Morocco document photos online

In December 1777, while the American Revolution was still being fought, Morocco's Sultan Mohammed III quietly opened his ports to American ships and became the first ruler on earth to recognize the independence of the United States. The friendship was sealed in 1786 by a Treaty of Peace and Friendship signed by John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, ratified in 1787 and never broken since. That document is the oldest unbroken treaty the United States has with any nation, and the Tangier building Morocco gave to U.S. diplomats served as a legation for some 140 years, making Morocco America's longest-standing formal friend.

• Diplomacy Morocco was the very first country to recognize the independent United States, when Sultan Mohammed III opened his ports to American vessels on 20 December 1777.
• Oldest treaty The 1786 Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship, signed by John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, is the oldest unbroken treaty in U.S. history and is still in force today.
• Passport In the 2025 Henley Passport Index the Moroccan passport reached 67th place, its best ranking in a decade, granting visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 73 destinations and leading all of North Africa.
• Closed currency The Moroccan dirham is a non-convertible 'closed' currency: it is essentially illegal to carry meaningful amounts out of the country, so travelers must change leftover dirhams back before they fly home, keeping their exchange receipts.
• Currency name The name 'dirham' traces back through Arabic to the ancient Greek 'drachma,' and a silver Idrissid dirham was already being minted in Morocco between the 8th and 10th centuries.
• EU border The Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, surrounded by Moroccan territory, form the European Union's only land borders on the African continent.
• Citizenship Since a landmark 2007 reform, Moroccan mothers can pass their nationality to their children automatically at birth on equal terms with fathers; before that, only the paternal line conferred citizenship.
• Oldest university The University of al-Qarawiyyin in Fez, founded in 859 AD by a woman, Fatima al-Fihri, is recognized by UNESCO and Guinness World Records as the oldest continuously operating educational institution in the world.
• Demographics Morocco's 2024 census counted 36.8 million people, but with a fertility rate of just 1.97 children per woman the country is already ageing, with 13.8% of residents now aged 60 or over.