Marrakech


Marrakech is one of the largest cities in Morocco and it is known as the Red City. It has about 900,000 inhabitants and most of the houses are colored red.

It is truly a colorful city of entertainment and is called the one of the pearls of morocco. It is the major economic center and has several upcoming industries and markets.
It lies at the foot of the Atlas Mountains and this gives it a very beautiful view. Like many north African cities it is mainly divided into Medina, which is the old fortified city, and a modern city nearby (called Gueliz). It is the warmth and the sociability of the inhabitants that is world-renowned.

The name has been derived from an Amazigh (Berber) word ‘mur(n) akush‘ which means the land of God. Till a few decades ago, the Arabs, Persians, and Europeans, called Morocco the Kingdom of Marrakech. It was founded in the 11th century and was the capital of an empire that stretched from Spain to Senegal. Surrounded by a vast palm grove, the Medina in Marrakech is called the “red city” because of its buildings, which were built during the residence of the Almohads.

The heart of the medina is Jamaa el-Fna square, a vibrant marketplace. Nearby is the 12th-century Kutubiyyah (Koutoubia) Mosque with its 253-foot (77-meters) minaret. The 16th-century Saʿdī Mausoleum, the 18th-century Dar el-Beïda Palace (now a hospital), and the 19th-century Bahia royal residence reflect the city’s historical growth. Much of the medina is still surrounded by 12th-century walls; among the surviving gates to the medina, the stone Bab Agnaou is particularly notable. The modern quarter, called Gueliz, to the west of the medina developed under the French protectorate.

Marrakech is famous for its parks, especially the Menara olive grove and the walled 1,000-acre (405-hectare) Agdal gardens. An irrigation system built under the Almoravids is still used to water the city’s gardens. Popular for tourism and winter sports, the city is a commercial centre for the High Atlas mountains and Saharan trade and has an international airport. It is connected by railway and road to Safī and Casablanca.

Marrakech has a hot semi-arid climate with the Atlas Mountains protecting it from the Sahara Desert. Temperature-wise Marrakech's climate resembles the one found in the interior of Andalusia in southern Spain