Geography of Morocco

Agadir Beach

Morocco has a coast on the Atlantic Oceab   that reaches past the  Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean Sea. It is bordered by Spain to the north (a water border through the Strait and land borders with three small Spanish-controlled exclaves, Ceuta , Melilla  , and  Penon de Vélez de la Gomera),Algeria  to the east, and Western Sahara to the south. Since Morocco controls most of Western Sahara, its de facto southern boundary is with Mauritania .

The internationally recognized borders of the country lie between latitudes 27°  and 36°N, and longitudes 1° and 14°W  Adding Western Sahara, Morocco lies mostly between 21° and 36°N, and 1° and 17°W (the Ras Nouadhiboupeninsula is slightly south of 21° and west of 17°).The geography of Morocco spans from the Atlantic Ocean, to mountainous areas, to the Sahara desert. Morocco is
a Northern African  country, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, between Algeria and Moroccan Sahara.

A large part of Morocco is mountainous. The Atlas Mountains  are located mainly in the center and the     south of the country. The Rif Mountains  are located in the north of the country. Both ranges are mainly inhabited by the Berber people . At 446,550 km²(172,414 sq mi), Morocco is the fifty-seventh largest country in the world (after Uzbekistan). Algeria borders Morocco to the east and southeast though the border between the two countries has been closed since 1994.

Spanish territory in North Africa neighbouring Morocco comprises five enclaves on the Mediterranean coast: Ceuta , Melilla , Penon de Vélez de la Gomera, Penon de Alhucemas, the Chafarinas  islands, and the disputed islet Perejil. Off the Atlantic coast the Canary Islands  belong to Spain, whereas Madeira to the north is Portuguese. To the north, Morocco is bordered by the Strait of Gibraltar, where international shipping has unimpeded transit passage between the Atlantic and Mediterranean.

The Rif mountains stretch over the region bordering the Mediterranean from the north-west to the north-east. The Atlas Mountains run down the backbone of the country, from the northeast to the south west. 

El-houceima Beach

Most of the southeast portion of the country is in the Sahara Desert  and as such is generally sparsely populated and unproductive economically. Most of the population lives to the north of these mountains, while to the south lies the Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony that was annexed by Morocco in 1975 (see Green March). Morocco claims that the Western Sahara is part of its territory and refers to that as its Southern Provinces.

Morocco's capital city is Rabat; its largest city is its main port, Casablanca. Other cities include Agadir, Essaouira, Fes, Marrakech,Meknes, Mohammadia, Oujda, Ouarzazat, Safi, Salé, Tangier and Tétouan.

Morocco is represented in the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 geographical encoding standard by the symbol MA.This code was used as the basis for Morocco's internet domain, .ma.

Climate: 

The climate is Mediterranean  in the North and in some mountains (West of Atlas), which becomes more extreme towards the interior regions. The terrain is such that the coastal plains are rich and accordingly, they comprise the backbone for agriculture, especially in the North. Forests cover about 12% of the land while arable land accounts for 18%; 5% is irrigated. In the Atlas (Middle Atlas), there are several different climates: Mediterranean (with some more humid and fresher variants), Maritime Temperate (with some humid and fresher variants too) that allow different species of oaks, moss carpets, junipers, atlantic cedars and many other plants, to form extensive and very rich humid cloud forests. The climate changes when moving east of the Atlas mountains due to the barrier, or shelter, effect of the mountain system, becoming very dry and extremely warm during the long summer, especially on the lowlands and on the valleys facing the Sahara. The Sahara Desert begins here, and it is perfectly visible, for example, on the Draa Valley, where it is possible to find oases, sand dunes and rocky desert landscapes.

Atlas Mountains

Biodiversity: 

Morocco is known for its biodiversity; Avifauna being the most notable. The avifauna of Morocco includes a total of 454 species, five of which have been introduced by humans, and 156 are rarely or accidentally seen

The Barbary lion, hunted to extinction in the wild, was a subspieces native to Morocco and is a national emblem. The last Barbary lion in the wild was shot in the Atlas Mountains in 1922.The other two primary predators of northern Africa, the Atlas bear and Barbary leopard, are now extinct and critically endangered, respectively.

Ifrane City

Ifrane City

Morocco - Highest Mountains

	Name	Elevation	Latitude/Longitude
1	Jebel Toubkal  , Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz	4,167 m	31.06 / -7.917
2	Ouanoukrim  , Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz	4,080 m	31.036 / -7.949
3	Ighil Mgoun  , Souss-Massa-Drâa	4,068 m	31.509 / -6.447
4	Jbel n’ Nig Oumassine, Souss-Massa-Drâa	3,883 m	31.495 / -6.504
5	Aksoual, Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz	3,842 m	31.119 / -7.868
6	Taska n’Zat, Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz	3,805 m	31.163 / -7.649
7	Rjoute, Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz	3,757 m	31.185 / -7.671
8	Jebel Ayachi, Meknès-Tafilalet	3,747 m	32.465 / -4.998
9	Jebel Azourki, Tadla-Azilal	3,677 m	31.75 / -6.256
10	Anngour, Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz	3,616 m	31.176 / -7.827