officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of nearly 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², including the disputed Western Sahara which is mainly under Moroccan administration.

Morocco has a coast on the Atlantic Ocean that reaches past the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean Sea. It is bordered by Spain to the north (a water border through the Strait and land borders with three small Spanish-controlled exclaves, Ceuta, Melilla, and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera), Algeria to the east, and Mauritania to the south.

Morocco is a de jure constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. The King of Morocco holds vast executive powers, including dissolving parliament at will. Executive power is exercised by the government and by the king as well. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Assembly of Representatives and the Assembly of Councillors. The king can also issue decrees called dahirs which have the force of law. Parliamentary elections were held in Morocco on 7 September 2007, and were considered by some neutral observers to be mostly free and fair; although voter turnout was estimated to be 37%, the lowest in decades. The political capital is Rabat, and the largest city is Casablanca; other large cities include Marrakesh, Fez, Salé, Agadir, Tangier, Meknes, Oujda and Tetouan.

The history of the country's known human civilization spans over 8000 years, and it was founded by the Berbers who are the original inhabitans. Umayyad Arabs conquered the region in the 7th century, bringing their language, their system of government, and Islam, to which many of the Berbers slowly converted, mostly after the Arab rule receded. The earliest well-known Moroccan state was the Berber kingdom of Mauretania under king Bocchus I.

The Berber Kingdom of Mauretania (current northern Morocco) dates at least to 110 BC. In the Islamic era the first Moroccan Muslim state, independent from the Arab Empire, was The Kingdom of Nekor, an emirate in the Rif area. It was founded by an immigrant of Yemen, Salih I ibn Mansur in 710 AD, by Caliphal grant as a client state. Idris I fled to Morocco from the Abbasids' massacre against his tribe in Iraq and managed to convince the Awraba Berber tribes to break allegiance to the distant Abbasid caliphs in Baghdad. He founded the Idrisid Dynasty in 780 AD. Morocco became later a center of learning and a major power.

From the 11th century onwards, a series of powerful Berber dynasties arose. Under the Almoravid dynasty and the Almohad dynasty, Morocco dominated the Maghreb, Muslim Spain, and the western Mediterranean region. In the 13th century the Merinids gained power over Morocco and strove to replicate the successes of the Almohads. In the 15th century the Reconquista ended Islamic rule in Iberia and many Muslims and Jews migrated to Morocco. Under the Saadi Dynasty, the first Moroccan dynasty initiated by ethnic Arabs since the Idrisids, the country would consolidate power and fight off Portuguese and Ottoman invaders, as in the battle of Ksar el Kebir. The reign of Ahmad al-Mansur brought new wealth and prestige to the Sultanate, and an invasion of the Songhay Empire was initiated.

However, managing the territories across the Sahara proved too difficult. After the death of al-Mansur the country was divided among his sons. In 1666 the sultanate was reunited by the Alaouite dynasty, who have since been the ruling house in Morocco. The organization of the state developed with Ismail Ibn Sharif. With his Black Guard he drove the British from Tangier (1684) and the Spanish from Larache (1689). In 1912, after the First Moroccan Crisis and the Agadir Crisis, the Treaty of Fez was signed, effectively dividing Morocco into a French and Spanish protectorate. In 1956, after 44 years of occupation Morocco regained independence from France as the Kingdom of Morocco.

Morocco has a rich culture and civilization, which remained mainly indigenous throughout times and the Moroccan cuisine has long been considered as one of the most diversified cuisines in the world. The population is almost entirely Arab-Berber. Although Arabic is the majority language, modern studies show that the Arabization process in Morocco was mostly linguistic. The Moroccans or Moroccan Arabs, are a largely homogenous group speaking Moroccan Arabic, although regional variation does occur. The Berber people in Morocco can be divided in three main groups with different dialects: the Riffians, the Chleuh and the Central Moroccan Amazigh. A large Jewish community lived in Morocco before the creation of Israel, numbering approximately 265,000 in 1948. Between 7,000 and 12,000 live there now, mostly in Casablanca, but also in Fez and other major cities. A call made by late king Hassan II for Jews to return to Morocco was not answered.

Morocco is the world's biggest exporter and third-largest producer of phosphorus and the price fluctuations of phosphates on the international market strongly influence Morocco's economy.