The Moulouya River (

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–19 ...

: ''iɣẓer en Melwect'', ) is a 520 km-long river in

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...

. Its sources are located in the Ayashi mountain in the Middle Atlas. It empties into the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

near

Saïdia Saïdia ( ar, السعيدية, translit=Al-sa'idiyya; ber, ⴰⵊⵔⵓⴷ, ''Ajrud''), known as the ''"Blue Pearl"'', is a beach town in northeastern Morocco near Berkane, in the great area of Beni Znassen. It is located in the province Berka ...

, in northeast Morocco. Water level in the river often fluctuates. The river is used for

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...

and is dammed by the Hassan II and Mohamed V Dams.

History

Before French colonisation, the Moulouya River was considered as the border between

Ottoman Algeria The Regency of Algiers ( ar, دولة الجزائر, translit=Dawlat al-Jaza'ir) was a state in North Africa lasting from 1516 to 1830, until it was conquered by the French. Situated between the regency of Tunis in the east, the Sultanate ...

and the dynasties that controlled Morocco. A

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and for ...

between the Algerians and the Alawites took place in 1692 at the ford of this river. The Romans called this river '' Malva''. In medieval British pseudo-history, it was mentioned as a location along the route supposedly travelled by the ancestors of the Scotti, and by

Brutus of Troy Brutus, also called Brute of Troy, is a legendary descendant of the Trojan hero Aeneas, known in medieval British history as the eponymous founder and first king of Britain. This legend first appears in the '' Historia Brittonum'', an anony ...

. The Moulouya River formed the eastern border of the kingdom of

Mauretania Mauretania (; ) is the Latin name for a region in the ancient Maghreb. It stretched from central present-day Algeria westwards to the Atlantic, covering northern present-day Morocco, and southward to the Atlas Mountains. Its native inhabitants ...

since King

Bocchus I Bocchus, often referred to as Bocchus I for clarity, was king of Mauretania from - 80 BCE. He was father-in-law to the Numidian king Jugurtha, with whom he initially allied against the Romans in the Jugurthine War, a lengthy and indecisive conf ...

, and more recently of the Rif Republic in the 1920s, a small part of Morocco containing important cities like Saïdia and

Oujda Oujda ( ar, وجدة; ber, ⵡⵓⵊⴷⴰ, Wujda) is a major Moroccan city in its northeast near the border with Algeria. Oujda is the capital city of the Oriental region of northeastern Morocco and has a population of about 558,000 people. It ...

lying to the east, between the Moulouya and the border with Algeria. Until 1956 the river also formed the eastern border of the Spanish Protectorate of Morocco. Flamingo at Moulouya

Désastre écologique pour le fleuve Moulouya au Maroc (6034999449)

Ecology

In August 2011 fish were killed by pollutants in the Moulouya River and local residents feared for their crops and livestock.

References

External links

* Rivers of Morocco Ramsar sites in Morocco {{Morocco-river-stub