I titled my report ‘The Misconception of the Sand Land,’ because in this current 21st century, it is still a common belief that Morocco is an all desert country. The Sahara Desert is famously known as a memorable geographic sight, which resulted in Morocco being generalized as the sand land encompassing the whole Sahara Desert. With research about Morocco, I was informed that the Sahara Desert is much larger than I anticipated and stretched across multiple African countries. Morocco is more than a place holder for the Sahara Desert and has its unique entities within its culture and food.
Moroccan culture is a mix of traditional customs and religions steaming from French, Spanish, and African influences, to name a few. Morocco has the right to practice any religion, but with the religion of Islam being practiced as the majority. A famous Moroccan dish is Tagine, a stew of meat with vegetables and sauce named after the antique cooking vessel. Morocco is a hidden treasure on the geographical map, and I plan to reveal these gems within my report.
Morocco has a unique location standing at the north-western tip of Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean to the west and the western portion of the Mediterranean Sea to the north. Geographically Morocco sits very close to Europe, “only 13 km (8 miles) from Europe across the Strait of Gibraltar, a waterway channel connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean” (Hargraves, 2009). The geographic location defiantly plays a significant role in Morocco’s colonial past and current economic ties with Europe.
The economic potential of Morocco was seen, “Starting in the 15th century, Spain, Portugal, and England all set out to control various coastal areas of Morocco, and France soon followed suit” (Hargraves, 2009). Morocco, at the time not having an established unified governing system, making it easy for these other countries to gain authority. In the 19th century, ‘Europeans essentially controlled Morocco, with an air of cooperation from different European countries to share Morocco’ (Hargraves, 2009). The French still managed a way to sneak a piece of Moroccan pie by “using the French government to gradually usurped and supplanted virtually all civil authority in Morocco” (Hargraves, 2009). The beginning of Morocco’s foreign and economic policy being controlled by France.
Morocco is listed at number 58 in the ranking of a gross domestic product within a nation in a given year. Three vital economic activities helping Morocco’s economy thrive are ‘agriculture, tourism, and investments in its ports and transportation of goods’ (The Fact Book, 2017). Morocco being next to two seas and Europe, strategically taken advantage of its location by increasing investment in its ports. The result of this paid off, “positioning itself as a center and broker for business throughout Africa” (The Fact Book, 2017). The most profitable agriculture products for their economy include, ‘barley, wheat, citrus fruits, grapes, vegetables, olives; wine’ (The Fact Book, 2017). The harvesting time of the year is critical for the economy to thrive—the GDP composition by sector of origin details services 56.5% of their population. The tourism in this country is very profitable for people around the world to enjoy the cultures of Morocco.
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