Morocco

Morocco, an empire in the NW. corner of Africa, three times the size of Great Britain, its coast-line stretching from Algeria to Cape Nun, and its inland confines being vaguely determined by the French hinterlands. Two-thirds of the country is desert; much of the remainder is poor pasture land; the Atlas Mountains stretch from SW. to NE., but there are some expanses of level fertile country; on the seaboard the climate is delightful, with abundance of rain in the season; among the mountains extremes prevail; south of the Atlas it is hot and almost rainless; the mineral wealth is probably great; gold, silver, copper, and iron are known to be plentiful, but bad government hinders development; the exports are maize, pulse, oil, wool, fruit, and cattle; cloth, tea, coffee, and hardware are imported; the chief industries are the making of leather, “Fez” caps, carpets, and the breeding of horses; government is extremely despotic and corrupt, and the Sultan's authority over many of the tribes is merely nominal; there is no education; the religion is Mohammedanism, and slavery prevails; there are no roads, and the country is imperfectly known; telegraph, telephone, and postal service are in European hands; the country was taken from the Romans by the Arabs in the 7th century, and has ever since been in their hands, but Berbers, Spaniards, Moors, Jews, and negroes also go to make up the population. The chief towns are Fez (25), in the N., a sacred Moslem city, squalid and dirty, but with good European trade, and a depôt for the caravans from the interior; and Morocco (60), in the S., near the Tensift River, 240 m. SW. of Fez, well situated for local and transit trade, but a dilapidated city.

Population (circa 1900) given as 4,000,000.

Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)