Rabat, the capital of Morocco and one of its four imperial cities, is the country's seventh largest city with an urban population of approximately xxx,xxx (year) and a metropolitan population of nearly 2 million. The city is located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Bou Regreg River. Sale, on the northern shore of the river, is Rabat's main commuter town.

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Rabat was founded in the 12th century by ʿAbd al-Muʾmin, the first Almohad ruler, as a ribāṭ (fortified monastery) at which to quarter the troops for his holy war in Spain. He later abandoned these efforts in Spain in order to concentrate on the conquest of North Africa. The third Almohad sultan, Abū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb al-Manṣūr, erected the great fortified wall within which the modern town has developed, and began construction of an enormous mosque, of which the notable Tower of Hassān, its half-completed minaret, remains.

 

Rabat served as one of the many ports in North Africa for the Barbary pirates, who were particularly active from the 16th through the 18th centuries. After 1609 the unified community of Rabat-Salé became the home of large numbers of Andalusian Moors who had been driven from Spain by King Philip III’s expulsion of descendants of Spain’s Muslim population. Under French rule in the early 20th century, Rabat was made the administrative capital of the protectorate, and, upon Moroccan independence in 1956, it was designated, together with Salé, an urban prefecture.

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The old town, still surrounded by its original defensive wall, lies near the coast. Within its fortifications are the medina (old Muslim town) and the millah (Jewish quarter). To the north, on a cliff above the Bou Regreg, stands the 17th-century fortress of Casbah des Oudaïa, with a splendid 12th-century Almohad gateway, an Andalusian garden, and an adjoining madrasah (religious school) that houses a museum of Moroccan art. The medina is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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To the southeast of the old town are several outstanding historical structures, including the Tower of Hassān and the Mausoleum of Mohammed V, the king who led the country to independence in 1956. To the southwest are an archaeological museum and the city gate, Bab al-Rouah, also dating from the Almohad rule. The modern quarter of Rabat is partly enclosed by the fortified wall. Relatively modern structures, including a royal palace built in the 1950s, Moḥammed V University (founded in 1957), the national library, and various administrative buildings, are located in the city’s southern outskirts. Foreign embassies can be found throughout the city, and a number of international organizations have offices there.

 

Silting up of the river mouth has diminished Rabat's role as a port city; however, Rabat and Salé still maintain important textile, food processing and construction industries. The area is known for its carpets, blankets and leather handicrafts. Other economic activities include fruit and fish processing and the manufacture of bricks and asbestos.

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