Rabat in the context of "Commuter town"

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⭐ Core Definition: Rabat

Rabat (/rəˈbɑːt/, also UK: /rəˈbæt/, US: /rɑːˈbɑːt/; Arabic: الرباط, romanizedar-Ribāṭ) is the capital city of Morocco and the country's seventh-largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million. It is also the capital city of the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra administrative region. Rabat is located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the river Bou Regreg, opposite Salé, the city's main commuter town.

Rabat was founded in the 12th century by the Almohads. After a period of growth, the city fell into a long period of decline. In the 17th century, Rabat became a haven for Barbary pirates. When the French established a protectorate over Morocco in 1912, Rabat became its administrative center. When Morocco achieved independence in 1955, Rabat became its capital.

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Rabat in the context of Morocco

Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to the east, and the disputed territory of Western Sahara to the south, occupied by Morocco since 1975. Morocco also claims the Spanish exclaves of Ceuta, Melilla and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera, and several small Spanish-controlled islands off its coast. It has a population of approximately 37 million. Islam is both the official and predominant religion, while Arabic and Berber are the official languages. Additionally, French and the Moroccan dialect of Arabic are widely spoken. The culture of Morocco is a mix of Arab, Berber, African and European cultures. Its capital is Rabat, while its largest city is Casablanca.

The region constituting Morocco has been inhabited since the Paleolithic era, more than 300,000 years ago. The Idrisid dynasty was established by Idris I in 788, and Morocco was subsequently ruled by a series of other independent dynasties, reaching its zenith as a regional power in the 11th and 12th centuries, under the Almoravid and Almohad dynasties, when it controlled most of the Iberian Peninsula and the Maghreb. Centuries of Arab migration to the Maghreb since the 7th century shifted the demographic scope of the region. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Morocco faced external threats to its sovereignty, with Portugal seizing some territory and the Ottoman Empire encroaching from the east. The Marinid and Saadi dynasties otherwise resisted foreign domination, and Morocco was the only North African nation to escape Ottoman dominion. The Alawi dynasty, which rules the country to this day, seized power in 1631, and over the next two centuries expanded diplomatic and commercial relations with the Western world. Morocco's strategic location near the mouth of the Mediterranean drew renewed European interest. In 1912, France and Spain divided the country into respective protectorates, reserving an international zone in Tangier. Following intermittent riots and revolts against colonial rule, in 1956, Morocco regained its independence and reunified.

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Rabat in the context of Moroccan Arabic language

Moroccan Arabic (Arabic: العربية المغربية الدارجة, romanizedal-ʻArabiyyah al-Maghribiyyah ad-Dārija lit.'Moroccan vernacular Arabic'), also known as Darija (الدارجة or الداريجة), is the dialectal, vernacular form or forms of Arabic spoken in Morocco. It is part of the Maghrebi Arabic dialect continuum and as such is mutually intelligible to some extent with Algerian Arabic and to a lesser extent with Tunisian Arabic. It is spoken by 91.9% of the population of Morocco, with 80.6% of Moroccans considering it their native language.

While Modern Standard Arabic is used to varying degrees in formal situations such as religious sermons, books, newspapers, government communications, news broadcasts and political talk shows, Moroccan Arabic is the predominant spoken language of the country and has a strong presence in Moroccan television entertainment, cinema and commercial advertising. Moroccan Arabic has many regional dialects and accents as well, with its mainstream dialect being the one used in metropolitan cities, such as Casablanca, Rabat, Meknes and Fez. Therefore, the metropolitan dialects dominate the media and eclipse most of the other regional accents.

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Rabat in the context of Imperial cities of Morocco

The Imperial Cities of Morocco are the four historical capital cities of Morocco: Fez, Marrakesh, Meknes and Rabat.

Rabat is the current capital of Morocco.

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Rabat in the context of Rabat-Salé-Kénitra

Rabat-Salé-Kénitra (Arabic: الرباط-سلا-القنيطرة, romanizedar-ribāṭ salā al-qunayṭira) is one of twelve administrative regions of Morocco. It is situated in north-western Morocco and has a population of 5,132,639 (2024 census). The capital is Rabat.

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Rabat in the context of Bou Regreg

The Bou Regreg (Arabic: أبو رقراق) is a river located in western Morocco which discharges into the Atlantic Ocean between the cities of Rabat and Salé. The estuary of this river is termed Wadi Sala.

The river is 240 kilometres long, with a tidal estuary of approximately 24 kilometres extending upriver. Its average discharge is 23 m/s and can reach 1500 m/s during periods of flooding. The source of the river originates from the Middle Atlas mountains at an altitude of 1627 meters on the level of Jbel Mtourzgane (province of Khemisset) and of Grou (province of Khénifra) and descends to its mouth at the Atlantic Ocean separating the cities of Rabat to the south and Salé to the north.

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Rabat in the context of Salé

Salé (Arabic: سلا, romanizedsalā, [salaː]) is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the right bank of the Bou Regreg river, opposite the national capital Rabat, for which it serves as a commuter town. Along with some smaller nearby towns, Rabat and Salé form together a single metropolitan area.

Founded in the 11th century, it later became a haven for pirates in the 17th century as an independent republic before being incorporated into Alawi Morocco. It recorded a population of 1.089.554 in the 2024 Moroccan census. The city still preserves its historic medina (old town), with many major monuments dating from the Marinid period (13th–15th centuries). Salé is connected to Rabat by a tramway and also contains the Rabat–Salé Airport, the main international airport serving both cities.

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Rabat in the context of Mohammed ben Abdallah

Sidi Mohammed ben Abdallah al-Khatib (Arabic: سيدي محمد بن عبد الله الخطيب), also known as Mohammed III (Arabic: محمد الثالث), (c. 1710 – 9 April 1790) was the Sultan of Morocco from 1757 to 1790 as a member of the 'Alawi dynasty. He was the governor of Marrakesh around 1750. He was also briefly sultan in 1748. He rebuilt many cities after the earthquake of 1755, including Mogador, Casablanca, and Rabat. Historians such as Abdallah Laroui have described him as "the architect of modern Morocco." He also defeated the French in the Larache expedition in 1765 and expelled the Portuguese from Mazagan (al-Jadīda) in 1769. He is notable for having been the first leader to recognize American independence, along with establishing an alliance with Luis de Unzaga (nicknamed "le Conciliateur", or "The Conciliator"), as well as his secret intelligence service, led by Unzaga's brothers-in-law Antonio and Matías de Gálvez. He was the son of Mawlay Abdallah bin Ismail and a lady of the Chéraga guich tribe.

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Rabat in the context of Temara interrogation centre

The Temara interrogation center, also known as Temara secret detention center (Arabic: معتقل تمارة السري), is an extrajudicial detainment and secret prison facility of Morocco located within a forested area of Rabat, Morocco. It is operated by the Directorate for the Surveillance of the Territory (Direction de la surveillance du territoire, DST), a Moroccan domestic intelligence agency implicated in past and ongoing human rights violations, which continues to arrest, detain and interrogate individuals suspected of involvement in terrorism-related activities outside of the Moroccan legal framework.

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