Casablanca (Arabic: , romanized as ad-Dr al-Bay, [addaru bajda], lit.,
“White House”; Berber languages: , romanized as Taddart Tumlilt), is the capital of Morocco and its largest city. With a population of over 4.27 million in the Greater Casablanca area and about 3.71 million in the urban area, the city is the most populous in the Maghreb and the eighth-largest in the Arab world. It is situated on the Atlantic coast of the Chaouia plain in central-western Morocco.
The Port of Casablanca, which is located 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of Tangier, is Morocco’s main port and one of the largest man-made ports in the world [3]. It is also the second-largest port in North Africa.[4] The Royal Moroccan Navy’s main naval base is located in Casablanca.
2022, Casablanca came in at number 54 globally, outpacing several other cities like New Delhi, Jakarta, Istanbul, and Mexico City. The largest financial center in Africa, Casablanca is one of the competitors for Emerging International. Casablanca is home to the main corporate offices and industrial facilities of the major Moroccan businesses as well as many of the larger American and European corporations conducting business there. According to recent industry statistics, Casablanca is the country’s main industrial region.
Term origin Anfa
The settlement in what is now Casablanca was known as Anfa before the 15th century. El-Anfa, Anafa or Anaffa, Anafe, Anife, Anafe, Nafe, and Nafee are all different renderings of Anfa found in European literature.[5] Ibn Khaldun attributed the name to the Anfaça, a subtribe of the Auréba [ar] of the Maghreb, although André Adam, a sociologist, challenged this assertion because the name lacks the third syllable.[5] Nahum Slouschz provided a Hebrew derivation, citing the Lexicon of Gesenius: anâphâh (a kind of bird) or anaph (a face or figure). Adam disagreed, noting that even a community that had become Jewish would have continued to speak Tamazight.[5] Adam also disputed an Arabic etymology for the word “nose” because the city existed before the nation’s linguistic Arabization and the word anf was not used to designate geographical regions.[5] Adam confirmed a Tamazight derivation, though he felt the information was insufficient to decide which, maybe from anfa “hill,” anfa “promontory on the sea,” ifni “sandy beach,” or anfa “threshing floor.”[5] In Neo-Tifinagh, the name Anfa is currently written as.
In some maps, the name “Anfa” was still used as late as 1851, which Adam attributes to cartographers’ propensity to copy earlier maps.[6]
Casablanca
The Mausoleum of Allal al-Qairawani, which according to local lore is where Casablanca got its name.[6] The city was renamed “ad-Dr al-Bay” (The White House) when Sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah (c. 1710-1790) rebuilt it after the earthquake of 1755 destroyed it, though in common usage
Although numerous stories have been put out, it is unclear where the term “Casablanca” originated. In Spanish, it means “white house.” André Adam brings up the myth of Allal al-Qairawani, a Sufi saint and businessman who allegedly immigrated to Casablanca from Tunisia with his wife Lalla al-Bai (also known as the White Lady).[6] It is said that the Mediouna peasants would eat their food at “Dar al-Bai” (House of the White).[6]
In truth, it seems there formerly was a white-washed building, likely a Sufi zawiya that served as a marker for sailors, on a low hill somewhat inland above the ruins of Anfa and just to the west of the present-day city center.[7] The city was described as being easily distinguishable by a tower by the Portuguese cartographer Duarte Pacheco in the early 16th century, and nautical instructions from the late 19th century continued to refer to a “white tower” as a landmark.[6] The contemporary Arabic name “Casa Branca” ([kaz’bk] White House) was substituted for Anfa by Portuguese seafarers.[6] When the Spanish seized control of trade through the Iberian Union, the name “Casablanca” was a calque of the Portuguese name at that time.[6]
The city’s name, pronounced “kazablka,” remained Casablanca throughout the French protectorate of Morocco. The name Casablanca, which is pronounced d-Dr l-Bi in Moroccan Arabic and ad-Dru-l-Bay in Standard Arabic, is still used by Moroccans today.[8]
Early historical times
By at least the seventh century BC, the Berbers had founded and populated the region that is now Casablanca.[9] The Phoenicians and later the Romans exploited it as a harbor.[Reference needed] Leo Africanus alludes to the historic Casablanca as “Anfa” in his book Description of Africa. This famous metropolis was established in the Berber kingdom of Barghawata in 744 AD. Anfa, in his opinionAround this time, Barghawata became an autonomous state and remained so until it was subjugated by the Almoravids in 1068. After the Barghawata were routed in the 12th century, Arab clans descended from Hilal and Sulaym migrated in the area and intermarried with the native Berbers, which resulted in widespread Arabization.[11][12] Under the Merinids, Anfa saw a port boom in the fourteenth century. In 1465, the final Merinids were driven from power by a popular uprising.[13]
Portuguese invasion and Spanish swayThe town regained its independence at the beginning of the 15th century and established itself as a haven for privateers and pirates. As a result, the Portuguese attacked the town and shelled it until it was destroyed in 1468.[14] Casa Branca, which translates as “white house” in Portuguese, is the name of the nearby town.
a supporter of George Washington, ultimately rebuilt the town between 1756 and 1790 with the aid of Spaniards from the adjacent emporium. The name of the settlement was ad-Dr al-Bay (), which is the Arabic equivalent of Casa Branca in Portuguese.
