67 Fun Facts About Morocco

What is the capital city of Morocco?

Rabat took over from Fez under the French, who moved the seat of government to the coast after riots in the old capital; independent Morocco kept it, though Casablanca is far larger.

Which body of water separates Morocco from Spain?

The Strait of Gibraltar is named for the Rock on its northern shore, Jabal Tariq or 'Tariq's mountain', after Tariq ibn Ziyad, the general who led the Muslim conquest of Spain from 711.

Which country borders Morocco to the east?

Algeria shares the whole eastern frontier, but the land border was shut in 1994, after Morocco linked its neighbour to a gun attack on a Marrakesh hotel, and it stayed shut for decades.

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

Toubkal rises to 4,167 metres south of Marrakesh, yet in summer it needs no technical climbing: trekkers walk up from the village of Imlil in two days, sleeping at a mountain refuge.

Morocco's Arabic name, al-Maghrib, places it at which compass point of the Arab world?

The west: al-Maghrib means 'the West', a name the Arabs gave all of north-west Africa, the Maghreb; Morocco, its most westerly country, kept the name as its own.

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

Ceuta and Melilla have been in Spanish hands for more than four centuries and give the European Union its only land borders with Africa, which is why both are ringed by high fences.

Which river, Morocco's longest, feeds a famous valley of date palms and kasbahs before mostly drying up in the desert?

The Draa is about 1,100 km long on the map, yet beyond its oases the bed lies dry for most of the year, so its water seldom reaches the sea.

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

Chefchaouen began in 1471 as a small fortress and filled with Muslims and Jews driven out of Spain; one telling credits its Jewish residents with first painting the walls blue.

Which mountain resort town, laid out by the French as a hill station, is nicknamed Morocco's 'Little Switzerland'?

Ifrane was founded in 1929 with Alpine-style chalets so that colonial families could escape the summer heat of the plains; its slopes are snow-covered in winter.

Which hero of Greek myth is said to have rested in the sea caves that bear his name on Morocco's northern tip?

Hercules is said to have slept in the caves before one of his labours; in one telling he then smashed through the mountain that joined Africa to Europe, leaving the Pillars of Hercules.

Morocco rejoined which body in 2017, 33 years after walking out?

The African Union's forerunner gave a seat in 1984 to a republic declared on territory Morocco claims, so Morocco walked out; by its return it was the only African country outside the body.

In 1821 the sultan of Morocco gave which young country a building to house its diplomats?

The United States had signed a treaty of friendship with Morocco in 1786; its diplomats went on working in the sultan's gift for 140 years, and the building is now a museum.

Which country sent a gunboat to a Moroccan port in 1911 to challenge France's hold there?

Germany's gunboat Panther set off a war scare across Europe; Berlin backed down in return for a slice of French Congo, and a treaty signed the following March made Morocco a French protectorate.

After Corsica, the French exiled Sultan Mohammed V to which island?

Madagascar only made him a hero: unrest spread until France brought him home in November 1955 and recognised Morocco's independence on 2 March 1956.

Which descendant of the Prophet fled the Abbasid caliph and founded Morocco's first major Muslim dynasty in 788?

Idris I escaped a crushed revolt in Arabia, was taken in by the Awraba tribe at Walila and made their imam; he is said to have been poisoned three years later by an agent of the caliph.

Which dynasty has ruled Morocco since the 17th century?

The Alaouites came out of the Tafilalt oasis on the desert's edge; in the 1660s Moulay Rashid reunited a country that had splintered when the Saadis collapsed, and his family kept the throne.

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

The Ottomans took the rest of the North African coast, but the Saadi sultans held them off, so Morocco went on under its own rulers while its neighbours answered to Istanbul.

Morocco's Saadi dynasty conquered which empire of the Niger bend in the late 16th century, seizing Timbuktu?

The Songhai Empire fell in 1591 to a Moroccan force of only about 4,000 men, because they carried muskets across the desert and the far larger Songhai army fought with spears and arrows.

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

Fes el Bali is a medina, an old walled town whose lanes are too narrow for cars, so donkeys, mules and handcarts still deliver the goods, down to the gas cylinders.

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?

Spanish Sahara was entered by unarmed marchers carrying Qurans and flags; within weeks Spain agreed to pull out and hand the territory to Morocco and Mauritania.

Which two leaders met at Casablanca in January 1943 and demanded the Axis powers' 'unconditional surrender'?

Roosevelt and Churchill talked for ten days; Stalin was invited but stayed in Moscow because the battle of Stalingrad was still being fought.

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

Abd el-Krim routed a Spanish army at Annual in 1921 and declared the Republic of the Rif; it took chemical bombs and a combined French and Spanish army to force his surrender in May 1926.

Which king came to the Moroccan throne in July 1999?

Mohammed VI succeeded his father Hassan II and within five years had rewritten the family code, the Mudawana, to give women more rights.

The Roman ruins of Volubilis are thought to have been a royal capital of which ancient kingdom?

Mauretania's last king, Ptolemy, was a grandson of Antony and Cleopatra; Caligula had him put to death in AD 40 and Rome swallowed the kingdom.

Which traveller left Tangier for Mecca in 1325 and roamed for decades?

Ibn Battuta set out on the pilgrimage and did not see Morocco again for 24 years; back home, he dictated the story of his travels to a scholar, working largely from memory.

French is widely used in Morocco but has no official status: which language joined Arabic as official in 2011?

Berber, known to its speakers as Amazigh or Tamazight, was made an official language by the 2011 constitution, passed by referendum after the Arab Spring protests.

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

Darija is so far from the Arabic of the Middle East that Arabic speakers from outside Morocco often struggle to follow it, and it has no standard written form.

What is the currency of Morocco?

The dirham is a closed currency: it cannot be exchanged outside Morocco, so travellers change money on arrival and convert what is left before they fly home.

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

A green five-pointed star was added in 1915; until then the flag was plain red, and under French and Spanish rule the new design could fly only inland, never at sea.

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

Commander of the Faithful is written into the constitution, and it makes the king chairman of the council of religious scholars, the only body allowed to issue fatwas.

Fossils from Jebel Irhoud in Morocco, dated in 2017 to about 300,000 years, pushed back the origin of which species?

Homo sapiens bones at the site proved some 100,000 years older than any found before, which suggests our species took shape across the whole of Africa and not only in the east.

Tradition credits which merchant's daughter with founding al-Qarawiyyin in Fez, often called the world's oldest university?

Fatima al-Fihri is said to have spent her inheritance on the mosque in the 850s; the story first appears in a chronicle written five centuries later, so some historians doubt she existed.

Casablanca's Hassan II Mosque, with its 210-metre minaret, stands on a platform built out over which body of water?

The Atlantic Ocean lies beneath part of it by design: the mosque was built out over the waves to recall a verse of the Quran that says God's throne is upon the water.

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

The Giralda began as the minaret of Seville's great Almohad mosque; after the Christian conquest it became the cathedral's bell tower and gained a Renaissance belfry on top.

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

Jemaa el-Fnaa won UNESCO recognition in 2001 not for its buildings but for its people: the storytellers, healers, musicians and snake charmers who perform there.

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

Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé bought the garden to save and restore it; when the designer died in 2008, his ashes were scattered there.

Which mud-brick fortified village on an old caravan route appears in both Gladiator and Game of Thrones?

Aït Benhaddou is a ksar, a walled village of rammed earth that rain keeps wearing away, so it needs constant repair; only a few families still live inside.

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

Ouarzazate's studios leave their old film sets standing in the desert and sell guided tours of them, which has made the town a tourist stop in its own right.

The 1942 film Casablanca never left California: which Hollywood studio shot nearly all of it on its Burbank lot?

Warner Bros. built its Casablanca on soundstages; only the airport arrival was filmed outside, at nearby Van Nuys Airport, and the glimpses of Paris came from stock footage.

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

Crosby, Stills & Nash got the song because the Hollies turned it down: Graham Nash wrote it after a 1966 train trip from Casablanca, and his old band judged it not commercial enough.

Which American author of The Sheltering Sky settled in Morocco in 1947 and stayed for the rest of his life?

Paul Bowles arrived on a publisher's advance for a novel and never moved back; in 1959 he toured the country recording its traditional music for the Library of Congress.

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

Othello was shot piecemeal across Morocco and Italy and had no country behind it, so Welles entered it at Cannes under the Moroccan flag as a flag of convenience.

Which dish do Moroccan families traditionally share from one big platter after Friday midday prayers?

Couscous is steamed over the stew it is served with and eaten from a shared dish; in 2020 Morocco and three other Maghreb countries won it a place on UNESCO's heritage list with a joint bid.

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

The cone-shaped lid traps rising steam and drips it back onto the food, so the stew cooks slowly in its own juices with little added water.

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

Gunpowder green tea from China is the base; the host pours it from high above the glass to aerate it and raise a foam, and serves at least three rounds, each stronger than the last.

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

Goats do climb argan trees for the fruit, but many of the roadside flocks tourists photograph are staged: an investigation found farmers putting animals in the branches and charging for pictures.

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

Pastilla is wrapped in warqa, a pastry made by spreading wafer-thin films of dough on a hot pan, not by rolling; it is often served at weddings.

Which Allied operation put American troops ashore near Casablanca in November 1942?

Operation Torch sent George Patton's task force against Casablanca, where Vichy French forces resisted before their admiral ordered them to co-operate with the Allies.

Which animal vanished from the wild in the 20th century but survives in zoos through the Moroccan sultans' collection?

The Barbary lion was last shot in the wild in 1942, on a high mountain pass, though a few may have lingered into the 1960s; lions bred from the sultans' own animals still live in zoos.

Which fictional castaway is captured and enslaved by corsairs from the Moroccan port of Salé before he is ever shipwrecked?

Robinson Crusoe is kept as a slave by the pirate captain for about two years until he escapes in his master's fishing boat, long before the shipwreck that made him famous.

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

The semi-finals came after five matches in which no opponent scored against Morocco: the only goal they conceded before meeting France was an own goal.

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

FIFA confirmed Morocco, Spain and Portugal as joint hosts in December 2024, Morocco's sixth bid after failures for 1994, 1998, 2006, 2010 and 2026; three opening games go to South America.

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

400 metres hurdles gold brought a call of congratulation from the king, who declared that every girl born that day should be named in her honour.

Which Moroccan won both the 1500 m and 5000 m at the 2004 Athens Olympics?

Hicham El Guerrouj had fallen in the 1996 final and been beaten to silver in 2000 before winning both races in Athens, a double last done by Paavo Nurmi in 1924.

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

The high-speed rail line cut the journey from Casablanca to the north coast from nearly five hours to little more than two.

Morocco's giant Noor complex, switched on by the king in 2016, generates which kind of energy?

Solar power here does not stop at dusk: mirrors heat molten salt that stores the day's heat, so the plant can keep its turbines turning for hours after sunset.

Which six-day race of about 250 km through southern Morocco is often called the toughest footrace on Earth?

The Marathon des Sables makes runners carry their own food and kit; in 1994 the Italian Mauro Prosperi lost the course in a sandstorm and survived more than a week alone in the desert.

Morocco holds by far the world's largest known reserves of which mineral?

Phosphate rock under Moroccan control makes up most of the world's known reserves; the state-owned miner OCP turns it into fertiliser, one of the country's leading exports.

At the 1986 World Cup, Morocco became the first African team to do what?

Reach the second round: Morocco won a group containing England, Poland and Portugal without losing, then held West Germany until a Lothar Matthäus free kick in the dying minutes.

Which breezy Atlantic port, a windsurfing hub, hosts Morocco's annual Gnaoua World Music Festival?

Essaouira was laid out in the 1760s by a Frenchman, Théodore Cornut, for a sultan who wanted a new port; the Gnawa music its festival celebrates grew out of communities brought to Morocco by the slave trade.

Marrakesh was founded in the 11th century as the capital of which Berber dynasty?

The Almoravids ruled an empire reaching into Spain from Marrakesh, and their capital grew so important that it gave the whole country its name: 'Morocco' comes from 'Marrakesh'.

Which city did the sultan Moulay Ismail make Morocco's capital in the late 17th century?

Meknes became Moulay Ismail's capital, and the palaces, huge walls and stables he built there, said to have housed 12,000 horses, earned it the name 'the Versailles of Morocco'.

Which Almohad-era garden in Marrakesh shares its name with the city's airport?

The Menara Gardens date from Almohad times; their great basin stored water led in through underground channels to irrigate the olive groves around it.

Which Moroccan player chipped the decisive shoot-out penalty that knocked Spain out of the 2022 World Cup?

Achraf Hakimi was born in Madrid and trained in Real Madrid's academy, then sent the country of his birth home with a softly chipped 'Panenka' down the middle of the goal.

Which Moroccan resort city was rebuilt after a devastating earthquake on 29 February 1960?

Agadir was all but destroyed in seconds by a quake that killed at least 12,000 people; rather than rebuild on the ruins, Morocco laid out a new city just to the south under strict seismic rules.

Under which dynasty did Fez regain its place as Morocco's capital and reach its golden age?

The Marinids made Fez their capital, then in 1276 built a whole new royal city, Fes Jdid, beside the old one to hold their palace and garrison; the Royal Palace still stands there.