Photos

This enhanced satellite image shows the Anti-Atlas Mountains, part of the Atlas Mountain range in southern Morocco. The Anti-Atlas Mountains form a border between the Atlantic Ocean and the Sahara Desert, extending 500 km (310 mi) to their easternmost point, the 3,304 m (10,835 ft) peak of Djebel Sarho. The region contains some of the world's largest and most diverse mineral resources including phosphate rock, iron, zinc, copper, antimony, as well as gold and silver, most of which remain untouched. Image courtesy of USGS.

The Strait of Gibraltar provides a natural physical barrier between the countries of Spain (north) and Morocco (south). This photo shows the mountainous northern coast of Morocco and the coastal mountains of southern Spain, including the dagger-shaped, snow-covered Sierra Nevada Mountains of southeastern Spain. The British territory of Gibraltar is located on the thin, wedge-shaped peninsula on the east side of the bay in the southernmost protrusion of Spain. The city of Ceuta is a Spanish enclave on the extreme northeastern coast of Morocco. Image courtesy of NASA.

This space shuttle photo was taken near sunset. Two packets of tidally-generated internal waves are highlighted by sunglint off the surface waters in the Strait of Gibraltar. The older packet (labeled) contains at least 14 waves, which can be counted like tree rings. A younger group is forming near the middle of the strait (marked by the carat south of Gibraltar). The waves are generated as a diurnal tidal pulse flows over the shallow Camarinal Sill at Gibraltar. The waves flow eastward and refract around coastal features; they can be traced for as much as 150 km. Image credit: NASA.

The coast of Morocco in the Gibraltar Straits.

One of the walls of the medina (ancient city quarter) of Rabat. The Rabat medina dates back to the 17th century. It has a wide range of shops (pottery, leather, food), as well as parks, gardens, and broad boulevards.

The Mausoleum of Mohammed V in Rabat contains the tombs of the king and his two sons, the late King Hassan II and Prince Abdallah.

The dome of the Mohammed V Mausoleum in Rabat is breathtaking. Sultan Muhammad V was a central figure in the Moroccan independence movement.

The Hassan Tower and the remains of a mosque that lie adjacent to the Mausoleum of Mohammed V in Rabat. The tower (44 m, 145 ft) is an incomplete minaret that was meant to be the the tallest in the world and to flank the world's largest mosque. Begun in 1195, construction was halted four years later when the sultan who commissioned the project died.

A tannery in Fez.

Narrow street in Tangier leading from the Kasbah. In Morocco, the Arabic word "kasbah" refers to multiple buildings in a keep, a citadel, or several structures behind a defensive wall.

The Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea meet at Tangier, Morocco. For the first half of the 20th century Tangier was an international city with its own laws and administration; it was returned to Morocco in 1956.

Decorated door in the Kasbah in Tangier.