Rabat (Arabic الرباط, transliterated ar-RabÄá¹ or
ar-RibÄá¹), population 2 million (2007
estimate), is the capital
of the Kingdom of
Morocco
. It is also the capital of the
Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaer
region.
The city
is located on the Atlantic
Ocean
at the mouth of the river Bou
Regreg. On the facing shore of the river lies
Salé
, Rabat's
bedroom community.
Together
the two cities with Témara
account for
a population of 2 million. Silting problems have diminished the
city's role as a port; however, Rabat and Salé still
maintain relatively important textile,
food processing and construction industries; some are from
sweatshop labor by major multinational corporations (see Salé).
In
addition, tourism and the presence of all foreign embassies in Morocco serve to make Rabat the second
most important city in the country after the larger and more
economically significant Casablanca
.
History
BC to 17th century
Rabat's
history began with a settlement, known as Chellah
on the banks
of the Oued Bou Regreg in the third
century BC. In 40 AD,
Romans
took over Chellah and converted it to the Roman settlement of Sala
Colonia. Rome held the colony until 250 AD when they abandoned it
to rulers.
In 1146, the Almohad
ruler Abd al-Mu'min turned Rabat's
ribat into a full scale fortress to use as a launching point for
attacks on Spain
. In
1170, due to its military importance, Rabat acquired the title
Ribatu l-Fath, meaning "stronghold of victory," from which
it derives its current name.
Yaqub al-Mansur (known as
Moulay Yacoub in Morocco), another Almohad Caliph, moved the
capital of his empire to Rabat.
He built Rabat's city walls, the Kasbah of the
Udayas
and began construction on what would have been the
world's largest mosque. However, Yaqub died and construction
stopped.
The ruins of the unfinished mosque, along
with the Hassan
Tower
, still stand today.
Yaqub's death initiated a period of decline. The Almohad empire
lost control of its possessions in Spain and much of its African
territory, eventually leading to its total collapse.
In the 13th century,
much of Rabat's economic power shifted to Fez
. In
1515 a
Moorish explorer, El Wassan, reported
that Rabat had declined so much that only 100 inhabited houses
remained. An influx of
Moriscos, who had
been expelled from Spain, in the early 17th century helped boost
Rabat's growth (principal families: Mouline [Molina], Bargach
[Vargas], Balafrej [Palafresa], Moreno, Baena, Olivares
[Loubaris],...).
Corsair republics
Rabat and neighboring Salé united to form the
Republic of Bou Regreg in 1627. The
republic was run by
Barbary pirates
who used the two cities as base ports for launching attacks on
shipping. The pirates did not have to contend with any central
authority until the
Alaouite
Dynasty united Morocco in 1666. They attempted to establish
control over the pirates, but failed. European and Muslims
authorities continued to attempt to control the pirates over many
years, but the Republic of Bou Regreg did not collapse until 1818.
Even
after the republic's collapse, pirates continued to use the port of
Rabat, which led to the shelling of the city by Austria
in 1829 after an Austrian ship had been lost to a
pirate attack.
20th century
French invasion
The French invaded Morocco in 1912 and established a protectorate.
The French administrator of Morocco, General
Hubert Lyautey, decided to relocate the
country's capital from Fez to Rabat. Among other factors,
rebellious citizens had made Fez an unstable place. Sultan
Moulay Youssef followed the decision of the
French and moved his residence to Rabat. In 1913, Gen. Lyautey
hired
Henri Prost who designed the Ville
Nouvelle (Rabat's modern quarter) as an administrative sector. When
Morocco achieved independence in 1956,
Mohammed V, the then
King of Morocco, chose to have the capital
remain at Rabat.
Post World War II
Following World War II, the United States established a military
presence in Rabat at the former French air base. By the early
1950s, Rabat Salé Air Base was a
U.S.
Air Force installation hosting the
17th Air Force and the 5th Air
Division, which oversaw forward basing for
Strategic Air Command (SAC)
B-47 Stratojet aircraft in the country. With
the destabilization of French government in Morocco, and Moroccan
independence in 1956, the government of
Mohammed V wanted the U.S. Air Force to pull out
of the SAC bases in Morocco, insisting on such action after
American intervention in Lebanon in 1958. The United States agreed
to leave as of December 1959, and was fully out of Morocco by 1963.
SAC felt
the Moroccan bases were much less critical with the long range
capability of the B-52
Stratofortresses that were replacing the B-47s and with the
completion of the USAF installations in Spain in
1959.
With the USAF withdrawal from Rabat-Salé in the 1960s, the facility
became a primary facility for the
Royal Moroccan Air Force known as
Air Base Nº 1, a status it continues to hold.
Culture
Rabat Downtown
The biggest place for theatre is the Theatre Mohamed V in the
centre of the town.The city also has a few official galleries and
an archeological museum.Many organisations are active in cultural
and social issues. Orient-Occident Foundation and ONA Foundation
are the biggest of these. An independent art scene is active in the
city.
L'appartement 22, which is
the first independent space for visual arts created by Abdellah
Karroum, opened in 2002.
Rabat was selected as a filming location for the war film
Black Hawk Down (
2001).
Main sights
Gallery
File:Royal Palace, Rabat.jpg|Royal
PalaceFile:Rabat_Parlament.JPG|The ParliamentFile:Parliament of
morocco.jpg|The Parliament buildingFile:Sale_from_Rabat.JPG|Salé
photographed from Rabat
File:Palace_gate.jpg‎|Kasbah of the
UdayasFile:Rabat SPOT 1104.jpg|Rabat as seen from
Spot SatelliteFile:Tramway-rabat.jpg|Tramway de
Rabat-SaléFile:Train of Morocco.jpg|Train of Morocco at Rabat
station
International relations
Twin towns - Sister cities
Rabat is
twinned with:
Climate
Located along the Atlantic Ocean, Rabat has a mild, temperate
climate, shifting from cool in winter to warm days in the summer
months. The nights are always cool (or colder in winter), with
daytime temperatures generally always rising about +9/10 C°
(+15/18 F°) every day. The winter highs typically reach only
17.5°C (64°F) in December-January (
see weather-table
below).
See also
References
- C. Michael Hogan, Chellah, The Megalithic
Portal, ed. A. Burnham
- History of Morocco, Henri Terrasse, 1952
- Morocco: The Islamist Awakening and Other Challenges
2005, Marvine Howe
External links