About 25km from Meknes (northern Morocco) lies the archaeological site of Volubilis (Oualili in Arabic), which features the best preserved Roman Empire ruins in this part of northern Africa. Built on the site of a previous Carthaginian settlement around the year 40 A.D., Volubilis was the administrative center of the Roman province of Mauretania Tingitana. Volubilis has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1997.