Morocco

A

Principal Cities

Morocco’s capital is Rabat. Other major urban centers are Casablanca, the country’s largest city and main seaport; Marrakech and Fès, both important trade centers; and Tangier, a seaport on a bay of the Strait of Gibraltar. The government has encouraged Moroccans to settle in Western Sahara, where the largest city is El Aaiún.

B

Religion

Islam is the established state religion of Morocco. Almost the entire population is Sunni Muslim. The monarch is the supreme Muslim authority in the country. There is a very small Christian population. Morocco once had a Jewish population, numbering 221,000 in 1956, but nearly all of the country’s Jews emigrated elsewhere during the 1960s and 1970s because of tensions between Arab countries and Israel.

C

Language

The Berber languages, once dominant throughout Morocco, have declined in importance. Only about a fourth of the people speak Berber as their first language. Many of these people also spoke Arabic, the country’s official language, which is the primary language of about three-fourths of the population. In the cities many Moroccans also speak French. French is also used in higher education.

Berber belongs to the Afro-Asiatic language family (see African Languages) and is spoken across North Africa and throughout the Sahara. In Morocco, three Berber dialects prevail: Tarifit (also called Rifi), Tamazight, and Tachelhit. The dialects are related to specific localities. Tarifit, for example, is spoken in Er Rif and northern Middle Atlas. Tamazight is spoken in the Middle Atlas, and Tachelhit in the High Atlas.

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D

Education

Schooling is compulsory in Morocco for children between the ages of 6 and 14. Some 104 percent of girls and 115 percent of boys attend primary school; only 45 percent of secondary-school-age Moroccans actually attend secondary school. Arabic is the main language of instruction, and French is also used in secondary schools and in higher education. In 2005 it was estimated that 53 percent of the population was literate.

Higher education of the traditional type, focused on Islamic law (Sharia) and theology, is centered in Fès at Al Qarawiyin University, which was founded in ad 859. The university system expanded greatly in the 1980s. Modern higher education, in Arabic and in French, is offered at Mohammed V University (1957), at Rabat; Mohammed Ben Abdellah University (1974), at Fès; Cadi Ayyad University (1978), at Marrakech; Hassan II University (1976), at Casablanca; Mohammed I University (1978), at Oujda; Ibn Zohr University (1989), at Agadir; and Al Akhawayn University (1995), at Ifrane in the Atlas Mountains. Rabat also has colleges of fine arts, music, public administration, agriculture, and economics, and the School of Native Arts and Crafts (1921) is in Tétouan.

E

Culture

Morocco has felt the influences of several ancient cultures. Excavations have unearthed elements of the Phoenician, Greek, Carthaginian, and Roman civilizations. Christianity spread to this region in Roman times and survived the Arab invasion, but Arabic influences, which began in the 7th century, were to prove the strongest. The Arabs brought to Morocco a written language that is still the primary language of business and culture. Over the centuries Morocco received an influx of Moors and Jews, who left Spain as a result of the Christian conquest or the Inquisition. As a result of Moorish influence, Morocco developed a style of music and architecture known as Arab-Andalusian. It soon spread to the rest of Islamic North Africa. The western African influence, seen in dances and other arts, spread northward with the establishment of trade routes across the Sahara from the 10th century on. Among more recent cultural influences, the strongest is that of France.

Morocco’s literary legacy goes back to the earliest days of Arab settlement and the foundation of Islamic civilization. The most famous of Morocco’s early writers is Ibn Battūtah, who was born in Tangier in 1304 and lived and worked throughout the then-known world, from Mali to India and China. He completed Rihla (“Travels”), the narrative of his observations, in 1356.

Moroccan literature of the 20th century reflected such concerns as colonialism, nationalism, the survival of traditional cultures framed by Islamic values, and introspective and inventive literary forms. Autobiographical works and treatments of social problems dominated novels in Arabic. Notable Moroccan authors in Arabic included Mohamed Zefzaf and Abdellah Laroui. Among French language novels Driss Chraïbi’s Le Passé Simple (The Past Tense, 1954) shocked Moroccans with its condemnation of patriarchal society. Later novels of Chraïbi were translated into English, including Naissance à l’aube (1986; Birth at Dawn, 1990). Abdelkebir Khatibi wrote on social themes in his autobiographic La Mémoire tatouée (Tattooed Memory, 1971) and his novel Triptyque de Rabat (Rabat Triptych, 1993). Tahar Ben Jelloun, born in Fès and based in France, rose to international fame for his novels in French, especially L’Enfant du sable (1985; The Sand Child, 1988), which was translated into many languages, and La Nuit sacrée (1987; The Sacred Night, 1989), which won the Prix Goncourt, France’s top literary award.

The art of oral storytelling, frequently accompanied by singing and dancing, continues in the countryside and at local festivals. Berber storytellers specialize in recounting odes and songs of local myth and faraway places.

Classical music in Morocco is music of the Arab-Andalusian style. It features an orchestra of traditional stringed instruments, such as the rabab (two-string violin), ‘ud (Arab lute), and qanun (zither), as well as percussion instruments, including the tambourine and drum. Songs in Arabic often accompany this music. A popular music style known as rai (“opinion”) developed in the cities of Algeria and Morocco during the 1970s, as young people sought to break with traditional society and express their views. Its outspoken lyrics are set to a rock beat, and the music is performed on traditional as well as electronic instruments. A folklore festival is held each June in Marrakech, featuring folk music and folk dances from various locales in Morocco.

Handicrafts have long been important in Morocco and are produced both in cities and in the countryside. They were originally made as items for daily use rather than works of art, but are now found in shops and souks (markets) in every city and town. Fine examples can be found in the country’s museums. Morocco’s handicrafts include jewelry, leatherwork, pottery, textiles and carpets, and woodwork. The town of Safi has long been a center for pottery in Morocco.

The Moroccan national library, which was founded in 1920, is located at Rabat. Other libraries in the country include the Library of Casablanca and the University library at Fès. Morocco has a number of major museums. The Archaeological Museum in Tétouan has collections of Carthaginian, Roman, and Islamic art and artifacts. Archaeological museums also are found in Rabat and Larache. Tangier has a Museum of Contemporary Art. The National Museum of Ceramics is at Safi.

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