The bleak facades of the suburbs stand in sharp contrast to the Mauresque, art-deco and
modernist gems of the city centre, and to Casablanca’s exceptional landmark, the enormous
and incredibly ornate Hassan II Mosque.
The medina – the oldest part of town – is tiny and sits in the north of the city close to the
port. To the south of the medina is Pl des Nations Unies, a large traffic junction that marks the
heart of the city. The city’s main streets branch out from here: Ave des Forces Armées Royales
(Ave des FAR), Ave Moulay Hassan I, Blvd Mohammed V and Blvd Houphouët Boigny.
Ave Hassan II leads to Place Mohammed V, easily recognised by its grand art-deco
administrative buildings. Quartiers Gauthier and Maarif, west and southwest of the Parc de la
Ligue Arabe, are where most of the action is, with shops, bars and restaurants.
To the southeast is the Quartier Habous (also known as the nouvelle medina) and to the west
is Aïn Diab, the beachfront suburb home to upmarket hotels and nightclubs.
Development in Casablanca today is so exciting that you’d think the ghosts of General
Lyautey and Henri Prost were working on a new plan for the city, though this time with
Moroccan pride rather than French colonial might. Along the coastal road in Anfa, huge new
projects are being built. About to open at the time of research is the environmentally friendly,
award-winning 200,000-sq-m Morocco Mall, the biggest ‘destination mall’ in North Africa,
housing shops and offices as well as a large aquarium and a 400-seater Imax theatre. On the
coast east of the Hassan II Mosque the Casablanca Marina is a few years from being
completed.
History
The Phoenicians established a small trading post in the now-upmarket suburb of Anfa from the
6th century BC onwards. In the 7th century AD, Anfa became a regional capital under the
Barghawata, a confederation of Berber tribes. The Almohads destroyed it in 1188, and 70
years later, the Merenids took over.
In the early 15th century, the port became a safe haven for pirates and racketeers. Anfa
pirates became such a serious threat later in the century that the Portuguese sent 50 ships and
10,000 men to subdue them. They left Anfa in a state of ruins. The local tribes, however,
continued to terrorise the trade routes, provoking a second attack by the Portuguese in 1515.
Sixty years later the Portuguese arrived to stay, erecting fortifications and renaming the port
Casa Branca (White House).
The Portuguese abandoned the colony in 1755 after a devastating earthquake destroyed
Lisbon and severely damaged the walls of Casa Branca. Sultan Sidi Mohammed ben Abdullah
subsequently resettled and fortified the town, but it never regained its former importance. By
1830 it had only around 600 inhabitants.
By the mid-1800s Europe was booming and turned to Morocco for increased supplies of
grain and wool. The fertile plains around Casablanca were soon supplying European markets,
and agents and traders flocked back to the city. Spanish merchants renamed the city
Casablanca and by the beginning of the 20th century the French had secured permission to
build an artificial harbour.
Increased trade brought prosperity to the region, but the activities and influence of the
Europeans also caused resentment. Violence erupted in 1907 when Europeans desecrated a
Muslim cemetery. The pro-colonialist French jumped at the chance to send troops to quell the
dispute; a French warship and a company of marines soon arrived and bombarded the town.