Morocco sits in the far northwest corner of Africa, where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Mediterranean Sea. At the Strait of Gibraltar, Africa and Europe are only about 14 km apart. The Atlas Mountains run across the middle of the country, rising to Toubkal, the highest peak in North Africa, and beyond them stony valleys and sand dunes lead to the edge of the Sahara.
For more than twelve centuries a series of dynasties ruled here from royal cities such as Fes, Marrakesh, Meknes and Rabat. Arab and Amazigh (Berber) traditions mix with influences from Andalusia, Africa and Europe, and since 2011 both Arabic and Tamazight, the Amazigh language, are official languages.
Memories fade faster than photos. Ask these over a meal or a phone call, and write the answers down.
Amazigh (Berber) peoples have lived in Morocco since ancient times, and Phoenician and Carthaginian traders built ports on its coast. After the Romans and the arrival of Islam, a line of Moroccan dynasties, from the Idrisids to the Alaouites who still reign today, ruled from great royal cities. In the 20th century the country was divided into French and Spanish protectorates before regaining its independence in 1956.
The Roman emperor Caligula had Ptolemy, the last king of Mauretania, killed, and Rome took over his kingdom. A few years later Emperor Claudius made northern Morocco the province of Mauretania Tingitana, named after Tingis, today's Tangier, with Volubilis as its most important city.
Tradition says Fatima al-Fihri, a woman from a family that had moved from Kairouan in Tunisia, founded a mosque in Fes. Its school grew into a great centre of learning, and it is still active as the University of al-Qarawiyyin.
The Almohads, a movement from the High Atlas, captured Marrakesh and built an empire reaching from Morocco to Tunisia and into Spain. They began the Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakesh and the Hassan Tower in Rabat.
Moulay al-Rashid won the surrender of Fes in June 1666 and then Marrakesh in 1668, uniting the country under the Alaouite dynasty. The Alaouites still reign in Morocco today.
On 30 March 1912 Sultan Abd al-Hafid signed a treaty that made most of Morocco a French protectorate; later that year Spain received a zone in the north. The French moved the capital to Rabat, and Tangier later became an international zone.
On the death of his father, Mohammed V, Hassan II came to the throne in February 1961. He reigned for 38 years, until his death in 1999, and built the great mosque in Casablanca that bears his name.
Mohammed VI became king on 23 July 1999, after the death of his father, Hassan II. He is a member of the Alaouite dynasty, which has reigned since the 1600s.
On the night of 8 September 2023 a magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck the High Atlas southwest of Marrakesh. It was the strongest earthquake ever recorded by instruments in Morocco, and nearly 3,000 people died, mostly in mountain villages.
Cook one of the recipes, print the large-print pack about Morocco, and finish with the big-screen quiz or the words crossword. Grandchildren can colour the flag.
