Geographically located at the crossroads between North Africa and Europe, Morocco has always been an arena for various cultural and political influences and up until the discovery of the Americas, it was considered as the farthest land of the setting sun. Morocco's location explains to a large extent its independence since times immemorial. Being endowed: the Atlas mountains, the Sahara and the Mediterranean, and Atlantic oceans, Morocco managed to resist foreign occupation for centuries and was the latest North African country to fall under colonial rule.