Morocco

Discover Morocco

Fun Foods

Kebabs, Falafel, Sfenj, Msemmen, Ghoriba

The world's oldest university isn't in Europe. It's in a city called Fez, in Morocco, built in 859 AD by a woman named Fatima al-Fihri. She used the money her father left her when he died to build a mosque and school that grew into a center of learning still operating today.

Morocco sits in the northwest corner of Africa. It touches both the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

The Amazigh people, also called Berbers, have lived here for thousands of years. When Arab traders and rulers arrived in the 600s, they brought Islam and the Arabic language. Both shaped Moroccan culture in ways you can still see and hear everywhere you go.

In 1912, France and Spain divided control of Morocco between them in an arrangement called a protectorate, where foreign powers run a country without fully calling it a colony. Moroccans resisted for decades and won back their independence in 1956.

The Atlas Mountains cut through the middle of the country, tall enough to have snow in winter. The Sahara Desert stretches across the southeast, with scorching hot temperatures in summer.

Walk through Fez's medina, the ancient part of the city where streets are so narrow that donkeys still carry goods because cars don't fit. In Chefchaouen, nearly every building is painted a bright, deep blue. In Marrakech, visit the Jardin Majorelle, a garden full of unusual plants from around the world and bold painted walls.

Eat a tagine, a slow-cooked meat and vegetable stew made in a clay pot with a cone-shaped lid. Drink fresh-squeezed orange juice from the market stalls. Finish with sweet mint tea poured from high above the cup so it foams on the way down.