Morocco/Algeria/Tunisia

All three countries are located in North Africa.

Morocco
Morocco is bordered by the Strait of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean Sea on the north, Algeria on the east and southeast, Western Sahara on the south, and the Atlantic Ocean on the west.

Algeria
Algeria is bordered on the north by the Mediterranean Sea, on the east by Tunisia and Libya, on the south by Niger and Mali, on the southwest by Mauritania, and on the west by Morocco. It covers an area of 2,381, 741 sq km (919,595 sq mi) with a population of approximately 30 million. The capital of Algeria is Algiers. Algeria gained its independence from France in 1965.

Although there is evidence that handmade rugs were produced in Egypt as early as the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, there is no evidence that rug weaving was practiced before the nineteenth century in Morocco, Algeria, or Tunisia.

North African rugs have geometric patterns with bright colors (in some Moroccan rugs, undyed brown and gray wool is used) and designs which have originated from or been influenced by Anatolian, Persian, and Central Asian designs. North African rugs in addition to being produced by nomadic tribes are also produced in cities. For example, many Moroccan rugs are produced in and near large cities such as Marrakesh; in Algeria, the town of Setif is a major rug production center, and in Tunisia rugs made in the last hundred years in the city of Kairouan are most well known.

Zellij Panel Telouet, Morocco

In addition to weaving rugs for local use or selling them in bazaars to tourists, Morocco also exports a considerable number of rugs to Europe.

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