Salé is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the right bank of the Bou Regreg river, opposite the national capital Rabat, for which it serves as a commuter town. Along with some smaller nearby towns, Rabat and Salé together form a single metropolitan area.

Founded in the 11th century, Sale became a medieval merchant port and entrepot. Salé became a haven for pirates in the 17th century as an independent republic before being incorporated into Alawi Morocco. It recorded a population of 1,089,554 in the 2024 Moroccan census. The city still preserves its historic medina (old town), with many major monuments dating from the Marinid period (13th–15th centuries). Salé is connected to Rabat by a tramway and also contains the Rabat–Salé Airport, the main international airport serving both cities.

History

Early history

The Phoenicians established a settlement called Sala, later the site of a Roman colony, Sala Colonia, across the river on the south side of the Bou Regreg estuary. The local Banu Ifran apparently cultivated the legend that the city's name was derived from that of Salah, son of Ham, son of Noah.

left|thumb|[[Great Mosque of Salé, located within the historic medina]]

The Arab historians al-Bakri and Ibn Hawqal mention the existence of a town along the Bou Regreg at an early era, but they may have been referring to Chellah (former Sala Colonia) rather than the present town of Salé. The latter family included learned jurists (faqihs) and judges (qadis) and they became the city's de facto rulers.

The Banu 'Ashara reportedly hosted Ibn Tumart, the founder of the Almohad movement, in their palace in 1121, while he was on his way to Marrakesh. The current Great Mosque of Salé was built on the order of Yaqub al-Mansur in 1196, over the site of city's former main mosque whose roof had collapsed. The Marinid sultan Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd Al-Haqq () reconquered the town and afterwards helped to rebuild the city walls.

During the Marinid period, the city's fortifications continued to be upgraded and a new protected harbour was built. The harbour, located on the south side of the city, was linked to the river by two channels, with Bab el-Mrisa and another monumental gate serving as water gates through which boats passed. Ibn Ashir later became the patron saint of the city These were the Salé pirates (the well-known "Salé Rovers"). In 1609, Philip III decreed the expulsion of all Moriscos (people of Muslim or Moorish descent) from Spain. About 2000 of these refugees, originally from the town of Hornachos near Badajoz, Spain, settled around Salé and occupied the kasbah, attracting between 5000 and 14,000 other Moriscos to join them. They engaged in piracy, captured ships and sold their crews and sometimes passengers into slavery in the Arabic world. Despite the legendary reputation of the Salé corsairs, their ships were based across the river in Rabat, called "New Salé" by the English.

European powers took action to try to eliminate the threat from the Barbary Coast. On May 1628, the city of Salé was bombarded by Spain and, in 20 July 1629, it was bombarded by French Admiral Isaac de Razilly with a fleet composed of the ships Licorne, Saint-Louis, Griffon, Catherine, Hambourg, Sainte-Anne, Saint-Jean; his forces destroyed three corsair ships.

20th century

During the decades preceding the independence of Morocco, Salé was the stronghold of some "national movement" activists. The reading of the "Latif" (a politically charged prayer to God, read in mosques in loud unison) was launched in Salé and became popular in some cities of Morocco.

A petition against the so-called "Berber Dahir" (a decree that allowed some Berber-speaking areas of Morocco to continue using Berber law, as opposed to Sharia law) was given to Sultan Mohamed V and the Resident General of France. The petition and the "Latif" prayer led to the withdrawal and adjustment of the so-called "Berber Decree" of May 1930. The activists who opposed the "Berber Decree" apparently feared that the explicit recognition of the Berber customary law (a very secular-minded Berber tradition) would threaten the position of Islam and its Sharia law system. Others believed that opposing the French-engineered "Berber Decree" was a means to turn the tables against the French occupation of Morocco.

The widespread storm that was created by the "Berber Dahir" controversy created a somewhat popular Moroccan nationalist elite based in Salé and Fez; it had strong anti-Berber, anti-West, anti-secular, and pro Arab-Islamic inclinations. This period helped develop the political awareness and activism that would lead fourteen years later to the signing of the Manifesto of Independence of Morocco on 11 January 1944 by many "Slawi" activists and leaders. Salé has been deemed to have been the stronghold of the Moroccan left for many decades, where many leaders have resided.

Salé, like many other Moroccan cities, had its own mellah, where the Jewish community resided. Raphael Encaoua, a famous rabbi born in Salé is buried in the Jewish cemetery nearby.

Subdivisions

The prefecture is divided administratively into the following:

{| class="wikitable sortable"

! Name !! Geographic code !! Type !! Households !! Population (2014)!! Foreign population !! Moroccan population !! Notes

|-

| Bab Lamrissa || 441.01.03. || Arrondissement || 44636 || 174936 || 668 || 174266 ||

|-

| Bettana || 441.01.05. || Arrondissement || 22360 || 95291 || 386 || 94905 ||

|-

| Hssaine || 441.01.06. || Arrondissement || 51858 || 214540 || 470 || 214070 ||

|-

| Layayda || 441.01.07. || Arrondissement || 33522 || 153361 || 163 || 153198 ||

|-

| Sidi Bouknadel || 441.01.08. || Municipality || 4955 || 25255 || 9 || 25246||

|-

| Tabriquet || 441.01.09. || Arrondissement || 61101 || 252277 || 629 || 251648 ||

|-

| Shoul || 441.03.01. || Rural commune || 3925 || 19915 || 6 || 19909 || in the Salé Suburbs Circle

|-

| Ameur || 441.03.05. || Rural commune || 8983 || 46590 || 16 || 46574 || in the Salé Suburbs Circle

|-

|}

Climate

Salé has a Mediterranean climate (Csa) with warm to hot dry summers and mild damp winters. Located along the Atlantic Ocean, Salé has a mild, temperate climate, shifting from cool in winter to warm days in the summer months. The nights are always cool (or cold in winter, it can reach Sub sometimes), with daytime temperatures generally rising about . The winter highs typically reach only in December–February. Summer daytime highs usually hover around , but may occasionally exceed , especially during heat waves. Summer nights are usually pleasant and cool, ranging between and and rarely exceeding . Rabat belongs to the sub-humid bioclimatic zone with an average annual precipitation of 560 mm.

Salé's climate resembles that of the southwest coast of the Iberian Peninsula and the coast of Southern California.

Landmarks

The historic old city (medina) of Salé occupies a large area near the mouth of the Bou Regreg river. It is enclosed by defensive walls pierced with several entrances, the most notable of which is Bab el-Mrisa ('Gate of the Little Port'), a monumental gate on the southeast side of the city, dating to the 1270s.

thumb|Interior of the [[Madrasa of Abu al-Hasan, a 14th-century madrasa located next to the Great Mosque]]

The religious center of the city is the Great Mosque, located in the western half of the medina. Next to the mosque is the Madrasa of Abu al-Hasan, a madrasa building dating to 1342, By the 20th century it had fallen into ruin but it has recently been restored. Its most significant and well-preserved feature is a stone-carved entrance portal.

Another landmark outside the city walls is the 14th-century aqueduct built by the Marinid sultan Abu al-Hasan to improve the city's water supply. A preserved section roughly long can be found to the north of the medina, at one point straddling the modern road that leads north to Kenitra. The football section of AS Salé is the football club of the city.

Infrastructure

Transport

Air

thumb|[[Rabat-Salé Airport]]

Salé's main airport is Rabat–Salé Airport, which is located in Salé but also serves Rabat, the capital city of Morocco.

Trains

Salé is served by two principal railway stations run by the national rail service, the ONCF. These stations are Salé-Tabriquet and Salé-Ville.

Salé-Ville is the main inter-city station, from which trains run south to Rabat, Casablanca, Marrakesh and El Jadida, north to Tangier, or east to Meknes, Fez, Taza and Oujda.

Tram

thumb|[[Rabat-Salé tramway]]

The Rabat–Salé tramway was the first tramway network in Morocco and it connects Salé with Rabat across the river. It was opened on 11 May 2011 after a construction cost of 3.6 billion MAD. The network was constructed by Alstom Citadis and is operated by Transdev. As of February 2022, the network had two lines with a total length of and 43 stations. In 2023, an extension of the network was being planned and is due to be completed by 2028.

Water

Water supply and wastewater collection in Salé was irregular, with poorer and illegal housing units suffering the highest costs and most acute scarcities. Much of the city used to rely upon communal standpipes, which were often shut down, depriving some neighbourhoods of safe drinking water

The film Black Hawk Down was partially filmed in Salé, in particular the wide angle aerial shots with helicopters flying down the coastline.

The character Robinson Crusoe, in the early part of Daniel Defoe's novel by the same name, spends time in captivity of the local pirates, the Salé Rovers, and at last sails off to liberty from the mouth of the Salé river - an adventure less well remembered than the protagonist's later sojourn on the desert island.

Notable people

  • Abdellah Taïa, writer
  • Abdelwahed Radi, politician
  • Abu Zakariya Yahya al-Wattasi, governor of Salé for the Marinids
  • Ahmad ibn Khalid al-Nasiri, historian
  • Ahmed al-Salawi, writer
  • Amina Benkhadra, politician
  • Amine Laâlou, athlete
  • Chaim ibn Attar, world renowned biblical commentator, talmudist, and posek known for his work "Or HaChayim" on the Pentateuch
  • Gnawi, rapper
  • Hajj Ali Zniber, writer
  • Hayat Lambarki, athlete
  • Houcine Slaoui, musician
  • Larbi Naji, footballer
  • Léopold Justinard, French military man and Berber speaker who lived in the medina of Salé from 1937 to 1956
  • El Mehdi Malki, judoka
  • Merouane Zemmama, footballer
  • Mohamed Amine Sbihi, politician
  • Mohammed Zniber, writer and historian
  • Nores (musician), Rapper
  • Rajaâ Cherkaoui El Moursli, Professor of Nuclear Physics
  • Raphael Ankawa, Chief Rabbi of Morocco and a noted commentator, talmudist, posek, and author
  • Reda Rhalimi, basketball player
  • Saad Hassar, politician
  • Tarik Khbabez, kickboxer
  • L'Morphine, rapper and songwriter

Twin towns – sister cities

Salé is twinned with:

  • Aryanah, Tunisia
  • Beitunia, Palestine
  • Gandiaye, Senegal
  • Grand Yoff, Senegal
  • Maroua, Cameroon
  • Portalegre, Portugal

<!--rest - does not consider Salé as their twin town, not twinning-->

Partner cities

Salé also cooperates with: