امغرب (al-Maghreb)

How is the land laid out?

There are five geophysical zones in امغرب (al-Maghreb):¹ I. the Er Rif highlands in the far north; II. a coastal plain extending with some interruptions along much of the west of Morocco as it was before the conquest of the Western Sahara; III. the Atlas Mountains, in a series of parallel ranges southwest to northeast, rising above 4,000 meters in three peaks; IV. the Draa River Valley skirting the southeast edge of the Atlas; and V. the Sahara Desert on Morocco's southeast and in the new prefectures in the south, where it reaches the Atlantic Ocean.

Who lives there?

A majority speak Maghrebi Spoken Arabic,² although in the center--that is the part that was southern Morocco before the conquest of Western Sahara--Tachelhit³ is almost as common. In the new prefectures in the south Hassaniya Spoken Arabic is the norm.

Regardless of linguistic differences, almost everyone is a Sunni Moslem.

There are three cities with a million or more people: Casablanca, Rabat and Fes. La'yūn is also of note.

Another important city is العيون (al-'uyūn or Laâyoune or Laayoune).

Within the area

Tangier-Tetouan, Gharb-Chrarda-Beni Hssen, Taza-Al Hoceima-Tounate, Rabat-Sale-Zammur-Zer, Fes-Bouleman, Oriental, Casablanca, Chaouia-Ourdigha, Tadla-Azilal, Doukkal-Abda and Meknes-Tafilalet
Guelmim, Souss Massa-Draa and_Marrakech-Tensift-al_Houz
Wad-ad-Dahah, Bu Jaydur, ad-'Ayun and es-Samarah

Footnotes

1. Al-Maghreb means the West in Arabic. It is Maroc in French and Morocco in English.
2. Some would consider this several languages, others would subsume it under Arabic.
3. Also called Southern Silha.