RABÁT(Ribát), Rbát, or Arbát, also known as New Sallee, a city of Morocco, on the coast of the Atlantic, 130 miles south of Cape Spartel at the mouth of the Bú Raḳraḳ, which separates it from Sallee proper on the northern bank. It is a commercial town of about 26,000 to 30,000 inhabitants, occupying a rocky plateau and surrounded by massive but dilapidated walls, strengthened by three forts on the seaward side. The old citadel, overhanging the mouth of the river, is still, though partially in ruins, an imposing building, with huge arched gateways, square towers, and masses of rich red-brown masonry; and to the south of the town lies a modern palace defended by earthworks after the European fashion. The conspicuous feature in the view from the sea is the Hasan tower, a beautiful square-built minaret 180 feet high, which stands at an elevation of about 65 feet above the sea to the west of the walled town, and in the midst of gardens and orchards whose vegetation partly hides the ruined columns of the ancient mosque to which it was attached. It is constructed of soft reddish-brown stone, and each side is adorned with a different design. At one time the Bú Raḳraḳ afforded a much better harbour than it does now: the roadstead is quite unprotected, and there is a dangerous bar at the mouth of the river. Rabát trades with Fez and the interior of Morocco, with the neighbouring coast-towns and Gibraltar, and with Marseilles, Manchester, and London. The principal articles of export are wool, hides, and wax, and the products of that local manufacture of leather, carpets, mats, woollen and cotton stuffs, pottery, and circular brass trays which makes Rabát the greatest industrial centre in Morocco. Cotton goods and loaf-sugar are first among the imports. The average ...value of the exports in the ten years 1872 to 1881 was £47,236, and of the imports £73,945. In 1883 the figures were £39,596 and £50,222 respectively.
Sallee (Salá), on the north side of the river, is also enclosed with walls. Much of the interior, however, is vacant and the houses are mean; and, unlike their neighbours of Rabát, the inhabitants (about 30,000) down to quite recent times distinguished themselves by particular hostility to Christians, who were thus prevented from entering their gates. To the north a ruined aqueduct extends for miles.
Rabát was founded by Yak'úb al-Manṣúr (ob. 1306); but Sallee was then an ancient city, and on the scarped hills to the west of Rabát stand the ruins of Sala, a Roman colony. Sheila, as the place is now called, was the seat of the mausoleum of the Bení-Merín dynasty.
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