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Morocco: Western Sahara
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Morocco is a land of heat and light, of vibrant colors shimmering under a North African sun. Clinging to the northwesternmost corner of the African continent, it has stood at a cultural crossroads for 1,000 years, its caravans penetrating deep into sub-Saharan Africa, its armies swarming north across the Straits of Gibraltar to conquer half of Spain before Morocco was itself colonized by the French. In modern-day Morocco, Peugeot trucks compete with donkeys for right of way, and women swathed from head to foot in djellabas and veils zoom through the streets on motor scooters. The cry of the muezzin calling the faithful to prayer floats above the squawk and clamor of television sets, and businessmen in dark suits walk past mosques 1,000 years old during their daily commutes. Morocco is a land of heartbreaking beauty, color, and contrast, and in Morocco, author Paul Bowles and photographer Barry Brukoff bring it all to life in glorious images and lively prose.
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Morocco is a constitutional monarchy, with a king as head of state and a prime minister as head of the government. Rabat, where the king lives, is the capital of Morocco. Casablanca, south of Rabat along the Atlantic coast, is the country’s largest city and commercial center. Morocco borders the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean to its north and east, and the Sahara to its south. Also south of Morocco lies Western Sahara, a former overseas province of Spain that Morocco has claimed and administered since 1979. The country’s southeastern border with Algeria, in the Sahara, has never been precisely defined.
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Morocco's long struggle for independence from France ended in 1956. The internationalized city of Tangier was turned over to the new country that same year. Morocco virtually annexed Western Sahara during the late 1970s, but final resolution on the status of the territory remains unresolved. Gradual political reforms in the 1990s resulted in the establishment of a bicameral legislature in 1997.
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For more than 30 years, Morocco and the independence-seeking Popular Front of the Liberation of Saguia al Hamra and Rio de Oro (Polisario Front) have vied for control of the Western Sahara, a former Spanish territory. Morocco's claim to sovereignty over the Western Sahara is based largely on a historical argument of traditional loyalty of the Sahrawi tribal leaders to the Moroccan sultan as spiritual leader and ruler. The Polisario claims to represent the aspirations of the Western Saharan inhabitants for independence. Algeria claims none of the territory for itself but maintains that Sahrawis should determine the territory's future status.
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The Kingdom of Morocco is located in North Africa. Its long coastline streches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. Spain lies only thirteen miles away, across the Strait of Gibraltar. The Rif mountains in the north and the Atlas mountains in central Morocco stand in stark contrast to the arid Sahara Desert in the south. Most of the population lives to the north of the mountains. Morocco is a majority Muslim country.
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The Kingdom of Morocco is located at the western end of North Africa. Known to the Arabs as al-Maghreb al-Aqsa, or “the farthest west,” it was the center of Berber Islamic kingdoms that once included much of Spain and North Africa. France established a protectorate over Morocco in 1912 and granted independence in 1956.
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