"Keeweechic's Casablanca" Casablanca by keeweechic

Casablanca is the largest city in Morocco although not the capital. The city has much of its major commercial and financial company’s based there due to the Port being the countries most active not to mention the biggest in the country, biggest in North Africa but also the largest artificial port in the world. There are many international headquarters also based in Casablanca

The city was established initially in the 7th century by the Berbers as a kingdom. In later years it was taken over by first the Arabs, then the Almoravids, the Merenids and followed by the Portuguese and Spanish.

Casablanca is a blend of both tradition and modern. There is the old medina with its narrow alleys as well as the new medina. There are the traditional buildings whose influence has come from the Moors, Romans, Jews, Spanish, Portuguese and the French and towering above them all are the new modern skyscrapers. A lot of the early architecture was razed to the ground with the earthquake that struck during the mid 1700’s. The city was then rebuilt by an Alaouite sultan, Sidi Mohammed ben Abdallah.

In Spanish, Casablanca means ‘whitehouse’ but it was the Portuguese that first gave the city the name of Casabranca which was later changed to Casablanca by the Spanish. The city played an important role in history during the World War II when it was the venue for the 1943 allied summit between Presidents Roosevelt and Churchill.