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( Morocco)
Morocco (Arabic ??????? "al-Magrib"), officially the Kingdom of Morocco[3] (Arabic ??????? ?????????), is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 34 million. It has a coast on the Atlantic Ocean that reaches past the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean Sea. Morocco has international borders with Algeria to the east, Spain to the north (a water border through the Strait and land borders with two small Spanish autonomous cities, Ceuta and Melilla), and Mauritania to the south via its Western Saharan territories.[4] Morocco is the only country in Africa that is not currently a member of the African Union. However, it is a member of the Arab League, Arab Maghreb Union, Francophonie, Organization of the Islamic Conference, Mediterranean Dialogue group, and Group of 77. It is also a major non-NATO ally of the United States. The full Arabic name al-Mamlaka al-Magribiyya translates to "The Western Kingdom." Al-Magrib (meaning "The West") is commonly used. For historical references, medieval Arab historians and geographers used to refer to Morocco as Al-Maghrib al Aqsá ("The Farthest West"), disambiguating it from neighboring historical regions called al-Maghrib al Awsat ("The Middle West", Algeria) and al-Maghrib al Adna ("The Nearest West", Tunisia).[5] The Latinized name "Morocco" originates from medieval Latin "Morroch," which referred to the name of the former Almoravid and Almohad capital, Marrakech.[6] The Persians straightforwardly call it "Marrakech"[7] while the Turks call it "Fas" which comes from the ancient Idrisid and Marinid capital, Fès.[8]
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