Casablanca

A Berber settlement called Anfa stood on this stretch of coast by the Middle Ages and grew into a port and a base for privateers. The Portuguese destroyed it in 1468 and returned to build a fortress there in the 16th century, which they abandoned after an earthquake. Between 1756 and 1790 Sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah rebuilt the town and its port and named it ad-Dar al-Bayda, the white house, which the Spanish rendered as Casablanca. Through the 19th century it was a modest port exporting wool and grain, with a small medina and a growing community of European merchants.

The turning point came in 1907, when French forces landed after disturbances around the building of a port railway, and again in 1912, when the protectorate was declared. Resident-General Lyautey gave the planning of the new port city to the architect Henri Prost, and Casablanca became the commercial capital. They laid out boulevards, squares and a new port beside the medina, and over the next three decades the city filled with apartment blocks, cinemas and offices in an art deco and Moorish style that has few equals. Rural migrants arrived to build and staff it, and shanty towns, the bidonvilles, spread on the edges.

In January 1943 Roosevelt and Churchill met at the Anfa Conference in the city. After independence in 1956 Casablanca became the engine of the Moroccan economy and the centre of its labour movement, with strikes and riots in 1965 and 1981 put down with force. The Hassan II Mosque was completed on the seafront in 1993, suicide bombings struck the city in May 2003, and building has gone outwards and upwards ever since, with a tram network, a finance district and continuing programmes to rehouse families from the remaining slums.

Known simply as Casa, the city is Morocco at its most modern, fastest and least ceremonious. It has the country's business culture, its advertising and film industries, its stock exchange and much of its press, and a reputation among other Moroccans for being hard-working, blunt and expensive. French is spoken freely alongside Darija, dress is more European than elsewhere, and social rules are looser, though the city is also religious and conservative in its older quarters.

Music has deep roots here. The district of Hay Mohammadi produced Nass El Ghiwane, the group that transformed Moroccan popular music in the 1970s with Gnawa rhythms and political lyrics, and the city has been the centre of Moroccan rock, metal and hip hop since the 1990s, much of it launched at the L'Boulevard festival. Art deco heritage, once neglected, is now the subject of walking tours, restoration campaigns and a good deal of local pride.

Football is close to a civic religion: the rival clubs Raja and Wydad both play at the Stade Mohammed V, and their derby fills the stadium and empties the streets. Morocco will co-host the 2030 World Cup with Spain and Portugal, and a 115,000-seat Hassan II Stadium is under construction at El Mansouria in Benslimane Province, east of the city, with an opening planned for 2027. The city is also where the country's social tensions surface first, from the strikes of the 1960s and 1980s to the youth protests of 2025.

About 3.2 million people live in the urban area and over 4.2 million in Greater Casablanca, making it by far the largest urban area in Morocco and one of the largest in Africa. The population came from everywhere in the country, and neighbourhood, not region of origin, is what defines people here. The contrast between the villas of Anfa, the middle-class flats of Maarif and the crowded districts of the east and south is stark.

The city produces a large share of the national economy: the port, much of Morocco's manufacturing, the banks and insurers, the finance district, retail and services. Wages are higher than elsewhere and so is the cost of living, above all housing, which is the dominant concern. Large rehousing programmes have cleared many bidonvilles, but informal settlements persist on the periphery and commuting from cheaper suburbs eats into the day.

Daily life runs on the tram, crowded buses, taxis and traffic. Cafés are the city's living rooms, full from breakfast until late; markets open early; offices keep long hours with a break in the middle of the day. Weekends belong to the Corniche, the beaches, the shopping centres and the football. Water and power costs, air pollution and the state of public services are the standing complaints, and the protests of autumn 2025 over schools and hospitals were felt strongly here.

Casablanca eats from the sea. Sardines, sole, sea bream, shrimp and calamari come off the Atlantic boats, and the classic city meal is fish bought at a market stall and grilled or fried a few steps away, with cumin, salt and bread. The Marché Central in the centre is the best-known place for it, and the seafood restaurants along the Corniche at Ain Diab are the dressed-up version.

Street food is everywhere. Harira, the tomato, lentil and chickpea soup, is sold year-round from hole-in-the-wall kitchens; babbouche, snail broth, is drunk from small bowls on the pavement; and fried sardine sandwiches, kefta and merguez grilled over charcoal, and bowls of bissara, the broad-bean purée, feed the working city. Mornings begin with sfenj, ring doughnuts fried to order, or msemen, flaky griddle bread with butter and honey.

Home cooking follows the Moroccan repertoire — tagines, Friday couscous, rfissa made with shredded msemen and fenugreek broth, and pastilla for celebrations — while Habous is the place for pastries such as kaab el ghzal and briouat. The French legacy shows in the café culture: coffee and croissants at pavement tables all day, alongside glasses of very sweet mint tea, and in the bakeries and wine lists of the city's restaurants.