Morocco

Overview

With exotically named cities such as Casablanca, Tangier, Fez, Rabat the capital and Marrakech, the visitor will find the excitement that the names suggest. There has been a strong blending of Arabian, Muslim, Africa and Colonial French and Spanish cultures which may give the prospective visitor a hint at why Morocco is such an exciting place to spend some time. Soon after arriving, the visitor will have to have their wits about them as 'guides' will proposition them and the same is true of the many 'suitors' that female travellers will encounter. These problems are part of life in this country so the visitor should just try and go with the flow and be sensible to avoid feelings of being overwhelmed. This will be especially the case in the souks (markets and medinas but if the visitor just wanted a simple market they could have pottered down to Camden rather than exploring the medieval cities in a magical land.

It may seem incongruous to go for a ski this close to the Sahara but at the correct time of year that is possible in the Rif and high Atlas mountains. In addition to these two ranges, there is the Ant-Atlas mountain range, which means those keen on trekking here have a large number of options. Exploring on foot is one way of getting a better and probably more realistic impression of the country. This is the case whether in the mountains, near the beach or in the markets. As mentioned above,...more

History

Before Oqba bin Nafi brought Islam to Morocco in 680 AD. the Berber population had seen their fair share of invadors: Romans, Byzantines amd Vandals. But this time things were different. Both the Arab conquerors and their new faith took firmly root in all of North Africa. From Morocco, the Arab conquest continued: fifty years later, the army of Islam, strengthened by new Berber converts was half way in France, having taken hold of almost all of Spain.

However, it did take some time before Morocco was an established part of the Islamic Empire. In many remote parts of the country, Berber tribes were either still not converted or had made their own religious mix of old habits and new influences. An important step towards mainstream Islam was set by the Idrissids. Moulay Idriss, a refugee from the family of the Prophet Mohammed, set up a court near the still existing Roman town of Volubilis. His son Moulay Idriss II founded Fes and a dynasty: The Idrissids. It was to control most of Morocco for the coming centuries.

When the Almoravids, the zealous defenders of the faith, came from the Mauritanian desert, the Idrissian empire had crumbled into warring principalities. In 1054 Youssef bin Tachfin led his warriors to Ghana in a holy war. Having conquered Ghana, he turned North and in 1062 set foot in Marrakech. It didn't take them much longer to subdue the whole of Morocco and a big part of Spain.

As fast as the Almoravides took control of...more