Northern Morocco
By northern Morocco is generally meant the northern part of Morocco including the former capital Fez as well as Meknes , Mulay Idris, Ouezzane etc.
In a broader sense, it describes the entire northern half of the country including the new capital Rabat as well as Casablanca and all other mostly Arab cities north of the Atlas Mountains or the Umm ar-Rabia river.
In contrast to the Saharan southern Morocco , the Mediterranean northern Morocco forms the historical core of Morocco; local and regional states were founded on the level as early as the Carthaginian and Roman times.
In a narrower sense, northern Morocco only refers to that narrow strip of the Moroccan Mediterranean coast that was under Spanish protectorate from 1912 to 1956, i.e. exclusively Fez, Meknes and Ouezzane, but including the cities of Nador and Tetuan and including the still Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla .