Ksar el-Kebir

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (February 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

show This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (March 2009) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the French article. Machine translation like DeepL or Google Translate is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at [[:fr:Ksar El Kébir]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template {{Translated|fr|Ksar El Kébir}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

El-Ksar-el-Kebir القصر الكبير ⵍⵇⵚⵔ ⵍⴽⴱⵉⵔ
Seal
El-Ksar-el-Kebir Location in Morocco El-Ksar-el-Kebir El-Ksar-el-Kebir (Africa) Show map of MoroccoShow map of AfricaShow all
Coordinates: 34°59′56″N 5°54′10″W / 34.99889°N 5.90278°W / 34.99889; -5.90278
Country	Morocco
Region	Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima
Province	Larache
Government
• Mayor	Mohamed Simo
Population  (2014)[1]
• Total	126,617
• Rank	26th in Morocco
• Religions	Islam
Time zone	UTC+0 (WET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (WEST)
Website	Official website

El-Ksar el Kebir (Arabic: القصر الكبير; Berber: ⵍⵇⵚⵔ ⵍⴽⴱⵉⵔ) is a city in northwestern Morocco, about 160 km north of Rabat, 32 km east of Larache and 110 km south of Tangier. It recorded a population of 126,617 in the 2014 Moroccan census.^[1]

The city is also known as Alcazarquivir in Spanish or Alcácer-Quibir in Portuguese. The name means "the big castle". The city is located nearby the Loukous river that makes El-Ksar-el-Kebir one of Morocco's richest agricultural regions. El-Ksar el-Kebir provides almost 20% of the needed sugar of Morocco. Neighbouring cities and towns include Larache, Chefchaouen, Arbawa and Tateft.

History[]

1st millennium BCE: Established as a Carthaginian colony; after the Punic Wars it came under Roman control with the name Oppidum Novum.^[2]

In 1578, King Sebastian of Portugal suffered a crushing defeat in the Battle of Alcácer Quibir at the hands of the King Abd al-Malik of Morocco, which ended Portugal's ambitions to invade and Christianize the Maghreb. Both kings died during the battle, as did Abdallah Mohammed, who was allied with Sebastian.^[3] The death of King Sebastian started the events which led to the temporary union of the crowns of Portugal and Spain under Philip II of Spain. King Abd al-Malik's victory gave Morocco substantial strength and international prestige.

The city experienced a substantial growth with the settling of an important Spanish garrison in 1911 as a part of the Spanish Morocco Protectorate in Morocco. After Morocco's independence and the building of the Oued el Makhazine reservoir by King Hassan II to manage the Loukkos' river regime, the city became an important regional agricultural distribution center.

• 12th century: City walls are built by the command of the Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur, according to Leo Africanus.^[3]
• 1578: The Battle of the Three Kings is fought at the location of Ksar el-Kebir.
• 17th century: Sultan Moulay Ismail destroys the city walls of Ksar el-Kebir, after being angered by a local chief.
• 1911: Spain conquers Northern Morocco, and the town is rebuilt, and given a Spanish name, Alcazarquivir.
• 1956: With Morocco's independence, Alcazarquivir is transferred from Spanish control, and renamed Ksar el-Kebir.

Culture[]

El-Ksar el-Kebir is reputed for the leading artists, writers, poets and sportsmen on national plane.

• In sports, football player Abdeslam Laghrissi still keeps his record as the best marksman in the Moroccan championship with 26 goals in 1986.
• In music, (died 1979) who is well known in the Arab world as a unique music composer. He left such eternal songs as: Red Moon, Beach, Leaving, The Last Oh!.
• In poetry, (died 1991) was a pioneer in modern Moroccan poetry and is regarded as master of free poetry in Morocco. There is also poet in the new poetic generation.
• In novel-writing, there are such novelists as , , , Mohamed Sibari and .
• In short-story writing, there is Mohamed Said Raihani, who is a trilingual writer (he writes in Arabic, French and English) and who has finished his fortieth manuscript before reaching the age of forty.
• Education there is Mohammadia high school

Twin towns[]

• Lagos, city in Faro (district), Portugal

References[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ksar-el-Kebir.

Coordinates: 35°00′32″N 5°54′00″W / 35.009°N 5.900°W / 35.009; -5.900