Rough Guides - The Rough Guide to Morocco (Travel Guide eBook)

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THE HIGH ATLAS

Contents

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Introduction to

Morocco

For Westerners, Morocco holds an immediate and enduring fascination. Though just an hours ride on the ferry from Spain, it seems at once very far from Europe, with a culture Islamic and deeply traditional that is almost wholly unfamiliar. Throughout the country, despite the years of French and Spanish colonial rule and the presence of modern and cosmopolitan cities like Rabat and Casablanca, a more distant past constantly makes its presence felt. Fez, perhaps the most beautiful of all Arab cities, maintains a life still rooted in medieval times, when a Moroccan kingdom stretched from Senegal to northern Spain, while in the mountains of the Atlas and the Rif, its still possible to draw up tribal maps of the Berber population. As a backdrop to all this, the countrys physical make-up is extraordinary: from the Mediterranean coast, through four mountain ranges, to the empty sand and scrub of the Sahara.

Across much of Morocco, the legacy of colonial occupation is still felt in many aspects of daily life. The Spanish zone contained Tetouan and the Rif, the Mediterranean and the northern Atlantic coasts, Sidi Ifni and the Tarfaya Strip; the French zone the plains and the main cities (Fez, Marrakesh, Casablanca and Rabat), as well as the Atlas. And while Ceuta and Melilla are still the territory of Spain, it is the French who ruled their protectorate more closely who had the most lasting effect on Moroccan culture, Europeanizing the cities to a strong degree and firmly imposing their language, which is spoken today by all educated Moroccans (after Moroccan Arabic or one of the three local Berber languages).

This blend of the exotic and the familiar, the diversity of landscapes, the contrasts between Ville Nouvelle and ancient Medina, all add up to make Morocco an intense and rewarding experience, and a country that is ideally suited to independent travel with enough time, you can cover a whole range of activities , from hiking in the Atlas and sandboarding in the Sahara to getting lost in the back alleys of Fez and Marrakesh. It can be hard at times to come to terms with the privilege of your position as a tourist in a country with severe poverty, and there is, too, occasional hassle from unofficial guides, but Morocco is essentially a safe and politically stable place to visit: the death in 1999 of King Hassan II, the Arab worlds longest-serving leader, was followed by an easy transition to his son, Mohammed VI, and the country pretty much carried on as normal while the Arab Spring uprisings toppled governments in nearby Libya, Tunisia and Egypt. Indeed, your enduring impressions are likely to be overwhelmingly positive, shaped by encounters with Moroccos powerful tradition of hospitality, generosity and openness. This is a country people return to again and again.

Where to go

Geographically, the country divides into four basic zones: the coast (Mediterranean and Atlantic); the great cities of the plains; the Rif and Atlas mountains; and the oases and desert of the pre- and fully fledged Sahara. With two or three weeks even two or three months you cant expect to cover all of this, though its easy enough (and highly recommended) to take in something of each aspect.

Broadly speaking, the coast is best enjoyed in the north at Tangier still shaped by its old international port status despite undergoing considerable renovation Asilah and Larache , and in the south at El Jadida , Essaouira , perhaps the most easy-going resort, or remote Sidi Ifni . Agadir , the main package-tour resort, is less worthwhile but a functional enough base for exploration.

Inland , where the real interest of Morocco lies, the outstanding cities are Fez and Marrakesh . The great imperial capitals of the countrys various dynasties, they are almost unique in the Arab world for the chance they offer (particularly in the former) to witness city life that, in patterns and appearance, remains in large part medieval. For monuments, Fez is the highlight, though Marrakesh is for most visitors the more enjoyable.

Fact file

• Moroccos area of 446,550 square kilometres (722,550 sq km including the Western Sahara) makes it slightly smaller than France or Spain, slightly larger than California. The population of just under 34 million compares with just eight million at independence in 1956.
• Nearly 99 percent of Moroccans are Muslim , with 1 percent Christian and a tiny minority (an estimated 6000 people) Jewish . The literacy rate is 68.5 percent (78.6 percent for men, 58.8 percent for women).
• The main languages are Arabic, Berber (Tarfit, Tamazight and Tashelhat) and French. Spanish is still widely spoken in the north, and English is increasingly spoken by young people, especially in tourist areas.
• Morocco gained independence from French and Spanish rule on March 2, 1956. The head of state is King Mohammed VI , who succeeded his father Hassan II on July 30, 1999. The government is chosen from an elected legislature and is currently run by Prime Minister Saadeddine Othmani of the moderate Islamist PJD (Party of Justice and Development). The main opposition parties are the Istiqlal (Independence) Party, Moroccos oldest political group, and the RNI (National Rally of Independents).
• Such is the importance of date palms in the Moroccan south that oases are traditionally measured by the number of their palms rather than their population, and it was once illegal to sell a date tree, a historically vital source of food.
• Despite the beauty of zellij work in medersas and fountains across the country, it is thought that there is at least one flaw in every mosaic due to the Islamic belief that only Allah can create perfection.

Arabs and Berbers

The Amazigh more commonly known as Berbers were Moroccos original inhabitants. The Arabs arrived at the end of the seventh century, after sweeping across North Africa and the Middle East in the name of their revolutionary ideology, Islam . Eventually, nearly all the Berbers converted to the new religion and were immediately accepted as fellow Muslims by the Arabs. When Muslim armies invaded the Iberian peninsula from Morocco, the bulk of the troops were Berbers, and the two ethnic groups pretty much assimilated. Today, most Moroccans can claim both Arab and Berber ancestors, though a few (especially Shereefs, who trace their ancestry back to the Prophet Mohammed, and have the title Moulay) claim to be pure Arabs. In the Rif and Atlas mountains, and in the Souss Valley, though, groups of pure Berbers remain, and retain their ancient languages (Tarfit, spoken by about 1.5m people in the Rif; Tamazight, spoken by over 3m people in the Atlas; and Tashelhat, spoken by around 4m people in the Souss Valley region). In recent years, there has been a resurgence in Berber pride (often symbolized by the Berber letter ); TV programmes are now broadcast in Berber languages, and they are even taught in schools, but the countrys majority language remains Arabic.