Morocco is a country with a long history back to the ancient era. The studies show that the area of present-day Morocco has been inhabited since the Paleolithic times or around 190,000-90,000 BC. The first group or the native people of Morocco were the Berbers. The Berber people are the ethnicity indigenous to North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are distributed from the Atlantic Ocean to the Siwa Oasis in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean Sea to the Niger River. The Berbers usually lived as a large group dividing into different tribes. There was no actual proof of any government during the Berbers era, the Berbers were believed to be living in the tribes and follow their tribal leader’s rules. Each tribe could have totally different aspect of rules, which their people needed to follow. Since there were no actual rulers in the area, the land of Morocco was frequently invaded by many groups of empires and invaders during those times. Phoenicians were the first invaders of Morocco back to around the 12th century BC. The Phoenicians started trading colonies and established settlements in the early Classical period. Mogador was one of the main settlements of the Phoenicians; it was a colony as early as the early 6th century BC. Since the Phoenicians mainly did trading, they claimed a great amount of land on the coastline of Morocco.
Soon after, the Carthaginians took over around the 2nd century BC and Morocco became a part of a North African empire headquarter in Carthage but later on became the target of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire captured and converted the Carthaginians’ strongholds in the area and rules Morocco until the empire fell apart. During the time period under the Roman Empire’s control, Christianity was introduced to the people and it gained converts in the Roman towns, among slaves and some Berber farmers. The falling of the Roman Empire allowed many more nations to invade the land. The first invader after the fall of the Empire was the Vandal and later by the Byzantium. The Arab invasion brought the end to the Byzantium era and it allowed the Arab to move into the area and take over the land. The first Arab rulers were the Idrisid dynasty; they ruled Morocco for over 150 years. During this time period, many of the Berbers converted to Islam and the first independent Muslim state in the area was established as the Kingdom of Nekor.
The majority of the Moroccan culture nowadays comes from the time after the conflict between the Arabs and the Jews fighting over the control of the country. The war led the country into an unstable status however; a man by the name of Ahmed I al-Man-Sur brought the stability back to the country during his rule under the Sharifian dynasty. He established and unified the country between 1579 and 1603. Moors and Jews were expelled from the country and the Spanish began to settle in the area during this the same time period. Each nation brought many cultures such as art, food, etc. to Morocco, making Morocco became really diverse and filled with many cultures until its present day.
http://www.morocco.com/culture/ancient-morocco/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morocco#Prehistory_and_antiquity
http://www.maroc-insight.com/history.htm
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