Сале: История и современность марокканского города

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Salé (سلا, ) 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 form together a single metropolitan area. Founded in the 11th century, it later became a haven for pirates in the 17th century as an independent republic before being incorporated into Alawi Morocco. It recorded a population of 890,403 in the 2014 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.

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. 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 Salé pirates (the well known "Salé Rovers") enslaved civilians from European coasts; capturing, for, example, 1,000 English villagers in 1625, selling them later in Africa. They 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 20 July 1629, the city of Salé 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.

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 table 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 Manifest 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 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.

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. 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 A. S. S. is the football club of the city.

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

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, Marrakech and El Jadida, north to Tanger, or east to Meknes, Fes, Taza and Oujda.

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 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.