Casablanca

Welcome To Morocco

Casablanca is a port city and commercial hub in western Morocco, fronting the Atlantic Ocean. The city’s French colonial legacy is seen in its downtown Mauresque architecture, a blend of Moorish style and European art deco. Standing partly over the water, the enormous Hassan II Mosque, completed in 1993, has a 210m minaret topped with lasers directed toward Mecca.

Casablanca Morocco

Casablanca (Arabic: الدار البيضاء, romanized: al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, lit. ‘the White House’, IPA: [adˈdaːru ɫbajdˤaːʔ]) is the largest city in Morocco and the country’s economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic coast of the Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a population of about 3.71 million in the urban area, and over 4.27 million in Greater Casablanca, making it the most populous city in the Maghreb region, and the eighth-largest in the Arab world.

Casablanca is Morocco’s chief port, with the Port of Casablanca being one of the largest artificial ports in Africa,^[3] and the third-largest port in North Africa, after Tanger-Med (40 km (25 mi) east of Tangier) and Port Said.^[4] Casablanca also hosts the primary naval base for the Royal Moroccan Navy.

Casablanca is a significant financial centre, ranking 54th globally in the September 2023 Global Financial Centres Index rankings, between Brussels and Rome.^[5] The Casablanca Stock Exchange is Africa’s third-largest in terms of market capitalization, as of December 2022.^[6]

Major Moroccan companies and many of the largest American and European companies operating in the country have their headquarters and main industrial facilities in Casablanca. Recent industrial statistics show that Casablanca is the main industrial zone in the country.

Etymology

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Anfa

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Before the 15th century, the settlement at what is now Casablanca had been called Anfa, rendered in European sources variously as El-Anfa, Anafa or Anaffa, Anafe, Anife, Anafee, Nafe, and Nafee.^[7] Ibn Khaldun ascribed the name to the Anfaça, a branch of the Auréba [ar] tribe of the Maghreb, though the sociologist André Adam refuted this claim due to the absence of the third syllable.^[7] Nahum Slouschz gave a Hebrew etymology, citing the Lexicon of Gesenius: anâphâh (a type of bird) or anaph (face, figure), though Adam refuted this arguing that even a Judaized population would still have spoken Tamazight.^[7] Adam also refuted an Arabic etymology, أنف (anf, “nose”), as the city predated the linguistic Arabization of the country, and the term anf was not used to describe geographic areas.^[7] Adam affirmed a Tamazight etymology—from anfa “hill”, anfa “promontory on the sea”, ifni “sandy beach”, or anfa “threshing floor”—although he determined the available information insufficient to establish exactly which.^[7]

The name “Anfa” was used in maps until around 1830—in some until 1851—which Adam attributes to the tendency of cartographers to replicate previous maps.^[8]

Casablanca

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When Sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah (c. 1710–1790) rebuilt the city after its destruction in the earthquake of 1755, it was renamed “ad-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ ” (الدار البيضاء The White House), though in vernacular use it was pronounced “Dar al-Baiḍā” (دار البيضاء literally House of the White, although in Moroccan Arabic vernacular it retains the original sense of The White House).^[8]

The origins of the name “Casablanca” are unclear, although several theories have been suggested. André Adam mentions the legend of the Sufi saint and merchant Allal al-Qairawani, who supposedly came from Tunisia and settled in Casablanca with his wife Lalla al-Baiḍāʾ (لالة البيضاء White Lady).^[8] The villagers of Mediouna would reportedly provision themselves at “Dar al-Baiḍāʾ” (دار البيضاء House of the White).^[8]

In fact, on a low hill slightly inland above the ruins of Anfa and just to the west of today’s city centre, it appears there was a white-washed structure, possibly a Sufi zawiya that acted as a landmark to sailors.^[9] The Portuguese cartographer Duarte Pacheco wrote in the early 16th century that the city could easily be identified by a tower, and nautical guides from the late 19th century still mentioned a “white tower” as a point of reference.^[8] The Portuguese mariners calqued the modern Arabic name to “Casa Branca” ([kazɐ’bɾɐ̃kɐ] White House) in place of Anfa.^[8] The name “Casablanca” was then a calque of the Portuguese name when the Spanish took over trade through the Iberian Union.

Early history

Early history

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The area that is today Casablanca was founded and settled by Berbers by the seventh century BC.^[11] It was used as a port by the Phoenicians, then the Romans.^{[citation needed]} In his book Description of Africa, Leo Africanus refers to ancient Casablanca as “Anfa“, a great city founded in the Berber kingdom of Barghawata in 744 AD. He believed Anfa was the most “prosperous city on the Atlantic Coast because of its fertile land.”^[12] Barghawata rose as an independent state around this time, and continued until it was conquered by the Almoravids in 1068. After the defeat of the Barghawata in the 12th century, Arab tribes of Hilal and Sulaym descent settled in the region, mixing with the local Berbers, which led to widespread Arabization.^[13][14] During the 14th century, under the Merinids, Anfa rose in importance as a port. The last of the Merinids were ousted by a popular revolt in 1465

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