Salè

For the Canadian figure skater, see Jamie Salé.

Salé (from the Berber word asla, meaning "rock") is the twin city to Rabat, capital of Morocco. Today it is home to around 600,000 people - mostly impoverished factory workers. It was once a self-contained, self-ruled Republic with international scope, situated on the mouth of the Bou Regreg river on the Atlantic coast.

Contents

1 History
2 Modern city
3 External links
4 References

History

Salé was founded in the 11th century and in about 1630 it became a haven for Moriscoes-turned-Barbary pirates.

In Pirate Utopias, Wilson tells us that

"Salé ... dates back at least to Carthaginian times (around 7th century BC). The Romans called the place Sala Colonia, part of their province of Mauritania Tingitane. Pliny the Elder mentions it (as a desert town infested with elephants!). The Vandals vandalized the area in the 5th century AD, and left behind a number of blonde, blue-eyed Berbers. The Arabs (7th century) kept the old name and believed it derived from "Sala" (sic., his name is actually Salah) , son of Ham, son of Noah; they said that Salé was the first city ever built by the Berbers."^{[#endnote_Wilson]}

Salé pirates would roam the seas as far as the American shores, , bringing back loot and slaves, mostly women. The character Robinson Crusoe, in Daniel Defoe's novel by the same name, sailed off from the mouth of the Salé river.

Salé had a rich and determining part in the Moroccan history. The first demonstrations for independence against the French, for example, sparked off in Salé. A good number of government officials, decision makers and royal advisors of both France and Morocco were from Salé. Salé people, the Slawis, have always had a 'tribal' sense of belonging, a sense of pride which developed into a feeling of superiority towards the 'berranis' i.e. foreigners.

Modern city

Modern Salé is a highly polluted, badly planned, rapidly expanding town, because of rural exodus. The city is now a large 'dormitory town' with little or no real community life. Most of its influential and wealthy inhabitants have departed to live in Rabat on the other side of the river. Physical remnants of Salé's historical heritage are totally decrepit, pollution is prevailing and insecurity is high. However, both its geographical situation and its 'melting pot' aspect make it a town with a lot of potential that so far remains untapped by the local authorities.

In Salé some of the textile factories are sweatshops, employing women and girls of all ages for far less than the official minimum wage of 6.60 dirham/hour. Women and girls line up at the door and roughly two hundred are let in where they work for two hours and are paid 10 dirham for their efforts. That equates to roughly 1 U.S. dollar or 50 U.S. cents/hour.

External links

[Salé entry in LexicOrient]

References

#endnote_wilson]Wilson, Peter

| year = 1995 | title = Pirate Utopias: Moorish Corsairs & European Renegadoes | publisher = Autonomedia | id = ISBN 1570271585 }}

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