Morocco

The only North African state never absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, and the one with an unbroken dynasty. Successive Berber and Arab dynasties - Idrisid, Almoravid, Almohad, Marinid, Saadi - ruled from Fez and Marrakesh, and the Alaouite dynasty that took power in the 1660s still reigns, one of the longest continuous royal lines anywhere. Moroccan armies destroyed Songhai across the Sahara in 1591 and defeated a Portuguese invasion at the Battle of the Three Kings in 1578. European pressure ended independence in 1912 when France imposed a protectorate, with Spain holding the north and Tangier internationalised. Lyautey's administration preserved the sultanate and the old cities and built new French towns beside them, a policy that spared the medinas and eventually backfired: when Mohammed V backed the nationalists, France exiled him in 1953 and created the very symbol it could not survive. Independence came in 1956. Morocco annexed Western Sahara after Spain withdrew in 1975, a claim still disputed with the Polisario Front. Hassan II ruled for thirty-eight years through the repressive Years of Lead. Rabat is the capital and Casablanca the largest city. The country has about thirty-seven million people. Tamazight is official alongside Arabic. Fes el-Bali is among the largest car-free urban areas in the world. Nine of its sites are World Heritage listed. Morocco co-hosts the 2030 football World Cup with Spain and Portugal. It became the first African team to reach a World Cup semi-final in 2022. Phosphate reserves here are the largest on earth by a wide margin.

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