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"Marrakech is a city of great distances, flat as a table. When the wind blows, the pink dust of the plain sweeps into the sky, obscuring the sun, and the whole city, painted with a wash made of the pink earth on which it rests, glows red in the cataclysmic light. At night, from a car window, it looks not unlike one of our Western cities: long miles of street lights stretching in straight lines across the plain. Only by day you see that most of these lights illumine nothing more than empty reaches of palm garden and desert""Paul Bowles"( Journey through Morocco, 1963)

History:

Morocco is on the edge. It was known to the ancient Arabs as al-Maghreb al-Aqsa, the Farthest Land of the Setting Sun, alluding to its position on the western extremity of the western extremity of North Africa. Ancient mariners, medieval conquerors and modern colonisers long sought to tame this land on the edge. But its rugged terrain and robust tribes endured. It has absorbed the influences of Europe, Africa and Arabia, but Morocco remains unique.

10,000 - 2500 BC : Ancestors of the Berbers settle in the Maghreb, a region comprising present-day Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya.

800 - 300 BC : Phoenician traders establish staging posts along the North African coast, including their capital at Carthage.

400 BC : Emergence of Berber kingdoms of Massyla near Carthage, Masaesyla on the Algerian coast and Mauretania near Lixus.

146 BC : Carthageb is destroyed by Rome with the aid of Massyla and Masaesyla kingdoms; Rome begins its occupation of North Africa.

44 - 33 BC : With the death of King Bocchus, Rome gains control of Mauretania; colonies are establsihed at Lixus and Volubilis.

670 - 700 AD : Arabs sweep across North Africa, establishing a base in central Morocco; Berber tribes begin to embrace Islam.

780 AD : Exiled Arab Moulay Idriss establishes the first Moroccan state, and his successor builds a capital at Fes, thus founding the Idrissid dynasty.

1062 : The Almoravids of the Sahara establish a capital at Marrakesh and commence a campaign to conquer northwest Africa and Spain.

1114 - 1269 : The Berber Almohads rule the kingdom from Marrakesh, enjoying political victories and cultural development.

1269 - 1465 : The Merenids of the Atlas rule from Fes, excelling in architecture and education.

1415 : Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal takes Ceuta, the first of many conquests of Moroccon seaports by the Portuguese and Spanish

1492 : Granada is captured, sparking another flood of Muslim and Jewish immigrants from Andalusia to Morocco.

1524 : After sparring with their rival Wattasids, the Arabian Saadians establish their capital at Marrakech.

1578 : The Saadian dynasty repels invading Portugal at the infamous Battle of three kings.

1659 : The last Saadian ruler is assassinated and Moulay ar-Rashid secures the sultanate, thus founding the Arab Alawite dynasty.

1672 - 1727 : Ar-Rashid's successor Moulay Ismail makes Meknes his capital and maintains power with legendary cruelty.

1830 : France seizes the Algerian coast, putting increasing pressure on the Moroccan sultan to cede power.

1912 : The Treaty of Fes makes Morocco a French protectorate with a capital at Rabat; Spain controls northern Morocco from Tetouan

1921 - 26 : Berber rebel Abd al-krim leads resistance against the Spanish and the French in the Rif War.

1944 - 53 : The Istiqlal Party demands independence from France and nationalist sentiment grows; Sultan Mohammed V is exiled to Madagascar.

1956 : Morocco becomes an independent nation on 2 March; withh the repatriated Mohammed V at the helm.

1961 - 99 : After Mohammed V's death, his son Hassan II uses his rule to modernise the country, yett retains absolute political control.

1975 : The Green March into the Western Sahara sparks the region's longest-running (and still unresolved) dispute.

1999 : The death of Hassan II and the succession of Mohammed VI ushers in an era of more liberal social policies and improved human rights.

The adventurous odyssey Moha

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