Facts about Morocco: Part II

I started this a while back with the promise of continuing to give more information about Jordan and Morocco (the two places I could possibly be living for the next couple of years). I admit I kind of slacked off. Okay, I just didn't do it. However, Kimberly and I have now found out that we are about 95% sure we are going to Morocco. This is good news since this is the one we preferred.

We have a book checked out from the library about travel in Morocco and right now I am scanning through the history to learn a little more about the background of the country. I haven't gotten very far, but here's what I've learned already. The term Berber, by which most of the locals are known, comes from the word barbarians and was given to them by the Romans. This I find odd since the Romans were a pretty barbaric bunch themselves. So either the Romans were idiots or the native Moroccans were really, really barbaric.

Speaking of the Romans, they ruled in Morocco during the height of their empire; probably a couple hundred years after Christ. They slowly began to lose grip of the kingdom because they were essentially being chased out by the local factions. Finally, they resulted to just supporting a Berber king of their choosing. He was elected, but then that fell apart too and eventually they lost complete control of the country and surrounding areas.

For the previous post on Morocco, it was posted on May 30th.