Moroco

The official name of Morocco is the Kingdom of Morocco.

Morocco is about the same size as the state of California.

There are over 32 million people living in Morocco (32,649,130) as of July 2013.

The capital city of Morocco is Rabat, although the largest city is Casablanca with nearly 4 million people.

Other major cities in Morocco include Marrakech, Tangier, Tetouan, Salé, Fes, Agadir, Meknes, Oujda, Kenitra, and Nador.

Ethnically, Moroccans are predominately of Berber (North African indigenous) and Arabic decent.

The Berber people have been living in North Africa for centuries, historically living in the mountainous areas but in more recent times moving to the cities for work.

The official languages of Morocco are Berber and Arabic. The distinctive group of Moroccan Arabic dialects are collectively called Darija. French and to a lesser extent Spanish and English are also spoken in the country.

From 1912 to 1956, Morocco was divided into French and Spanish zones. There are just two small Spanish-controlled areas still remaining today (Ceuta and Melilla).

The southeast of the country is intersected by the Sahara Desert and direct to the south lies the Western Sahara. Morocco claims that the Western Sahara is part of its territory and refers to the area as its Southern Provinces, although officially this area is still a disputed territory.