RABAT (Ribat), a city on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, in 3' N., 46' W., 13o m. S. of Cape Spartel, on the southern side and at the mouth of the Bu-Regreg, which separates it from Sale on the northern bank, administrative capital of the French protectorate, seat of the general residency of France in Morocco. The native town and the mellah form a trapeze, protected from the open winds by a rise of land occupied by vast cemeteries. It is defended on the north by the Kasba of the Oudaia, built on the cliff which rises at the mouth of the Bu-Regreg; a fine gateway (12th century) gives access to it ; there is a museum in the neigh bouring medersa (university). Three kilometres to the south of Rabat is the Hassan tower, a magnificent minaret of the Almohade period, and still further to the south the necropolis of Chella, which contains the tombs of the Merinides dynasty. The Dar-el Makchzen (palace of the sultan) rises to the south-west. Impor tant European quarters, with houses surrounded by gardens, have been arranged outside, and at a certain distance from, the native town ; they are traversed by wide avenues. The general residency and the administrative offices are situated in the Touargas quarter. The harbour, impeded by a bar, is difficult of access; works are proceeding with a view to improving the channel, but Rabat, situ ated between Kenitra and Casablanca, does not seem called to a great commercial future, and will remain above all an elegant residential town. Pop. (1930) 27,986 are Muslim, 4,218
Jews, 23,144 Europeans including 16,388 French civilians and 2,342 French soldiers. In 1913 there were only 30o Europeans.
Several towns have followed one another at the mouth of the Bu-Regreg. The most ancient settlement was at Chella, which, under the Romans, was called Sala Colonia. There were on the same spot a Berber town, which was succeeded, in the 12th cen tury, by Sale on the right bank of the river. About the same time the Almohade sultan, Abd-el-Mumen, founded Rabat-el-Fath, the camp of victory, from which the town of Rabat takes its name; it was there that assembled the contingents of the holy war destined against Spain; it was also called Sala-el-Djedid, Sale the New, in opposition to Sala-el-Khedim, Sale the Old. In the 17th century Rabat received numerous Andalusians expelled from Spain, and became an independent republic of famous corsairs, at first rival, then vassal of Sale. The Alauit dynasty endowed it with many monuments. But the real rise of Rabat dates from the French protectorate (1912).
See Rabat et sa region (Villes et Tribus du Maroc), 4 vols. (Paris, 1918-20) ; L. Mercier, Notes sur Rabat et Chella (Archives Marocaines, tome v. to viii. (19o5-o8) ; Henri Basset et Levi-Provençal, Chella: une necropole Merinide (Hesperis, 1922) H. de la Casiniere, Les municipalites marocaines (Casablanca, 1924).