Rabat

Rabat (Arabic: الرباط‎) is the capital of the Kingdom of Morocco and of the Rabat-Salé region. Kenitra. It is located on the Atlantic coast, on the southern shore and at the mouth of the Bu Regreg river, which separates it from neighboring Salé. According to the 2004 census, it had a population of 1,622,860 inhabitants, making it the second most populous city in the country after Casablanca.

History

Rabat's history began with a settlement known as Chellah on the banks of the Bu Regreg, in the 3rd century to. C. In 40 AD. C., the Romans took over Chellah and turned it into the Roman settlement of Sala Colonia. Rome retained the colony until AD 250. C., when he abandoned it to the Berber rulers, who played an important role in Muslim Spain.

The original nucleus of the city was the fortified camp or ribat built by the Almohad sultan Abd Al-Mumin in 1146, taking advantage of a high rock face that dominates the mouth of the river. The place was the base for Almohad incursions into the Iberian Peninsula and was baptized Ribat al-Fath, translated as "Camp of Victory" or "Fortress of Victory".

In 1195 his grandson Yaqub al-Mansur planned the construction of a great city that extended over more than four hundred hectares, surrounded by imposing walls and fortifications with five large gates. A great mosque with four hundred columns was to be erected in it to surpass the Giralda in Seville and the Koutoubia in Marrakech, but the works were stopped after his death in 1199. Only the 44-meter Hasan Tower has survived, twenty less than the original project. After his death the city was practically abandoned and in 1260 the Spanish king Alfonso X conquered and burned the city. Almohad empire, at the end of the 13th century, until the 17th century its importance decreased considerably. The conquest of the area by the Benimeres, who chose Fez as their capital, contributed to this decline. The Chellah necropolis, located outside the city walls, dates from this period.

Gate of the fortress of the Udaia.

It was not until 1610 that the city and neighboring Salé were revitalized after the settlement of numerous Moorish refugees expelled from Spain. Most of the three thousand inhabitants of the Extremaduran town of Hornachos settled in the Udaia fortress, the oldest part of the city. They remained united after the expulsion and ended up obtaining from the Sultan Mulay Zaydan the commission to rebuild and guard the old citadel. In the following years they developed a large and efficient fleet of ships and in 1627, taking advantage of the internal struggles of the Moroccan powers, and with the support of Sidi Ayachi, governor of Salé, they proclaimed their political independence founding the Republic of Two Shores in Rabat. (known in Europe as "Salé la Nueva") and Salé, dedicated mainly to privateering activity against Christian ships. It ended in 1666, when the estuary was taken by the Alawites, a dynasty that would govern Morocco in the future. Salé maintained privateering activity until 1829.

With the establishment of the Moroccan protectorate, the city came under French administrative control. In 1912 Marshal Lyautey chose Rabat as the administrative capital of the French Protectorate of Morocco and in 1956, after the independence of Morocco, the city became the capital of the country.

After World War II, the United States gained a military presence in Rabat by seizing the former French airbase. In the early 1950s, Rabat-Salé Air Base was a United States Air Force (USAF) installation that housed the 17th Air Force and the 5th Air Division, which oversaw the arrival at the base. of the B-47 Stratojet of the SAC (Strategic Air Command). With the destabilization of the French government in Morocco and the country's independence in 1956, the government of Mohammed V wanted the United States to withdraw the SAC bases from Morocco, insisting on such action after the American intervention in Lebanon in 1958. The United States agreed to leave the country in December 1959, a process that was completed in 1963. The SAC felt that the Moroccan bases were much less critical due to the long-range capability of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, which replaced the B-47, and by the completion of the USAF installations in Spain in 1959. With the withdrawal of the USAF from Rabat-Salé, the complex became the main installation of the Royal Moroccan Air Force, known as the Base Air No. 1, whose status still continues.

Its mayor in 2009 was Fathallah Oualalou, of the USFP, elected on June 23, 2009 thanks to an unusual alliance with the Islamists of the PJD, the liberals of the Istiqlal, the leftists of the PPS and the centrists of the RNI.

Geography

Neighborhoods

Rabat's neighborhoods (quartiers, in French) are distributed in the shape of a fan and are socially highly differentiated.

First of all, Uday and Medina are located as the central axis for the meeting of the Bu Regreg and the Atlantic Ocean. To the west, a series of popular and middle-class neighborhoods follow one another along the coast, such as Akkari, Yacoub El Mansour, Massa and el Fath. A second group of modest neighborhoods is arranged along the boulevards, bordering the Bu Regreg, and includes Youssoufia, Takadoum and Hay Nahda. Between these two radii of the middle-class neighborhoods, however, there is a wide diagonal of prosperous neighborhoods such as Les Orangers, Aviation, Mabel, Hassan or Agdal Hay Riad, and this is reflected in the luxury homes that exist in the neighborhoods Souissi and Ambassadors. This is the place of choice for diplomatic residences. This vast urban plane, airy, with abundant vegetation and fog coming from the Ocean, contrasts markedly with the narrower and denser islets that frame it.

Rabat and Salé

In addition, two large projects are changing the face of the city: the Amwaj project, whose objective is the organization of the mouth of the Bo Regreg river on its two banks, with hotels, luxury residences in the Arab-Andalusian style; and the Sephira project, which aims to organize the cornice of the Atlantic coast through the construction of hotels, a theater, a sports complex and contemporary-style luxury residences.

Climate

The climate of the city is temperate Mediterranean climate. In general, winter is cool, the average temperature in January, the coldest month, is around 12 °C. In winter and spring, rainfall is abundant and frequent, almost always accompanied by gusts of wind. In summer, the breeze from the Atlantic Ocean softens the temperature of the city. The temperature in August, the hottest month, is 22 °C.

The most pleasant months to visit Rabat are October and May, when the daytime temperature ranges from 17°C to 23°C. The annual hours of sunshine per day are four and a half hours with an average annual temperature of 17 °C.

Average climate parameters of Rabat, Morocco
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Temp. max. abs. (°C)	30.0	31.0	35.8	37.6	43.0	43.7	47.2	45.8	42.3	38.0	35.1	30.0	47.2
Average temperature (°C)	17.2	17.7	19.2	20.0	22.1	24.1	26.8	27.1	26.4	24.0	20.6	17.7	21.9
Average temperature (°C)	12.2	12.7	14.2	15.2	17.4	19.8	22.3	22.6	21.5	19.0	15.9	13.2	17.2
Temp. medium (°C)	7.2	7.8	9.2	10.4	12.7	15.4	17.6	17.7	16.7	14.1	11.1	8.7	12.4
Temp. min. abs. (°C)	-3.2	-2.6	-0.4	3.8	5.3	9.0	10.0	11.0	10.0	7.0	0.0	0.3	-3.2
Rains (mm)	77.2	74.1	60.9	62.0	25.3	6.7	0.5	1.3	5.7	43.6	96.7	100.9	554.9
Days of rain (≥ 1 mm)	9.9	9.8	9.0	8.7	5.7	2.4	0.3	0.4	2.4	6.4	10.2	10.4	75.6
Hours of sun	179.8	183.6	232.5	255.0	291.4	288.0	316.2	306.9	261.0	235.6	189.0	179.8	2918.8
Relative humidity (%)	82	82	80	78	77	78	78	79	80	79	80	83	79.7
Source: HKO

Monuments and places of interest

The historic center of the city, which includes the main buildings and squares, was declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 2012. In Rabat there are several places of interest, such as the Hassan Tower, the Mausoleum of Mohamed V, the kasbah or medina of the city.

• Casba de los Udayas: a rabid that dominates the mouth of the Bu Regreg uadi where the Udayas Museum is located: the rabid was conceived at first as the refuge of the Joyas National Museum.
• Hassan Tower: the ruins of the mosque built by Ya'qub al-Mansūr, destroyed at the time of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and the Mausoleum of Mohamed V, where the late King Mohamed V and his two sons rest, King Hassan II and his younger brother Mulay Abdellah.
• The necropolis of Chella: built in 1339, Chella was an ancient Phoenician, Carthaginian and Roman village.
• Agdal mosque.
• The Cathedral of Saint Peter of Rome: located in the Plaza de Golan. This building, always intended for Catholic worship, was completed in 1930.
• Dar-al-Mahkzen: the royal palace and government headquarters where more than two thousand people work and reside. The palace is accessed by a vast explant, the "Méchouar".
• Bab ar-Rouah and the Avenue of the Royal Armed Forces (FAR).

Transportation

Aerial

Rabat is connected by air through the Rabat-Salé airport, located about 7 kilometers from the city center. To access it, only the taxi service is used and there is a bus service that connects with the central station of Rabat-Ville. It is also about 100 kilometers from the Casablanca airport, which has the largest number of international destinations, and a fast connection by train.

Train

The city is served by several intercity trains to other regions of the country such as Casablanca, Fez and Tangier; through express services in electric double-decker trains, which reach 160 km/h. These services can be taken from the central station of Rabat-Ville. These same trains have stations in the suburbs of the city, specifically the stations are: Salé, Rabat Agdal and Tabriquet. A tram service is currently being built between Rabat and Salé that will have 32 stations and it is expected that it can start operations in the year 2010.

Automotive

Taxis are the most comfortable and fastest way to get around the city, they are small cars that are characterized by being painted blue and gray, found in stops in the downtown area of the city. Their prices differ depending on the time of day, increasing considerably at night, these taxis are known as petit taxi. There is another service called grand taxi, provided by large cars capable of carrying up to 6 passengers, it is used to travel to nearby cities and sometimes to the airport. The traditional bus lines run through the city with good frequencies and routes.

Sports

The city is home to Morocco's Moulay Abdellah national stadium, built in 1983. Rabat's football teams are as follows:

• FUS Rabat
• Stade Marocain
• FAR Rabat
• Union Yacoub El Mansour
• Union of Touarga

The handball teams are as follows:

• FUS Rabat
• Stade Marocain
• FAR Rabat

The local basketball teams are as follows:

• FUS Rabat
• FAR Rabat
• Moghreb Rabat

Equestrianism is a discipline highly appreciated by the Alaouite royal family, the FRMSE (Royal Moroccan Federation of Equestrian Sports) is chaired by Princess Lalla Amina. At the Royal Equestrian Club of Dar Es Salam in Rabat, the week of the horse is held annually, animated by the particular championships of Morocco.

The city of Rabat also has three pigeon racing associations.

Twinned cities

The following cities are twinned with Rabat: