Morocco is located in the North-West region of Africa. This oblong country lines the coast of the Atlantic and Mediteranian that stretches about 1,000 miles long on the northern coast line. This is equivalent to the coastl length of both Oregon and Califonia. Morocco has about 172,414 square miles in the Northen Region. There is conflict on who owns the 172,413 square miles of the country's southern region. This country is within about 2W - 12W longitude and 26N - 36N latitude.
The landscape of Northern Morocco is highly fertile near the coastlines and most of the agriculture takes place. As one goes farther inland it is covered in mountains and some valleys inbetween them. The highest moutain point is Jebel Toubkal and reaches 13,665 feet. The lowest point is in the Sebkha Tah and goes as low as -193 feet. Near the inner boarder and far south the land becomes desert as the land begins to merge into the Sahara desert. While the landscape of Morocco is beautiful, the environment has taken a toll due to human interferance. Due to deforestation, poor soil conservation and overgrazing of livestock the soil has decreased in fertility and has begun to erode. Water pollution has became a big problem because there are many industries dumping their waste into some of the vital freshwater rivers and the ocean. Along the coast line there is mostly oil pollution that is damaging the waters and there is raw sewage pollution problems in the river systems.
In simplified terms the climate of Morocco is a subtropical climate, but since the land is so diverse there is many different smaller climate areas within the country. Closer to the inner boarder the temperatures are extreme not only in the day to night varience but also when the seasons change. The winters are cold and brisk while the summers are extremely hot. Overall the weather is the best during the spring and fall when the teperatures are warm and the air is dry. Summers near the costal regions have temperatures between 64 and 82 degrees Fahrenheit while the desert highs often exceed 95 degrees Fahrenheit. The coastal region and the windward side of the mountains are highly influenced by the cool breeze of the Atlantic and the Meddeteranian. The northern Plateu regions of Morocco can have extremely hot summers and cool winters with an average of 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Near the middle region and lowland of the country the area has hot but dry so the temperature is tolerable. In the winter the nearby mountains can reach below freezing levels and can leave the caps of the mountain covered in snow.
Morocco's population is currently 63,838,774 in the Nortern region. This number has been growing for decades now and has about tripled in size in less than 50 years. However, over the last few decades the percentage of yearly increase has been drastically decreasing. The growth rate in the mid 1950's was around 3.34% but the growth rate in 2020 is now down to 1.2%. The fertility rate in 2020 is 2.42. The median age of residents is 29.5 and the population pyramid shows that there is slightly more females than male but are almost equal. The density of the population in Morocco is 83 people per kilometers squared and about 64% of the population is in an Urban area.
There are a number of languages that are spoken within Morocco that are varied versions of Arabic. The most spoken languages are Moroccan Arabic/ the official language of Morocco, Hassaniyya Arabic and Judeo-Moroccan Arabic. However, most Moroccans know Standard Arabic that is spoken in most of Northern Africa. Some other languages that are spoken in this country are Spanish, French and English. Some native languages that are still spoken by a few million people are Tachelhit, Central Atlas Tamazight and Tarifit. The main religion of Morocco is Islam and the country is filled with beautiful and historical Mosques. A large percentage of the native Berbers have created their own religion based off of nature. The French and Spanish based populaion is Christian and about 1 percent of the population are Jewish. Most of these jewish people are thought to be decendants from the exiled Jews from Spain in the Middle Ages.
The majority of the Moroccan people are Arabs. In this there is a mix of Arab-Berber and the Berber decendants, Sunni Muslims. There is also a group of people called Gnaoua and Haratin. These groups of people are considered highly mixed with the surrounding African people. A small minority of the poplulaion is the Jewigh population that make up about 1 percent of the population. The Bereber people were the indinginous people that were the majoriy for thousands of year. Between the 7th and 11th century the Arabs concured the area and from then on the Arabs became the majority of the populaion. The Moroccan people are highly kind to outsiders and others within the area. Many rent out rooms in their homes to travelers and make meals for them. The religion teaches followers to be kind and help others that are less fortunate. Tea is a popular drink that is served at almost any place that sells food. Some areas offer shops that soley sell tea during certain times of the day. Another thing that the Moroccan people do is bardering at market places. This is considered a right of passage to most people who live and travel here.
Since Morocco is positioned near Europe the government is trying to make the country the center of trade in and out of Africa. To do this they have invested heavily in all forms of transport within the country but mainly on the ports near the northern coastline. More recently the government have built new ports and created a free trade area in Tangier. In 1999 the now current King, MOHAMMED VI, has done their best to raise the annual growth of the currently indebted country. They have also kept a low inflation rate and have slowly decreased unemployment. The government has plans to have over 50 percent of energy be renewable by the year 2030.
In more recent years the Moroccan government has been taking priority in the imports and exports. The main export in Moroccco is textiles and makes up about 20 percent of the total exports. The next high exports are auto mobiles, mechanial supply and chemical products. The main imports into Morocco are mechanical parts, mineral products, Transportaion and metals. For many years the the countries imports and exports were relativley close together but when the current King came into power the percentage between the imports and exports. The exports are about $20 billion more than imports.
Through out the past half a century the GNP of Morocco has slowly been increasing and has taken a doubled increase since 2002. In 2018 the Moroccan GNP was $113.12 billion in USD. The GNP per capita was $3090 USD in 2018. The average growth in this country has mostly been in a steady increase, but suffered greatly and went into the negative for many years in through out the 1990's. This was due to the government trying to raise the living standard of the Moroccan people and lessen coruption within government official. This program relied heavily on the agricultural industry but suffered several years of drought that brought the yearly income down below the negative.
