Rabat, city (1994 pop. 787,745), capital of Morocco, on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Bou Regreg estuary, opposite Salé. Silting problems have diminished the city's role as a port but it maintains important textile industries. There have been settlements on the site since ancient times. It became a Muslim fortress c.A.D. 700. Prior to independence (1956), it was capital of the French protectorate of Morocco. Points of interest in Rabat are the old walls and the ruins of a large, unfinished mosque with adjoining tower (similar to the Giralda); these were built during the reign of Yakub (1184-99). Rabat was a stronghold of corsairs in the 17th and 18th cent. Muhammad V Univ. was founded in the city in 1957.

Arabic Ribātsubdot

City (pop., 1994: city, 623,457; Rabat-Salé metro. area, 1,385,872), capital of Morocco. It is situated on the Atlantic coast at the mouth of the Bou Regreg River, opposite Salé. One of Morocco's four imperial cities, it was founded in the 12th century by a ruler of the Almohad dynasty, aynAbd al-Muhamzahmin, as a ribātsubdot (camp) quartering troops for his holy war against Spain. After 1609 the unified community of Rabat-Salé became the home of large numbers of Andalusian Moors who had been driven from Spain and, later, of the Sallee Corsairs, the most dreaded of Barbary Coast pirates. Under the French, it was made the administrative capital of a French protectorate after 1912. Now a centre of the textile industry, it is noted for its carpets, blankets, and leather handicrafts.

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