Rabat

Capital and industrial port of Morocco, on the Atlantic coast, 177 km/110 mi west of Fès; population (2004) 1,622,900 (Rabat-Salé urban area). It is situated on the Bou Regreg River, opposite Salé. Industries include textiles, asbestos, carpets, pottery, leather goods, fishing; carpets, blankets, and leather handicrafts are also important, and other exports include skins, wax, cork, slippers, and beans. Founded in 1190, it is named after its original ribat or fortified monastery. From 1912 Rabat was the capital of the French protectorate of Morocco and became the capital of the newly-independent state of Morocco in 1956.

Rabat is an educational centre, and has an Institut de Hautes Études Marocaines and the Institut Scientifique Cherifien, for research work. The Muhammad V University was founded in 1957.

Architecture Overlooking the Atlantic Ocean is the Ouadaia Kasbah approached via the Ouadaia Gate. It was built by the 12th-century Almohad sultan Yakub al-Mansur, who also built the half-finished Hassan Tower, 44 m/144 ft high. Near the tower are the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Sala, with tombs of the Almohad and Marinide sultans. There are also barracks, an arsenal, and an aqueduct.

Rabat

View inside the early Christian catacomb in the Grotto of St Paul, in Rabat, Malta. A Roman city used to stand where Rabat is now, and there are plenty of ancient relics to be seen, as well as examples of Baroque and Renaissance architecture.

Town in the west of Malta, stretching along the spur from the fortified walls of Mdina; population (2001 est) 13,000. Rabat is situated in a rich agricultural region; pigs and goats are raised, and wheat and vines are cultivated.

Built on the site of a Roman city, Rabat has various relics of the period, including a villa, partly restored, which is now a museum. There are troglodyte dwellings, cave churches, and St Paul's and St Agatha's Catacombs, dating from the early Christian period. To the west, in the Bingemma hills, is Verdala Palace, built for the Knights of Malta in 1586 and later used as the summer residence of the governor general of Malta. Other features include several baroque and Renaissance monasteries, the 15th-century church of St Bartholomew, and the 16th-century church of St Agatha.