Editing Rabat (section)

=== Ancient ''Sala'' ===
In the first millennium BC the [[Phoenicia]]ns founded several trading colonies along the Atlantic coast of what is now Morocco, but the existence of a [[Phoenician settlement of North Africa|Phoenician settlement]] in the area, called ''Sala'' or ''Shallat'', has been debated by archeologists.<ref name="Abu-Lughod2014">{{cite book |author=Janet L. Abu-Lughod |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NKP_AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA37 |title=Rabat: Urban Apartheid in Morocco |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1980 |isbn=978-1-4008-5303-8 |pages=35, 37–38 (note 2)}}</ref><ref name="Martin-2019">{{Cite book |last=Martín |first=Alfredo Mederos |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m6CgDwAAQBAJ&dq=chellah+punic&pg=PA630 |title=The Oxford Handbook of the Phoenician and Punic Mediterranean |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-19-049934-1 |editor-last=Doak |editor-first=Brian R. |pages=630 |language=en |chapter=North Africa: from the Atlantic to Algeria |editor-last2=López-Ruiz |editor-first2=Carolina}}</ref> By the first century BC the local inhabitants were still writing in the [[Neo-Punic|neo-Punic language]], but the region came under the influence of [[Ancient Rome|Rome]].<ref name="ZeviTurchetti2004">{{cite book |author1=Anna Gallina Zevi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hMV2s_sAICMC&pg=PA224 |title=Méditerranée occidentale antique: les échanges. Atti del seminario (Marsiglia, 14–15 maggio 2004). Ediz. francese, italiana e spagnola |author2=Rita Turchetti |publisher=Rubbettino Editore |year=2004 |isbn=978-88-498-1116-2 |page=224}}</ref> It was controlled by the ancient [[Berbers|Berber]] [[Mauretania|Mauretanian Kingdom]] until it was formally annexed by Rome in the first century BC.<ref name="Mugnai-2016">{{Cite book |last=Mugnai |first=Niccolò |title=Architectural Decoration and Urban History in Mauretania Tingitana (Morocco) |publisher=School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester |year=2016 |pages=156–183 |language=en |type=PhD thesis}}</ref> On the site now known as [[Chellah]], just south of the walled city today, the Romans built a city named ''Sala Colonia''. Excavations have revealed that older Mauretanian structures existed on the site before Roman structures were built over them.<ref name="Mugnai-2016" /> Along with [[Lixus (ancient city)|Lixus]], Sala Colonia was one of the two main naval outposts held by the Romans on the Atlantic coast of the ''[[Mauretania Tingitana]]'' province. The port of Sala (now disappeared) was used by commercial Roman ships as a way station on their southwestward passages to [[Anfa]] and the ''Insula Purpuraria'' ([[Mogador island]]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Le province romane d'Africa in "Il Mondo dell'Archeologia" |url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/le-province-romane-d-africa_(Il-Mondo-dell'Archeologia)/ |access-date=2018-02-24 |website=www.treccani.it |language=it-IT}}</ref>

Archaeological objects of [[Visigoths|Visigothic]] and [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] origin found in the area attest to the persistence of commercial or political contacts between Sala and Roman Europe, up to the establishment of a Byzantine presence in North Africa during the 7th century.<ref name="Boube-1983">Boube, J. "Éléments de ceinturon wisigothiques et byzantins trouvés au Maroc".Bulletin d'archéologie marocaine, volume=XV, 1983–84.pages=281–297</ref> However, Sala began to be abandoned in the 5th century and was mostly in ruins when the [[Muslim conquest of the Maghreb|Muslim Arabs]] arrived in the 7th century and established Islamic influence in the region.<ref name="Salmon-2021">{{Cite book |last=Salmon |first=Xavier |title=Fès mérinide: Une capitale pour les arts, 1276-1465 |publisher=Lienart |year=2021 |isbn=9782359063356 |pages=268–271}}</ref>