Rabat is the capital city of Morocco, the North African kingdom on the Atlantic coast.
Rabat lies beside the Bou Regreg River, where it meets the Atlantic Ocean. It is Morocco's political and administrative centre, housing the royal palace, parliament, ministries, foreign embassies, and many national institutions. Casablanca is the country's largest city and major economic hub, but it is not the capital.
The settlement grew around the ancient Roman site of Sala Colonia, later known as Chellah. In the twelfth century, Almohad ruler Yaqub al-Mansur developed Rabat as a major imperial centre and began the Hassan Mosque, whose unfinished minaret is now called the Hassan Tower.
Rabat's historic centre includes the medina, the Kasbah of the Udayas, the Hassan Tower, and Chellah. UNESCO inscribed the modern capital's historic core as a World Heritage Site in 2012, describing it as a blend of Arab-Muslim heritage and Western modernism.
Morocco's capital was previously centred in Fez and Marrakesh under different dynasties. Rabat became the capital during the French protectorate and retained that role after Moroccan independence in 1956.