the.com/morocco

Africa's door to Europe, close enough to see it, far enough to stay itself.

means A country in northwest Africa — and also a fine, grained leather originally made from goatskin, tanned with sumac.

from The country's name traces through French and Spanish back to Marrakesh, its old imperial capital, via Arabic and Berber roots — so 'Morocco' is really a European mispronunciation of one city standing in for the whole land. The leather sense rides the same name: it was goatskin leather first crafted in the region and traded north through Moroccan ports, so Europeans simply called the stuff after where it came from.

distance to spain
just 14 km across the strait
first to recognize
first country to recognize the us, 1777
languages spoken
arabic, amazigh, french, and spanish all compete
never colonized fully
romans, arabs, french all visited, none erased it
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