Casablanca in the context of "Operation Torch"

Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to the east, and the disputed territory of Western Sahara to the south, occupied by Morocco since 1975. Morocco also claims the Spanish exclaves of Ceuta, Melilla and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera, and several small Spanish-controlled islands off its coast. It has a population of approximately 37 million. Islam is both the official and predominant religion, while Arabic and Berber are the official languages. Additionally, French and the Moroccan dialect of Arabic are widely spoken. The culture of Morocco is a mix of Arab, Berber, African and European cultures. Its capital is Rabat, while its largest city is Casablanca.

The region constituting Morocco has been inhabited since the Paleolithic era, more than 300,000 years ago. The Idrisid dynasty was established by Idris I in 788, and Morocco was subsequently ruled by a series of other independent dynasties, reaching its zenith as a regional power in the 11th and 12th centuries, under the Almoravid and Almohad dynasties, when it controlled most of the Iberian Peninsula and the Maghreb. Centuries of Arab migration to the Maghreb since the 7th century shifted the demographic scope of the region. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Morocco faced external threats to its sovereignty, with Portugal seizing some territory and the Ottoman Empire encroaching from the east. The Marinid and Saadi dynasties otherwise resisted foreign domination, and Morocco was the only North African nation to escape Ottoman dominion. The Alawi dynasty, which rules the country to this day, seized power in 1631, and over the next two centuries expanded diplomatic and commercial relations with the Western world. Morocco's strategic location near the mouth of the Mediterranean drew renewed European interest. In 1912, France and Spain divided the country into respective protectorates, reserving an international zone in Tangier. Following intermittent riots and revolts against colonial rule, in 1956, Morocco regained its independence and reunified.

The 12 Regions of Morocco are subdivided into 75 second-level administrative subdivisions, the Prefectures and provinces. There are 13 prefectures and 62 provinces. Each prefecture or province is subdivided into arrondissements (only in prefectures of some metropolitan areas), municipalities (communes, sing. commune) or urban municipalities (communes urbaines, sing. commune urbaine) in other urban areas, and districts (cercles, sing. cercle) in rural areas. The districts are subdivided into rural municipalities (communes rurales, sing. commune rural). One prefecture (Casablanca) is also subdivided into préfectures d'arrondissements (sing. préfecture d'arrondissements), similar to districts (cercles) except they are grouping a few arrondissements instead of rural municipalities.

Note: The arrondissements and (urban) municipalities should probably be thought of as fourth-level subdivisions, on the same level as the rural municipalities, but they are not part of any district.

Moroccan Arabic (Arabic: العربية المغربية الدارجة, romanized: al-ʻArabiyyah al-Maghribiyyah ad-Dārija lit. 'Moroccan vernacular Arabic'), also known as Darija (الدارجة or الداريجة), is the dialectal, vernacular form or forms of Arabic spoken in Morocco. It is part of the Maghrebi Arabic dialect continuum and as such is mutually intelligible to some extent with Algerian Arabic and to a lesser extent with Tunisian Arabic. It is spoken by 91.9% of the population of Morocco, with 80.6% of Moroccans considering it their native language.

While Modern Standard Arabic is used to varying degrees in formal situations such as religious sermons, books, newspapers, government communications, news broadcasts and political talk shows, Moroccan Arabic is the predominant spoken language of the country and has a strong presence in Moroccan television entertainment, cinema and commercial advertising. Moroccan Arabic has many regional dialects and accents as well, with its mainstream dialect being the one used in metropolitan cities, such as Casablanca, Rabat, Meknes and Fez. Therefore, the metropolitan dialects dominate the media and eclipse most of the other regional accents.

Tunis (Arabic: تونس, Tūnis) is the capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. As of 2020, it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casablanca and Algiers) and the eleventh-largest in the Arab world.

Situated on the Gulf of Tunis, behind the Lake of Tunis and the port of La Goulette (Ḥalq il-Wād), the city extends along the coastal plain and the hills that surround it. At its core lies the Medina, a World Heritage Site. East of the Medina, through the Sea Gate (also known as the Bab el Bhar and the Porte de France), begins the modern part of the city called "Ville Nouvelle", traversed by the grand Avenue Habib Bourguiba (often referred to by media and travel guides as "the Tunisian Champs-Élysées"), where the colonial-era buildings provide a clear contrast to smaller, older structures. Further east by the sea lie the suburbs of Carthage, La Marsa, and Sidi Bou Said.

Mauretania Tingitana (Latin for "Tangerine Mauretania") was a Roman province, coinciding roughly with the northern part of present-day Morocco. The territory stretched from the northern peninsula opposite Gibraltar, to Sala Colonia (or Chellah) and Volubilis to the south, and as far east as the Mulucha (or Malva) river. Its capital city was Tingis, which is the modern Tangier. Other major cities of the province were Iulia Valentia Banasa, Septem, Rusadir, Lixus and Tamuda.

Grand Casablanca or Greater Casablanca (Arabic: الدار البيضاء الكبرى) was one of the sixteen former regions of Morocco that existed from 1997 to 2015. Located in coastal northwestern Morocco, it was the most densely populated region and covered an area of 1,117 km. The population at the 2014 census was 4,270,750. The region was the economic heart of the Moroccan economy with Casablanca, the region's capital, being the effective economic capital of Morocco.

The region was bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and by the region of Chaouia-Ouardigha on the other three sides.

The Port of Casablanca (Arabic: ميناء الدار البيضاء , French: Port de Casablanca ) refers to the collective facilities and terminals that conduct maritime trade handling functions in Casablanca's harbours and which handle Casablanca's shipping. The port is located near Hassan II Mosque.

The Port of Casablanca is one of the largest artificial ports in Morocco and in the world, though it was eclipsed when Tangiers-Med—a cargo port 40 km east of Tangiers and the largest on the Mediterranean coast of Africa in terms of capacity—went into service in 2007. The Port of Casablanca's initial capacity was 3,5 million shipment containers.

Agadir (Arabic: أكادير or أڭادير, romanized: ʾagādīr, pronounced [ʔaɡaːdiːr]; Tachelhit: ⴰⴳⴰⴷⵉⵔ) is a major city in Morocco, on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean near the foot of the Atlas Mountains, just north of the point where the Souss River flows into the ocean, and 509 kilometres (316 mi) south of Casablanca. Agadir is the capital of the Souss-Massa region and the seat of Agadir-Ida Ou Tanane Prefecture.

Agadir is one of the major urban centres of Morocco. The commune of Agadir recorded a population of 501,797 in the 2024 Moroccan census. According to the 2004 census, there were 346,106 inhabitants in that year and the population of the Prefecture of Agadir-Ida Outanane was 487,954 inhabitants. Agadir is known for being the capital of Berber culture in Morocco. A majority of 58.3% of the population of Agadir speak Arabic as their native language, while a sizable minority of 40.7% natively speak Berber languages, including the native variety of Tachelhit. Agadir is also a place for many festivals related to Berber culture, such as Yennayer and Bujlood, as well as being the birthplace of many of the pillars of Shilha music, such as Izenzaren and Oudaden.