MARRAKECH & BEGINNING A SERIES OF SURPRISES

There is some risk in listing surprises, because

it reveals what an ignorant blighter one can be.

Morocco is not all desert.

 There is a lot of desert, true, but it is mostly irrigated, verdant and productive agricultural land.  We crossed over the Mediterranean and flew along the Atlantic side of Maroc.

Patches of cultivated land emerged.  The closer we got to Marrakech the more was under production. 

And, then the Atlas Moutains emerged. 

Surprise.

Marrakech is nestled at the base of the High Atlas range.

This photo is of the new terminal under construction at RAK.  In the backgound is the range.  Still with snow.  We later learned that the major melt had occurred the week before (last week of March) but the north faces of the mountains were still white.

Surprise.

This is Berber country. And, 

Surprise.

Berbers are  not Arabs. And

Surprise.

Most of Morocco is Berber.

The population of Morocco is estimated in 2013 at 35 million. The overwhelming majority of Moroccans are of Arab-Berber descent, whether they speak the Berber language or not. Part of Moroccans identify themselves as Berbers through the spoken language, through a mix of family/tribal/territorial ties, or through both. Another part of Moroccans identify themselves as Arabized Berbers or simply as Arabs, mostly based on them speaking Moroccan Arabic and/or not being able to speak Berber. Some of them believe they have an Arab descent from the Arabian Peninsula or the Levant. Some Moroccans believe to be of mixed Arab-Berber descent or of Berber-Arab-Andalusian ancestry. There are no official figures about the exact ethnic origins of all Moroccans, but the implicitly accepted idea inside and outside Morocco is that Moroccans are essentially mixed Arab-Berbers.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Morocco]

It was the Berbers from Mauritania ("Moors") who invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 711 and occupied until the 15th.  It was the Berbers--now called "Moors"-- who were expelled by Ferdinand and Isabella as the Christian forces gained supremacy in Spain. 

Marty, Paul and I were going to be immersed in Berber culture and history for the next two weeks.Berbers some in all colors and sizes.  They have their own language and alphabet.  They occupied the lands from the Niger River north from 5,000 BCE.  The origin of the word "Berber" is not known and may be a corruption of the Latin word for "barbarian."  The Romans would have called them barbarians since they never were able to conquer them!