Kénitra travel guide

Kénitra is an industrial and military centre of importance within Morocco. It was a small military fort until 1913 when the French built a new town, as well as an artificial harbour used as a military port and to export citrus fruit and other products from the rich agricultural areas of the surrounding Gharb region. The port was developed to replace Larache, in the Spanish zone, and Tangiers, in the International Zone. In 1933, Kénitra was renamed Port Lyautey by the French, after the first Resident-General of the Moroccan Protectorate. US troops landed here in November 1942 as part of Operation Torch, and experienced heavy casualties under fire from the port at Mehdiya. In 1947 the US returned to establish an important naval base, which they used until 1977. After independence, Port Lyautey was renamed Kénitra and it remains important as a military centre and port. It lies on the N1 from Rabat to Tangiers. For the first-time visitor to Morocco, the attraction of Kénitra (beyond some early 20th-century architecture) is its potential as a base for excursions to the nearby Roman site of Thamusida and Mehdiya, with its fine kasbah, on the coast.