Rabat

Rabat (Central Atlas Tamazight ⴰⵕⴱⴰⵟ Aṛbaṭ, Arabic الرباط, DMG ar-Ribāṭ 'fortified place') is the capital of Morocco since 1956, with the seat of government and residence of the king; the city is also the capital of the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra region. Rabat is situated on the Atlantic coast on the southern bank of the Bou-Regreg opposite the neighbouring city of Salé. The Rabat-Salé metropolitan area (wilaya) is divided into four prefectures; the Rabat prefecture comprises a built-up area with the administrative and commercial centre.

Rabat is one of Morocco's four royal cities, along with Fez, Meknès and Marrakech. The name goes back to an Islamic border fortress (Ribat), which Zanata-Berber built in the 10th century at the mouth of the river Bou-Regreg. In the 12th century, the Almohads had the ribat expanded into a fortified city (kasbah), which remained an important trading town until the 19th century with and in competition with Salé. In the 17th century, the independent pirate republic of Bou-Regreg ensured an economic heyday and Andalusians immigrating from the Iberian Peninsula ensured population growth. With the beginning of the French Protectorate, Rabat became the seat of the President General in 1912. Since the turn of the millennium, the large-scale Bab el-Bahr project has been under construction on the Bou-Regreg, with the aim of turning the previously uninhabited riverbank into a cultural centre.

Location

Rabat is about 90 kilometres on the A 3 motorway northeast of Casablanca and 200 kilometres on the A 1 motorway along the coast south of Tangier. The distance on the A 2 motorway heading east inland to Meknès is 120 kilometres. Rabat and Salé each lie on a rocky outcrop above the broad Bou Regreg valley. Barely two kilometres as the crow flies separate the fortified walls of the two old towns at the confluence of the river and the Atlantic. The only road bridge in the downtown area was the four-lane Pont Moulay El Hassan, built in the late 1950s, which was replaced by the taller Hassan II bridge in May 2011. The new bridge serves motor and tram traffic. The new bridge's greater height of 12.8 metres has made the Bou Regreg estuary navigable inland, so that larger yachts can now call at the newly developed Salé marina. For long-distance traffic, two more road bridges will be added a few kilometres inland.

Rabat-Salé airport is located eight kilometres northeast of the city centre near Salé.

The coastal strip from the industrial city of Kenitra, 45 kilometres to the north, to Casablanca in the south, is one of the most densely populated regions in the country and has the strongest industrial production. This area, declared a priority development zone during the colonial period, is home to 34 percent of Morocco's population. The prefecture of Rabat has an area of 9,526 hectares and the prefecture of Salé of 15,095 hectares, separated by the alluvial, agricultural plain of Bou-Regreg. To the north of Salé, the field plain of Bouknadel forms the border of the agglomeration, and 15 kilometres to the south of Rabat, the industrial town of Témara is also part of it.

December 2007 marked the official start of construction of the Rabat-Salé tramway, which will serve the Rabat-Salé conurbation in two lines with a length of 20 kilometres and 31 stops. Following its inauguration, the new Hassan II bridge has been open to motor traffic and trams since 23 May 2011. The tramway has started operations with lines 1 and 2 (phase 1). Line 2 is to be further extended.

Population development

At the end of the 19th century, Rabat and Salé together had a population of about 30,000. In 1912, Rabat was estimated to have 27,000 inhabitants and Salé 19,000. In the 1952 census, the population was 156,000, which had grown to 231,000 by 1960, about three times that of Salé. Starting in the 1970s, Salé began to catch up. The population of the entire Rabat prefecture was 623,457 in 1994, according to the census. In that year, Salé was already just ahead with 631,803 inhabitants, as it increasingly became a "bedroom community" for workers and employees employed in Rabat.