Moroccan History

Ancient History

The country of Morocco, with its rich history, is located in the northwest of Africa. Its history reaches as far back as Roman times when they conquered the land in the year 40 AD after they annexed the land which we now call Morocco from the local Berber kingdom that ruled the land since the 3rd century BC. This lasted for approximately 300 years until the Germanic kingdom of the Vandals took over the land.

Arch of Caracalla in Volubillis

Arrival of the Muslim caliphate

It was not until the 7th century AD that the Muslim army succeeded in seizing control of Morocco from the Byzantine Empire. This conquest had a lasting impact on the country, both spiritually and culturally. With the arrival of the Umayyad Caliphate, Arabic became the official language of the region, and it still is one of the official languages of the country of Morocco, along with Tamazight. Just like anywhere else within the Islamic Empire, they converted to Islam over the years. The arrival of the Umayyad Caliphate had a unique impact on the nation in the sense that the culture of the local Berbers got mixed into the culture which the Muslims brought over, and today we can see such a unique mixture of both. In the 8th century AD, one of the descendants of Prophet Muhammad entered the Maghreb territories and began the Idrisid dynasty, a dynasty which lasted until the 10th century. This dynasty was the start of many more local dynasties to come. We can see the rise of many Islamic empires for the next 5 centuries until the first Europeans arrived in Morocco.

Present Day

Morocco finally gained full independent from the french in the year 1956 during the reign of king Muhammad the fifth. unfortunately for Moroccans they didn't have many of the human rights that we in the western world for granted until the 2011 during Arab Spring up rising, in 2011 morocco finally had their first constitution and were able to elect their first prime minister also during that time the Moroccan ladies were finally got the right to vote and to go to school and to have jobs outside of the house.