Morocco claim as its own?
Ceuta and Melilla
Ceuta and Melilla are Spanish cities on Morocco's Mediterranean coast; Melilla has been Spanish since 1497 and Ceuta since 1580, and Morocco has claimed both since independence.
Q 07What is Morocco's longest river?
The Draa
The Draa, about 1,100 km long, rises in the High Atlas near Ouarzazate and mostly runs dry before reaching the Atlantic north of Tan-Tan.
Q 08Which Moroccan city is nicknamed the 'Blue Pearl' for its blue-washed houses?
Chefchaouen
Chefchaouen, founded in 1471 as a small kasbah by Ali ibn Rashid, a descendant of Idris I, sits in the Rif mountains; its blue-washed lanes earned the 'Blue Pearl' nickname.
Q 09Which Moroccan town, built by the French in 1929, is nicknamed 'Little Switzerland'?
Ifrane
It gets real snow in winter and hosts Al Akhawayn, the first English-language university in Northwest Africa.
Q 10Erg Chebbi, whose dunes rise up to 150 metres, lies on the edge of which desert?
The Sahara
The dune sea near Merzouga is about 28 km long and runs right along the Algerian border.
Q 11Roughly what was Morocco's population at the 2024 census?
37 million
The 2024 census counted about 36.8 million people, roughly 37 million, up from 11.6 million at the 1960 census held just after independence.
Q 12Morocco was the first nation to recognise the independence of which country, in 1777?
The United States
Sultan Mohammed III opened Moroccan ports to ships of the United States in December 1777; the 1786 Treaty of Friendship that followed became the United States' oldest unbroken treaty.
Q 13In which year did the Treaty of Fez make Morocco a French protectorate?
1912
The Treaty of Fez was signed on 30 March 1912; France took the centre, Spain the north and far south, and Tangier later became an international zone.
Q 21The 1975 'Green March' of about 350,000 Moroccans was aimed at taking over which territory from Spain?
Spanish Sahara
Spain withdrew weeks later; the territory's status is still unresolved and patrolled by a UN mission.
Q 22Which two Allied leaders met at the January 1943 Casablanca Conference?
Roosevelt and Churchill
Roosevelt and Churchill met at the Anfa Hotel from 14 to 24 January 1943 and announced the demand for the Axis powers' 'unconditional surrender'; Stalin, invited, stayed away because of Stalingrad.
Q 23Which rebel leader established the short-lived Republic of the Rif in the 1920s?
Abd el-Krim
Q 14In which year did Morocco regain independence from France?
1956
France recognised Moroccan independence on 2 March 1956; Sultan Mohammed V, exiled by the French to Corsica and then Madagascar in 1953, returned to lead the new kingdom.
Q 15Which great-grandson of Hasan ibn Ali was proclaimed imam by the Awraba Berbers at Walila?
Idris I
Idris I, a great-grandson of Hasan ibn Ali, fled the Abbasid massacre at Fakhkh near Mecca and was proclaimed imam by the Awraba Berbers at Walila, beside Volubilis, founding the Idrisid dynasty.
Q 16Which dynasty has ruled Morocco since the 17th century?
The Alaouites
The Alaouites, who claim descent from the Prophet Muhammad, took power in the 1660s under Moulay Rashid; their dynastic red became the background of the national flag.
Q 17Morocco was the only North African nation never to fall under the rule of which power?
The Ottomans
Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli all became provinces of the Ottomans, but the Saadi sultans, notably Ahmad al-Mansur after 1578, kept Morocco outside the Ottoman Empire.
Q 18Morocco's Saadi dynasty conquered which West African state in the late 16th century, seizing Timbuktu?
The Songhai Empire
Ahmad al-Mansur's musket-armed army crossed the Sahara and crushed the Songhai Empire at Tondibi in 1591, seizing Timbuktu and Gao and their gold and salt trade.
Q 19Fes el Bali, the walled quarter holding the Chouara tannery, is a famous example of what kind of city core?
A medina
Fes el Bali is the classic medina, the old walled Islamic town; its car-free lanes make it one of the largest urban pedestrian zones in the world.
Q 20The 1578 Battle of the Three Kings in Morocco killed the young king of which European country?
Portugal
Sebastian I disappeared on the field at Alcácer Quibir; without an heir, Portugal passed to Philip II of Spain for 60 years.
Abd el-Krim proclaimed the Republic of the Rif in 1921 after routing Spain at Annual; Spain resorted to mustard-gas bombing before a Franco-Spanish force forced his surrender in May 1926.
Q 24Which king came to the Moroccan throne in July 1999?
Mohammed VI
Mohammed VI came to the throne on 23 July 1999 on the death of his father Hassan II, whose 38-year reign included the repressive 'years of lead'.
Q 25The Roman ruins of Volubilis, near Meknes, were the capital of which ancient kingdom?
Mauretania
Volubilis was a royal seat of the Berber kingdom of Mauretania before Rome annexed the kingdom in AD 40; the city grew rich on olive oil and kept superb mosaic floors.
Q 26The 14th-century traveller Ibn Battuta was born in which Moroccan city?
Tangier
Ibn Battuta was born in Tangier in 1304 and set out from there on hajj in 1325; his Rihla covers some 117,000 km across Africa, Arabia, India and China.
Q 27Which two languages are official in Morocco?
Arabic and Berber (Amazigh)
The 2011 constitution made Berber (Amazigh) official alongside Arabic; French is widely used in business and government but has no official status.
Q 28What is the name of the Moroccan dialect of Arabic that serves as the everyday lingua franca?
Darija
Darija, Moroccan colloquial Arabic, is peppered with French, Spanish and Berber loanwords and is often hard for Arabic speakers from the Middle East to follow.
Q 29What is the currency of Morocco?
The dirham
The Moroccan dirham replaced the franc in 1960 and is divided into 100 santimat, called centimes in French.
Q 30What symbol sits at the centre of Morocco's red flag?
A green five-pointed star
The pentagram, said to stand for the five pillars of Islam, was added by Sultan Yusef in 1915.