
The full Aabic name Al-Mamlaka al-Maghribiya translates to "The Western Kingdom." Al-Maghrib (meaning "The West") is commonly used. For historical references, medieval Arab historians and geographers used to refer to Morocco as Al-Maghrib al Aqşá ("The Farthest West"), disambiguating it from neighboring historical regions called al-Maghrib al Awsat ("The Middle West", Algeria) and al-Maghrib al AdnaThe Latinized name "Morocco" originates from medieval
Latin "Morroch," which referred to the name of the formerAlmoravid andAlmohad capital, MarakeshThe Persians straightforwardly call it "Marrakech while the Turks call it "Fas" which comes from the ancient Idrisid and Marinid capital, Fes The word "Marrakech" is presumably derived from the berber word Mur-Akush meaning Land of God.
Off the Atlantic coast the
Canary Islands belong to
Spain, whereas
Madeira to the north is
Portuguese. To the north, Morocco is bordered by and controls part of the
Strait of Gibraltar, giving it power over the waterways in and out of the
Mediterranean sea. The
Rif mountains occupy the region bordering the Mediterranean from the north-west to the north-east. The
Atlas Mountains run down the backbone of the country, from the south west to the north east. Most of the south east portion of the country is in the
Sahara Desert and as such is generally sparsely populated and unproductive economically. Most of the population lives to the north of these mountains, while to the south is the desert. To the south, lies the
Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony that was annexed by Morocco in 1975 (see
Green March).
[3] Morocco claims that the Western Sahara is part of its territory and refers to that as its
Southern Provinces.
Morocco's capital city is
Rabat; its largest city is its main port,
Casablanca.
Other cities include
Agadir,
Essaouira,
Fes,
Marrakech,
Meknes,
Mohammadia,
Oujda,
Ouarzazat,
Safi,
Salè,
Tangier and Tétouan
WildlifeMorocco is known for its
wildlife biodiversity.
Birds represent the most important
fauna.
[15] The
avifauna of Morocco includes a total of 454 species, of which five have been
introduced by humans, and 156 are rare or accidental.
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