History
Morocco (Berber: Tagldit n Umrruk; Arabic: Al-Mamlaka al-Maghribiyya, “kingdom of the west”) is a country in North Africa, in the western part of the region also known as the “Maghreb”. Its name derives from the city of Marrakesh. The word Marrakesh derives from the Berber word Mur-Akush, which means Land of God; the name was given to the city by its founder Yusuf ibn Tashfin. Its coasts are lapped by the Mediterranean to the North, and by the Atlantic along the stretch of the straight of Gibraltar. On land it borders with Algeria to the east and south east, and with the lands of the Western Sahara (Morocco has claimed sovereignty over this land and considers its southern Touareg border to be with Mauritania). There are also 4 Spanish enclaves along the part facing the Mediterranean: the cities Ceuta and Melilla, the peninsula of Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera and the island of Peñón de Alhucemas. There are also the Chafarinas islands on the Mediterranean coast, 45km east of Melilla which belong to Spain, together with the Canary Islands, off the southernmost stretch of Morocco’s Atlantic coast. Lastly there is the island of Perejil, an uninhabited cliff in the straight of Gibraltar which is still disputed by Morocco and Spain.