Casablanca
Dar el-Baîda
October 20, 2007
Kinda of a strange city-I thought. This may be the one city in Morocco that most Americans have heard through the Bogard movie which wasn't made here in Morocco and really doesn't have anything to do with the city.
There have been settlements here since the Phoenicians, and the Berber tribe Barghawata tribe has been dominate. It is a city of very wealthy villas and very poor housing projects.
The Barghawata established the city of Anfa here-falling under Alohades control in the 1188 the the Merenids conquered it in 1258. In the early 1400's, as the Merenid's control of the area weakened, the Barghawata rose up and threw out the rulers. The port became a safe harbor for pirates, which raided Portuguese ships rounding Africa. The Portuguese sent 10,000 men and 50 ships around 1500 to pacify the area and subdue the harbor. Piracy continued and the Portuguese returned in 1515, burning the city to the ground. The Portuguese attempted to put an end to the piracy by founding a new city and for here in 1565 and named it Casa Branca or White House. The Portuguese abandoned the city after Lisbon was destroyed in an earthquake in 1755-they decided they could not afford to repair it. Sultan Sis Mohammed ben Abdallah added the city to his empire but it was really a backwater. According to one chronicler, the city only had 600 inhabitants in 1830.
With the rapid industrialization of Europe, countries turned to Morocco to feed its industry. Morocco became an exporter of grain and wool and Spanish traders renamed the city Casablanca and built an artificial port here. Casablanca is at one end of the rich agricultural arc that covers North Africa.
Casablanca became part of the French Colonial empire when in 1907, French workers were killed after attempting to build a rail line through a Muslim cemetery in Casablanca. France used the killings as a reason to land marines and eventually France added all of Morocco to its empire. Resident General Lyautey actually built the city I am staying in-Kenitra-in an attempt to draw trade away from the city of Casablanca. |
The clock-tower from within the Medina.
Ancienne Medina
The medina is not as old as the ones in the Imperial cities. It is small and largely built in the mid-19th century. I got a glimpse of the Koubba of Sidi Belyout. It is forbidden to non-musliums but Sidi Belyout is the patron islamic saint of Casablanca. The story is that he morned for mankind, blinded himself and wanted off into the wild where animals cared for him. (Sort of a local St. Francis character) Koubba are domed tombs which are painted white and house their bodies. They are also the site of pilgrimages by local populations but its not a good idea to photograph them. |
Bab Marrakesh or the Gate to Marrakesh-one of the entrenches into the Medina.
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The Ottoman style clock tower at the Place des Nations Unies. The Ottomans built clock-towers in their empire during the late 19th century in an attempt to Modernize it. This clock-tower is an attempt by the Moroccans to do the same
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Palais de Justice
The Place Mohammed V was designed Lyautey's chief architect, d'Henri Prost who planned the city for 150,000. By the time Laytrey left Morocco in 1923, the city had already exceeded that population. Around the square houses the machinery of government-the Post office, the Préfecture (1930), the Palais de Justice (1925-the large door is modeld on Persian Iwans, the large doors that are the lecture halls and enterences to Medresas) and the Cathédral de Sacré Coeur-formally the main cathedral in Casablanca. It was largely abandoned after independence but the Ministry of the Interior has taken over it and it was being used as a display space when I was there. |
The Prefecture of Casablanca. While officially the center of government is Rabat, most of the functions of government are carried out in Casablanca. |
Cathédral de Sacré Coeur-The Cathedral of the Sacred Heart was designed by Paull Tornon and finised in 1930.
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There was an exhibit of Japanese works of art along with Japanese art about Morocco named the Exposition d'Arts Japonais et Marocains á Casablanca.
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The stain glass window behind the alter at the Church of the Sacred Cross.
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The Aïn Diab is a wealthy suburb that stretches west of downtown casablanca along the Boulevard de la Corniche. All French cites along oceans have a Corniche, a broad avenue that individuals walk along at night to enjoy the ocean. Abdoulkader and I took the public bus-a treat in and of itself-out to the McDonald's at the Miami Plague for a cup of coffee and to look at the ocean. This area is suppose to be packed during the summer season but very few people swim in the ocean-its rather polluted. Instead-there are beach clubs all up and down the Cornishe that you can join and they have cafe's, filtered swimming pools, and other beach related actives. There were a few sufers out today, but not many. They did have two McDonalds though and were building a TGIF Friday's across the street. |
Abdoulkader at the Miami Plage having tea.
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The Hassan II mosque from the Miami Plage.
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Bidonvilles
They often call the slums bidonvilles-"tin cities". The term started in Casablanca, workers that were hired by the French for government projects built temporary housing out of scraps. A bidon in french is a "tin can" and often these slum dwellers fill the cans with sand and stack to make walls in illegal settlement. There have been extensive riots in these areas since the 1920's.
Many of these bidonvilles in Casablanca have been abolished and the residents moved to high rise apartment buildings, much like the housing projects built from the 1950's to the 1970's in the United States (See Pruit Igo or the Peabody Projects in St. Louis) which we consider to be a failure.
I think they are considered a failure here in Morocco. The slum dwellers consider the worst fate to be forcibly moved to one of these settlements-they are too small for their large extended families. The law has been changed too. Now, individuals who form and live in bidonvilles can not be evicted if they live there for at least two years and can apply for title to the land after ten. These settlements are apparently much more common in the smaller communities now, we drove past an area in which a bidonville was just torn down in Kenitra to build a shopping mall. |
I know this has nothing to do with Morocco, but I couldn't resist the weirdness factor of this story. I love the fact their training bigger monkeys to kill off the smaller monkeys.
Monkeys in India
Sunday, 21 October 2007
21:33 GMT 22:33 UK
Monkeys attack Delhi politician
Delhi has long struggled to cope with marauding monkeys. The deputy mayor of the Indian capital Delhi has died a day after being attacked by a horde of wild monkeys. SS Bajwa suffered serious head injuries when he fell from the first-floor terrace of his home on Saturday morning trying to fight off the monkeys. The city has long struggled to counter its plague of monkeys, which invade government complexes and temples, snatch food and scare passers-by. The High Court ordered the city to find an answer to the problem last year.
One approach has been to train bands of larger, more ferocious langur monkeys to go after the smaller groups of Rhesus macaques. The city has also employed monkey catchers to round them up so they can be moved to forests. But the problem has persisted. Culling is seen as unacceptable to devout Hindus, who revere the monkeys as a manifestation of the monkey god Hanuman, and often feed them bananas and peanuts. Urban development around the city has also been blamed for destroying the monkeys' natural habitat. Mr Bajwa, a member of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is survived by his wife and a son, according to the Press Trust of India news agency. |
Casablanca
Boulevard de la Corniche
Weird things I have Seen, Part I
October 20, 2007
This guy is standing on a major throughfare in Casablanca selling puppies. I didn't see anyone pull over to buy one however. |
Rabat
The Bar Alaska
Weird Things I have Seen, Part II
October 3, 2007 |
Casablanca
Cathédral de Sacré Coeur
Weird things I have Seen Part III
October 20, 2007
Yes, that is a chicken in the stain glass window. I have no idea why. |
Kenitra
Café
Weird things I have Seen Part IV
October 24, 2007
Mustapha and I were having tea around 11 a.m. in downtown Kenitra when all of a sudden, a cow just wanders by. This is downtown of a major city. |
Rabat
Avenue of Mohammad V
Weird Things I have Seen, Part V
October 3, 2007
Pork Delivery Truck? Pork is absolutely forbidden in islam. The cab driver tried to convince us that it was really lamb but it totally looks like ham to me. |
Casablanca Bombing Part II
Casablanca and Kenitra
October 25, 2007
The bombings in May of 2003 were carried out by a group called Salafia Jahadia. The founders trained in Afghanistan is the insurgency against the Soviet Union. All in all, forty five individuals were killed. Most of their targets had connections to the Jewish community in Casablanca. A popular target was nightclubs because you could attack two enemies at once-one is the foreign tourist presence in Morocco and secondly they are often owned by Jews because it is unacceptable for good Muslims to profit of the sale of liquor. The jews of morocco, that remained after Independence, moved as a community to Casablanca where they still live.
The individuals who were involved in the bombings were residences of Sidi Moumen-a Casablanca slum suburb where around 300,000 people live without sewers, clean water or public transportation. Most don't have jobs and have little prospect of getting one. They are largely from rural area and lack any job skills. Also, they are largely despised by urban Moroccans and are largely alienated from the society as a whole. |
Moroccan Names
October 24, 2007
I became interested a few days ago about how Moroccans name their children. It seems that most names come either from famous
historical-religious figures or are named for relatives. Apparently, mom picks a name, dad picks a name, grandparents pic a name, etc...and all are proposed then the family decides. The family I am staying with have the following names and their meanings.
Rim deer- like the white tailed deer you see in Missouri.
Anaiss the son of a companion of the prophet Mohammed.
Mustafpha anointed one-someone God has chosen for a special mission.
Abdelkadder slave of god-there are a lot of Abdoul (blank)-another teacher is named Abdoulrachman meaning "the slave of God the Victorious-Ranchman being one of God's 99 names or attributes
Rashida wise one-it seems to be a popular name among the berber population
Amine Honest-truthful-trustworthy. It was a title of the prophet mohammed when he worked as a merchant in arabia. This title was given to him by people he worked with. This is what attracted Khadija to seen him in marriage." |
Future Webster Fan
Yasmine Ouarab
2 and a half years old
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READ MORE-RETURN TO MY HOMEPAGE AND CLICK ON MOROCCO BLOG PART VI
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