Kenitra, Port city in Rabat-Salé-Kénitra region, Morocco.
Kenitra is a port city on the Sebou in northwestern Morocco, only a few kilometers from the Atlantic coast. The city stretches from the riverbank to residential neighborhoods with wide avenues and modern buildings that alternate with older colonial-era districts.
The French colonial administration founded the settlement in 1912 under the name Port Lyautey as a military outpost. After Moroccan independence in 1956, it received its present name and grew into an economic center through the expansion of the river port and new industrial facilities.
The name comes from a small bridge over the Sebou that once guided travelers inland. Today, the city is a place where Moroccan families walk along the promenade and spend their free hours in cafés near the river.
The railway station connects the city with Casablanca, Rabat, and Tangier, while the A1 motorway runs directly past the eastern edge of town. For those seeking the beach, coastal stretches lie about 10 kilometers west of downtown toward Mehdia.
The river port lies far inland yet remains accessible to larger cargo vessels because the Sebou estuary has been dredged. Timber from nearby forests is loaded onto ships here that then sail to European ports.
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