The Middle Atlas is part of the Atlas mountain range lying in Morocco, a mountainous country with more than 100,000 km² or 22% of the surface rising above 2,000 meters. The Middle Atlas is the westernmost of three Atlas Mountains chains that define a large plateaued basin extending eastward into Algeria. South of the Middle Atlas and separated by the Moulouya and Oum Er-Rbia rivers, the High Atlas stretches for 700 km with a succession of peaks among which ten reach above 4,000 meters. North of the Middle Atlas and separated by the Sebou River, the Rif mountains are an extension of the Baetic Cordillera (Baetic mountains, which include the Sierra Nevada) in the south of Spain. The Barbary Ape is native to the Middle Atlas, and chief populations occur only in restricted range in parts of Morocco and Algeria.
Snow persists in the Middle Atlas in the winter and can appear starting at 600 m above sea level. Its attractive rock coast is not very hospitable. The basin of the Sebou is not only the primary transportation route between Atlantic Morocco and Mediterranean Morocco but is an area, watered by the Middle Atlas range, that constitutes the principal agricultural region of the country.
