Marrakech (in Arabic: مراكش, Murrākuš, in Berber: ⴰⵎⵓⵔⴰⴽⵓⵛ, Meṛṛakec) is a city located in the center of Morocco, in the interior, at the foot of the Atlas Mountains. It is nicknamed the "red city" (المدينة الحمراء) or the "ocher city" in reference to the red color of a large part of its buildings and houses.
The city was founded in 1071 by Youssef ben Tachfine, at the head of the Berber Empire of the Almoravids. In the past, Morocco was known in the East as Marrakech (still relevant in Iran); the name Morocco comes from the deformation of the Portuguese pronunciation of Marrakech: Marrocos
Marrakech has 928,850 inhabitants according to the 2014 census, spread over an area of 230 km2. The population density reaches 350 inhabitants per hectare in the Medina. It is the fourth largest city in Morocco after Casablanca, Fez and Tangier. The city is divided into two distinct parts: the historic city (ten kilometers from the city walls) and the new city whose main districts are called Guéliz, L'Hivernage (which concentrates many hotel complexes), Douar el Askar, Sidi Youssef Ben Ali, M'hamid, and Daoudiate. Guéliz is now the commercial downtown. It was founded by the French during the French protectorate in Morocco. In recent years, the city has grown in the periphery, especially in the west with the emergence of new residential neighborhoods as for the Targa region or the extension of the Avenue Mohammed-VI, or north Tamansourt.
