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| Kenitra Downtown |
Kenitra
Moroccan Arabic: قنيطرة, QnÄ«á¹ra; Arabic: القنيطرة, Al-Qunayá¹ira, the meaning of the word in Arabic is
"the little bridge"
At the time of French occupation this city was called Port
Lyautey from 1932 to 1956, it is a city in the North West part of Morocco.. it is mainly a port on Sebou river.
has a population of about one million according to official authorities (But it
would certainly be more than that, especially that the numbers were issued back
in 2014 and the death rate in general got lower).
It has a US Navy base that was used as a
stopping point in North Africa at the time of the cold war between the US and
the USSR.
Take a tour here inside Kenitra city in this youtube video below:
Kenitra is
ancient since it was there from the time of the Phoenicians, it has a different
name back then, historians say it was called Thamusida. Under the Antonine
dynasty, a Venus temple was built somewhere in Kenitra except that it can't be
found anywhere now.
There was
only the casbah of Mehdya before the french occupation, part of the new town
was actually built by the French, it can still be spotted in the architecture
of some old builtings in down town. unfortunately many of these old buildings
were destroyed to make space for new ones.
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| Kenitra Train station |
The new
train station is giving a more modern vibe to the city in addition of the 2 new
malls, most of the city is modern but the casbah of Mehdiya is still there
representing the history of Kenitra.
Other
things to see: the Sebou river Corniche, the Mehdya Beach, souk of Khebazat,
old churche..
Kenitra is
also known by it's great restaurants and nice affordable food.. giving the
students there a chance to have decent meals at reasonable prices compared to
nearby cities like Rabat and Casablanca, Note that there are many students In
Kenitra that are not originally from there, and other people also come to the
town for that purpose from other places in the region.
Ancient
history: Kenitra goes back in time to the Phoenicians, it was known back then
as Thamusida. a Venus temple was built in it while the Antonine dynasty was
ruling.
Modern
history: in 1912 General Lyautey established Kenitra in 1912 as a French
military fort and town, shortly after he established peace in the country where
rebel mouvements were rising against the Sultan Abd-Alhafid, the operation that
followed the treaty of Fes signed between the Sultan and the French authorities
putting Morocco under French protectorat. Ayear after that General Lyautey built
the port of Kenitra on the Atlantic coast at the mouth of the Sebou river.
The city
was renamed "Keitra" in 1956 as Morocco gained its independence. And
since then it was on a consistent growth to become one of the main shipping
port in the country, mainly agricultural products like fruilts, but also fish
and zinc ores.
In November 1942, after Operation Torch, the
Americans captured the Port Lyautey French fighter base as a military base,
named Craw Field.
