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The history of the city of Casablanca in Morocco has been one of many political and cultural changes. At different times it has been governed by Berber, Roman, Arab, Portuguese, Spanish, French, British, and Moroccan regimes. It has had an important position in the region as a port city, making it valuable to a series of conquerors during its early history. The original Berber name, Anfa (meaning: "hill" in English), was used by the locals, and Berber-speaking, city dwellers until the French occupation army entered the city in 1907 and adopted the Spanish name, Casablanca. "Anfa" now refers to the original old city quarters of Casablanca. ==Roman Anfa== The area which is today Casablanca was founded and settled by the Berbers by about the 10th century BC.〔(''Casablanca'' ) - Jewish Virtual Library〕 It was used as a port by the Phoenicians and later by the Romans.〔(LexicOrient )〕 Romans occupied the area in 15 BC and created a commercial port,〔(Roman Casablanca )〕 directly connected to the Mogador island in the Iles Purpuraires of southern Mauritania. From there they obtained a special dye, that colored the purple stripe in Imperial Roman Senatorial togas. The expedition of Juba II to discover the Canary islands and Madeira probably departed from Anfa. The Roman port, probably called ''Anfus'', was part of a Berber client state of Rome until Emperor Augustus. When Rome annexed Ptolemy of Mauretania's kingdom, Anfa was incorporated into the Roman Empire by Caligula. But this was done only nominally because the Roman ''limes'' was a few dozen kilometers north of the port (the Roman military fortifications of Mauretania Tingitana were just a few kilometers south of the Roman ''colonia'' named ''Sala Colonia''). However, Roman Anfa—connected mainly by commerce and by socio-cultural ties to Volubilis ("autonomous" from Rome since 285 AD)—lasted until the 5th century, when Vandals conquered Roman northwestern Africa. A Roman wreck of the 2nd century, from which were salvaged 169 silver coins, shows that the Romans appreciated this useful port for commerce. There is even evidence of oil commerce with Roman Volubilis and Tingis in the 3rd century. Meanwhile a large Berber tribe, the Berghouata, settled in the area between the rivers Bou Regreg to the north and Oum er-Rbia to the south of the Roman port.〔(Roman Anfa )〕 Consequently the independent Berber kingdom called Barghawata, in the area then named Anfa, arose around in 744 AD, and continued until it was conquered by the new Berber kingdom of the Almoravids in 1068 AD. Leo Africanus defined Anfa as a Roman city in his famous ''Della descrittione dell’Africa et delle cose notabili che ivi sono'' (Description of Africa), written in the 16th century. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of Casablanca」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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