Guercif (Province)

Guercif Province in the Taza-Al Hoceïma-Taounate region

Downtown Guercif

The province of Guercif , with a size of almost 4000 km² and a population of around 200,000 , has been part of the Moroccan region of Oriental since 2015 . The provincial capital is the city of the same name, Guercif .

geography

location

The province of Guercif borders on the province of Boulemane in the south, on the province of Sefrou in the southwest, on the province of Taza in the west, on the province of Driouch in the north, on the northeast on the province of Nador and in the east on the province of Taourirt .

landscape

While the northern part of the Guercif province still belongs to the eastern foothills of the Rif Mountains , the southern part is one of the foothills of the Middle Atlas . The landscape profile is therefore hilly with an average height of about 400 m above sea level. d. M. The province and its capital are traversed by the Oued Moulouya , one of the longest rivers in Morocco.

climate

The maximum daily temperatures in summer reach 35 to 40 ° C; in the winter months it is around 15 to 25 ° C. At night it cools down - depending on the cloudiness - to 15 to 20 ° C in summer and 5 to 10 ° C in winter. In the four winter months of November to February almost 90% of the annual precipitation falls, but there are also days of sunshine, sometimes even weeks.

population

In 1950 the city of Guercif had about 3,600 inhabitants - including 360 Europeans (mostly French), 2,835 Moroccans (about half Arab and Berbers) and 460 Jews. In 1964 the city had about 5,500 inhabitants; today there are around 65,000. Over 80% of the province's residents are of Berber descent; many have only migrated from their traditional home regions to small and medium-sized towns since the 1970s. While the Berbers are mostly active in handicrafts, retail trade and transport, the Arab-born part of the population mostly occupies leading positions in administration, banking, trade and industry; They also work as lawyers, doctors, engineers, etc. Only the city of Guercif has so far been classified as a commune urbaine ; the other municipalities, although they sometimes have a small town character, are still considered rural municipalities ( communes rurales ).

economy

While the inhabitants of the region used to live primarily as semi-nomads ( transhumants ) or as self-sufficient farmers, after the improvement of the infrastructure during and after the French colonial era, more and more products are produced for the urban markets. Grains (barley and wheat) are primarily grown on the fertile soils, but olive plantations can also be seen frequently. As a result of immigration and the division of labor, a kind of dynamic of its own develops in the cities that sometimes takes on European characteristics.

history

In the first millennium AD, the region was a transit area for Roman and Arab-Islamic armies. The Taza-Guercif region only played an important role at the time of the conflict between Almohads and Merinids in the late 13th century. The Merinid Sultan Abu Said Utman II (r. 1310-1331) had the then small town of Guercif surrounded by a wall of rammed earth, but nothing has survived. The Guercif Province was only created in 2009 by dividing the Taza Province. Until 2015 it belonged to the Taza-Al Hoceïma-Taounate region .

Attractions

There are no historical or cultural sights in the province.

Web links

Commons : Guercif  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• History of the Guercif region (French)
• Demographics Morocco 1994 + 2004