Which country is home to the city of Marrakesh?

Marrakesh was founded in the eleventh century by the Almoravids as a base on the northern edge of the Sahara, at the point where trans-Saharan caravan routes met the passes over the High Atlas mountains. That position made it a natural capital, and it served as the seat of several Moroccan dynasties, leaving behind the Koutoubia minaret, the Saadian tombs and a huge walled medina of packed earth and red clay that gives the city its nickname. At its heart is Jemaa el-Fnaa, a square that functions as a marketplace by day and fills at night with food stalls, musicians and storytellers, a living tradition recognised by UNESCO. The Atlas range immediately south is high enough to be snow-capped in winter, so the city looks out at mountains from the edge of a desert, and the network of underground irrigation channels that made agriculture possible around it is itself a piece of medieval engineering.

Morocco's capital is Rabat and its largest city is Casablanca, so Marrakesh holds neither title today.