Morocco's population reached 37.34 million in the 2024 census conducted by the Haut-Commissariat au Plan. The ethnic composition divides between Arabs and Amazigh peoples, with the 2014 census reporting that 28 percent of respondents identified as Amazigh. The Amazigh population concentrates in the Rif Mountains, the Middle Atlas, the High Atlas, the Anti-Atlas, and the Souss Valley. Three primary Amazigh languages exist in Morocco: Tarifit spoken in the Rif, Tamazight in the Middle and High Atlas, and Tashelhit in the Anti-Atlas and Souss regions. The 2011 constitution recognized Tamazight as an official language alongside Arabic. The Institut Royal de la Culture Amazighe, established in 2001, standardized the Tifinagh script for written Amazigh. Public schools began teaching Tamazight in 2003, though implementation remains uneven across regions.
The Phoenicians established trading posts along Morocco's Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts between the twelfth and eighth centuries BCE. Lixus near modern Larache and Mogador on the site of present-day Essaouira served as commercial outposts. Carthage controlled these settlements from approximately 500 BCE until Rome defeated Carthage in 146 BCE. The Romans annexed the territory as Mauretania Tingitana in 42 CE under Emperor Claudius. The province's capital sat at Volubilis, fifteen kilometers north of Meknes. Volubilis covered approximately forty hectares at its peak in the second and third centuries CE, with a population estimated between ten thousand and twenty thousand. The city exported olive oil and grain to Rome. Roman control weakened after 285 CE when Emperor Diocletian withdrew the southern frontier to a coastal strip. Volubilis remained partially inhabited until the eighth century. The Archaeological Site of Volubilis became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.
Christianity reached Roman Mauretania by the third century CE. Tangier hosted a bishopric by 300 CE. The Donatist controversy affected North African Christian communities from 311 CE, splitting churches over whether clergy who surrendered scriptures during persecution could administer sacraments. When Rome withdrew administrative presence, local Amazigh kingdoms emerged. The Mauri kingdoms operated independently from the fifth century until Arab armies arrived.
Arab armies reached Morocco in 681 CE under Uqba ibn Nafi, who led forces west from Egypt to the Atlantic Ocean near Massa south of Agadir. Musa ibn Nusayr governed Ifriqiya from Kairouan and directed the conquest of the Maghreb between 698 and 705 CE. Amazigh leader Kusaila initially resisted Arab forces, defeating Uqba at Tahudha near Biskra in 683 CE. Dihya, known to Arabs as al-Kahina, led Amazigh resistance in the Aurès Mountains from approximately 695 to 703 CE before her defeat. By 710 CE, most of Morocco's territory fell under Umayyad administrative control. Tangier served as the staging point for Tariq ibn Ziyad's invasion of Visigothic Hispania in 711 CE with an army composed primarily of Amazigh soldiers.
The Kharijite movement appealed to Amazigh populations from the 740s CE. Kharijism rejected the legitimacy of both Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates, advocating that any pious Muslim could lead the community. The Barghawata established a heterodox state on the Atlantic plains between the Bou Regreg and Oum Er-Rbia rivers from approximately 744 CE. They developed syncretic religious practices blending Islamic elements with local traditions and maintained independence until the eleventh century. The Midrarids ruled the Sijilmasa oasis at the northern edge of the Sahara from 758 CE to 976 CE, controlling trans-Saharan trade routes bringing gold and enslaved people from sub-Saharan Africa.
Idris ibn Abdallah, a descendant of Ali ibn Abi Talib through Hassan, fled the Abbasid defeat of his family at the Battle of Fakhkh near Mecca in 786 CE. He reached Volubilis around 788 CE where local Amazigh leader Ishaq ibn Abd al-Hamid of the Awraba tribe recognized him. Idris established authority over the northern Middle Atlas and Rif regions. The Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid sent an agent who poisoned Idris in 791 CE. Idris's son, born posthumously and named Idris II, succeeded his father under a regency. In 809 CE, Idris II founded Fes on the left bank of the Fes River. He built the Andalusian Quarter to settle refugees from Cordoba who arrived around 817 CE following a failed revolt against the Umayyad emirate. Refugees from Kairouan arrived around 825 CE after unrest in Ifriqiya and settled the Kairouiyin Quarter. The Kairouiyin Mosque, founded in 859 CE by Fatima al-Fihri, daughter of a wealthy Kairouani merchant, became a center of Islamic learning. The Idrisid state fragmented among Idris II's sons after his death in 828 CE. Various Idrisid princes ruled Fes, Tangier, and smaller territories until the Fatimids and their Zenata allies eliminated the last Idrisid authority by 985 CE.
The Almoravid movement began among Sanhaja Amazigh tribes in the western Sahara around 1040 CE. Yahya ibn Ibrahim, a Sanhaja chief, returned from pilgrimage with religious teacher Abdallah ibn Yasin. They established a ribat, a fortified religious community, in present-day Mauritania. Abu Bakr ibn Umar led military expansion northward from 1056 CE. His cousin Yusuf ibn Tashfin founded Marrakech in 1070 CE on the plain north of the High Atlas. The city's name derives from the Amazigh phrase "mur n akush," meaning "land of God." Yusuf conquered Fes in 1069 CE and Tangier in 1077 CE. Alfonso VI of Castile captured Toledo in 1085 CE, prompting taifa kings of al-Andalus to request Almoravid intervention. Yusuf crossed to Iberia and defeated Alfonso at the Battle of Sagrajas near Badajoz in 1086 CE. The Almoravids annexed the taifa kingdoms between 1090 and 1094 CE, creating an empire stretching from the Senegal River to the Ebro River. Yusuf ibn Tashfin died in 1106 CE at approximately one hundred years old. His son Ali ibn Yusuf expanded Marrakech and built the Ben Youssef Mosque around 1120 CE.
Ibn Tumart, an Amazigh theologian from the Anti-Atlas village of Igiliz, studied in Cordoba and Baghdad before returning to Morocco around 1117 CE. He preached strict adherence to the unity of God and rejected Maliki legal interpretations dominant under the Almoravids. After Almoravid authorities expelled him from Marrakech, he established a community at Tinmel in the High Atlas around 1125 CE. He declared himself the Mahdi, the divinely guided one. Abd al-Mumin, from the Zenata tribe near Tlemcen, became Ibn Tumart's chief disciple. Ibn Tumart died in 1130 CE. Abd al-Mumin concealed the death for three years while consolidating control. The Almohad forces captured Fes in 1146 CE and Marrakech in 1147 CE, executing the last Almoravid ruler. Abd al-Mumin crossed to Iberia, taking Seville in 1147 CE and Granada in 1154 CE. He extended his authority east to Tripolitania by 1160 CE. The Almohad caliphate at its peak in 1180 CE controlled North Africa from the Atlantic to Cyrenaica and Iberia south of the Tagus River.
Abd al-Mumin's grandson Yaqub al-Mansur ruled from 1184 to 1199 CE. He built the Hassan Tower in Rabat beginning in 1195 CE, intending a minaret seventy meters tall for a mosque that would hold twenty thousand worshipers. Construction stopped at forty-four meters when Yaqub died. He also built the Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakech, completed around 1195 CE with a minaret sixty-nine meters tall. The Giralda in Seville, completed in 1198 CE and rising ninety-four meters, followed the same architectural model. Yaqub defeated Alfonso VIII of Castile at the Battle of Alarcos in 1195 CE. His successor Muhammad al-Nasir lost decisively to Christian forces at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 CE, breaking Almohad military power in Iberia. The Almohad state fragmented after 1229 CE into competing dynasties.
The Marinids, a Zenata Amazigh tribe from the Figuig region near the Algerian border, took Fes in 1248 CE under Abu Yahya ibn Abd al-Haqq. His brother Abu Yusuf Yaqub captured Marrakech in 1269 CE, ending Almohad rule. The Marinids established Fes as their capital, building Fes el-Jdid as a new administrative city adjacent to Fes el-Bali in 1276 CE. Abu Inan Faris, ruling from 1348 to 1358 CE, built the Bou Inania Madrasa in Fes in 1350 CE, one of the few Moroccan mosques permitting non-Muslim visitors today. The Marinids intervened repeatedly in Iberia but could not reverse Christian advances. The Nasrid Kingdom of Granada remained the last Muslim state in Iberia, paying tribute to Castile. The Black Death reached Morocco in 1348 CE through Mediterranean ports. Fes lost an estimated one-third of its population in three months. The plague returned in waves through the fifteenth century. Marinid authority weakened progressively. The Wattasids, a related Zenata family who had served as Marinid regents, formally took power in Fes in 1472 CE.
Portuguese forces captured Ceuta in 1415 CE, establishing the first European foothold in Morocco. This conquest marked the beginning of Portuguese expansion along the Atlantic coast. Ksar es-Seghir fell in 1458 CE, Tangier in 1471 CE, Asilah in 1471 CE, and Mazagan, modern El Jadida, in 1502 CE. The Portuguese built fortified coastal enclaves to control trade routes and prevent Muslim naval operations. Agadir fell to Portuguese control in 1505 CE. These coastal occupations disrupted trans-Saharan trade that had enriched interior cities. The Portuguese presence generated sustained Moroccan resistance. The Portuguese fortification of Mazagan, built between 1541 and 1548 CE, demonstrates Renaissance military architecture. UNESCO designated the Portuguese City of Mazagan as a World Heritage Site in 2004.
The Saadian dynasty emerged from the Draa Valley in southern Morocco. The Saadians claimed descent from the Prophet Muhammad through Fatimah and Hassan, making them sharifs. Muhammad al-Qaim established authority in the Draa and Souss regions around 1510 CE. His sons Ahmad al-Araj and Muhammad al-Sheikh expanded northward. Muhammad al-Sheikh captured Marrakech from the Wattasids in 1524 CE and established it as the Saadian capital. He took Agadir from the Portuguese in 1541 CE, the first successful expulsion of European forces from a Moroccan coastal city. The Saadians eliminated the Wattasids by capturing Fes in 1549 CE. The Ottoman Empire extended control along the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, taking Algiers in 1529 CE, Tripoli in 1551 CE, and Tunis definitively in 1574 CE. The Ottomans supported a rival branch of Saadian princes. Ottoman-backed forces killed Muhammad al-Sheikh in 1557 CE. His son Abdallah al-Ghalib, ruling from 1557 to 1574 CE, maintained independence from Ottoman expansion.
Ahmad al-Mansur, ruling from 1578 to 1603 CE, represented the apex of Saadian power. The Battle of Ksar el-Kebir on August 4, 1578 CE pitted Sebastian I of Portugal, who invaded Morocco supporting a Saadian pretender, against Abd al-Malik, who had recently taken the throne. Both Sebastian and Abd al-Malik died during the battle. Ahmad, Abd al-Malik's brother, succeeded him on the battlefield and defeated the Portuguese army. The battle eliminated Portuguese expansionist ambitions in Morocco and yielded massive ransoms from captured Portuguese nobility. Ahmad used this wealth to build the El Badi Palace in Marrakech, begun in 1578 CE. European observers described the palace as containing three hundred sixty rooms decorated with gold, onyx, and Italian marble. Ahmad sent an army of four thousand soldiers under the command of Judar Pasha across the Sahara in 1590 CE. This force conquered the Songhai Empire, capturing Gao and Timbuktu in 1591 CE. Control of Songhai gold mines and Saharan trade routes enriched the Saadian treasury. Ahmad died in 1603 CE. His sons divided the kingdom, one controlling Marrakech, another Fes. The Saadian state fragmented into regional powers.
The Alaouite dynasty, also sharifs claiming descent from Muhammad through Fatimah and Hussein, controlled the Tafilalt oasis in southeastern Morocco from the thirteenth century CE. Moulay Ali Sharif held authority in Sijilmasa from 1631 CE. His son Moulay Muhammad secured the Tafilalt region by 1635 CE. Moulay Muhammad's half-brother Moulay Rashid succeeded him in 1664 CE and began expansion. Rashid took Fes in 1666 CE, Marrakech in 1668 CE, and reunified Morocco under Alaouite authority by 1669 CE. Moulay Ismail, Rashid's half-brother, ruled from 1672 to 1727 CE, the longest reign in Moroccan history. He established Meknes as his capital, building massive palace complexes, granaries, and stables between 1672 and 1727 CE. European visitors estimated that the royal stables could house twelve thousand horses. Moulay Ismail created a professional standing army of enslaved soldiers called the Abid al-Bukhari, reportedly numbering one hundred fifty thousand at peak strength. He reconquered coastal cities from European control, retaking Tangier from the English in 1684 CE, Larache from the Spanish in 1689 CE, and Asilah from the Spanish in 1691 CE. The Spanish held Ceuta and Melilla. Moulay Ismail exchanged ambassadors with Louis XIV of France and attempted to negotiate a marriage alliance with a daughter of Louis XIV, though this proposal failed. The sultan died in 1727 CE, followed by thirty years of succession conflicts among his sons.
Sidi Muhammad ibn Abdallah, ruling from 1757 to 1790 CE, restored order and encouraged European trade. He founded Essaouira in 1760 CE as a port designed by French architect Théodore Cornut to facilitate commerce with European powers. Jewish merchants from Fes and Marrakech relocated to Essaouira, forming approximately forty percent of the city's population by 1800 CE. The medina of Essaouira received UNESCO World Heritage designation in 2001. Sidi Muhammad signed a treaty with the United States in 1786 CE, the Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship, which remains the longest unbroken treaty relationship in United States history. Morocco was the first nation to recognize American independence.