From the angle of Orientalism, the angle from which so many writers, painters, and filmmakers have sought to gaze upon the land, it will never be possible to know all that Morocco is, has been, and can be. Morocco is the whitewashed villages of the Mediterranean coast, but also, the molded mud constructions at the frontiers of the Sahara desert. It is the Spanish-speaking north and the tribal dialects of the south. The white crested peaks of the High Atlas Mountains both frame and contrast the lush cedar forests which stretch between Marrakesh and Fez. And the Moroccan people, representing nearly the full spectrum of the world’s color, are not least of that which makes the country so fascinating.

In the 7th century, Uqba ibn Nafi entered Morocco, proclaimed it territory of the Umayyeds of Damascus, and gave it the name “Maghreb al Aqsa” – the Western Kingdom. Morocco underwent a rapid succession of rulers and magistrates. The culture grew diverse as the various ethnic groups - Arabs, Jews, and sub-Saharan Africans - mixed with the native Berber population. The coming centuries only expanded this diversity. The Portuguese arrived in the 1400s on Morocco’s southern coast, and proceeded to set up seaport at Mogador, now Essaouira. Later, and for a period lasting about two hundred years, pirates took control of the cities of Rabat and Sale, named theirs the Republic of Bou Regreg. Further on, in the 19th and 20th centuries, Morocco was brought under the protectorates of Spain and France, until ultimately the territory became an independent nation in 1956. A nation of interweave, the very different cultures of Europe and Africa have come together in Morocco to create a society that has elements of each, but is quite distinct from any other.