History of Casablanca Timeline

Following the Treaty of Algeciras in 1906, which granted the French holding company La Compagnie Marocaine rights to build modern ports in Casablanca and Asfi, Casablanca remained a modestly sized port with around 12,000 inhabitants as French colonial administrators arrived within a sovereign sultanate in 1906.

Image source: Algeciras Conference

Construction at the port of Casablanca began on May 2, 1907, effectively beginning the process of colonization, although French control was not formalized until the Treaty of Fez on March 30, 1912.

Image source: Port of Casablanca

Dominated by the clock tower built in 1908, the space demarked a contact point between the Moroccan medina and the European nouvelle ville. A contemporary observer noted that apart from the mosques, a few residential doors, and the German consulate, no monument attracted the visitor's gaze.

French control of Casablanca, begun de facto with the port construction of 1907, was not formalized until the signature of the Treaty of Fez on March 30, 1912.

Image source: Treaty of Fes

In 1913, Lyautey invited Henri Prost to handle the urban planning of Moroccan cities, and his work in Casablanca was lauded for applying principles of urbanization.

Image source: Henri Prost

The city experienced a population increase since 1907, partly due to European immigration and French colonial policies. In 1914, Europeans formed 40% of the total Casablanca population, with their own schools, churches, hospitals and places of recreation.

In 1915, the French authorities held the Exposition Franco-Marocaine, a display of French soft power after the bombardment of the city in 1907 and during the ongoing wars of occupation, notably the Zaian War—an opportunity to inventory Morocco's resources and crafts.

By 1921, Casablanca's population had risen to 110,000, largely through the development of bidonvilles—informal shanty settlements surrounding the growing colonial city.

Image source: Shanty town

In 1930, Casablanca hosted a round of the Formula One world championship. The race would later be held at the Ain-Diab circuit in 1958.

Image source: Moroccan Grand Prix

A 1937–1938 typhoid fever outbreak was exploited by colonial authorities to justify the appropriation of urban spaces in Casablanca.

In November 1942, the British and Americans organised a three-pronged attack on North Africa (Operation Torch), of which the westernmost prong was at Casablanca. The Task Force landed before daybreak on November 8, 1942, at three points in Morocco: Asfi, Fedala (the largest landing with 19,000 men), and Mehdiya-Port Lyautey.

Image source: Operation Torch

Casablanca hosted the Casablanca Conference, also called the Anfa Conference, in January 1943, in which Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt discussed the progress of World War II.

Image source: Casablanca Conference

When the Sultan went to Tangier to deliver a speech requesting independence, French colonial forces instigated a conflict between Senegalese Tirailleurs and Moroccan locals in a failed attempt to sabotage his journey. The massacre, remembered as Darbat Salighan, lasted about 24 hours as tirailleurs fired randomly into working-class neighborhoods, killing between 180 and 1,000 civilians.

The assassination of Tunisian labor unionist Farhat Hached by La Main Rouge—the clandestine militant wing of French intelligence—sparked protests in cities around the world and riots in Casablanca from December 7–8, 1952.

Image source: Farhat Hached

In April 1953, Salut Casa!—a 'pseudo-documentary' propaganda piece intended for French audiences—played at the Cannes Film Festival.

Image source: Cannes Film Festival

The urban resistance launched 4,520 violent attacks targeting infrastructure in Moroccan cities, mostly Casablanca. Between December 1953 and March 1955 there were 1,222 attacks which claimed 259 deaths and 732 wounded, earning Casablanca the nickname 'Morocco's Chicago.' By 1950, the city had 158,000 Europeans, 414,500 Muslims, and 72,000 Jews.

Morocco regained independence from France on March 2, 1956. That year, Elie Azagury, the first Moroccan modernist architect, led the GAMMA group of architects in independent Morocco.

Image source: History of Morocco

From January 4–7, 1961, the city hosted an ensemble of progressive African leaders during the Casablanca Conference of 1961. Notably absent was Patrice Lumumba of the Republic of the Congo, who had been in prison since September 1960.

Image source: Casablanca Group

Casablanca was a major departure point for Jews leaving Morocco through Operation Yachin, an operation conducted by Mossad to secretly migrate Moroccan Jews to Israel between November 1961 and spring 1964.

Image source: Operation Yachin

The 1965 student protests started on March 22, 1965, in front of Lycée Mohammed V in Casablanca, with almost 15,000 students. The next day students returned along with workers and the poor, vandalizing stores and burning buses while chanting slogans against King Hassan II, who blamed teachers and parents and declared there is no greater danger to the State than a so-called intellectual.

A secret Arab League summit was held in Casablanca in September 1965.

Image source: Arab League

The poet and activist Saida Menebhi died in Casablanca on December 11, 1977, after a 34-day hunger strike.

On May 29, 1981, riots broke out in Casablanca. This intifada was the first of two IMF riots in Morocco—dubbed the 'Hunger Revolts' by the international press—the second taking place in 1984 primarily in northern cities such as Nador and Tetuan.

In 1983, Casablanca hosted the Mediterranean Games.

Image source: 1983 Mediterranean Games

The first McDonald's franchise on the African continent and in the Arab world opened on Ain Diab in Casablanca in 1992.

Image source: McDonald's

In March 2000, women's groups organised demonstrations in Casablanca proposing reforms to the legal status of women. Although a counter-demonstration attracted half a million participants, the movement influenced King Mohammed VI, who enacted a new Mudawana family law in early 2004 meeting some activists' demands.

Image source: Mudawana

On May 16, 2003, 33 civilians were killed and more than 100 injured when Casablanca was hit by a multiple suicide bomb attack carried out by Moroccans and claimed by some to have been linked to al-Qaeda.

Image source: 2003 Casablanca bombings

The first line of the Casablanca Tramway, which as of 2019 consists of two lines, was inaugurated in December 2012.

Image source: Casablanca Tramway

Al-Boraq, a high-speed rail service connecting Casablanca and Tangier and the first high-speed rail service on the African continent, was inaugurated on November 15, 2018.

Image source: Al Boraq