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 until the earthquake of 1755 destroyed the city. When Sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah rebuilt the city's medina, he gave it the name "ad-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ" () a literal translation of Casablanca into Arabic. French forces occupied the city in 1907 and adopted the Spanish name, Casablanca. The name Anfa now refers to an area within Casablanca, slightly West of the 18th century medina.

Roman Anfa

Leo Africanus defined Anfa as a city built by the Romans in his famous Descrittione dell'Africa (Description of Africa), written in the 16th century.

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.

Romans occupied the area in 15 BC and created the important commercial port known later as Anfa, 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 initially Anfus in the Latin language, 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. Probably there was a small community of Christians (linked to Roman merchants) in the port city until the fifth/sixth century.

Barghawata A large Berber tribe, the Barghawata, settled in the area between the rivers Bou Regreg to the north and Oum er-Rbia to the south. It established itself as an independent Berber kingdom in Tamasna around in 744 AD following the Berber Revolt against the Umayyad Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik. It remained until it was conquered by the Almoravids in 1068 AD.

The Almohad Sultan Abd al-Mu'min drove the Barghawata out of Tamasna in 1149, and replaced them with Bedouin Arab tribes, notably Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym.S. Lévy, Pour une histoire linguistique du Maroc, dans Peuplement et arabisation au Maghreb occidental: dialectologie et histoire, 1998, pp.11-26 ()cf. Marçais, Les Arabes en Berbérie, p. 523 sq. et 532 sq.

Early modern period

During the 14th century, under the Zenata Merinid Dynasty, the town rose in importance as a port and in the early 15th century, became independent once again. It emerged as a safe harbor for Barbary pirates. In 1468, the city was captured and destroyed by the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves under Rei Afonso V the African. The Portuguese used the ruins to build a military fortress in 1515. The village that grew up around it was called "Casa Branca", meaning "White House" in Portuguese.

After the death of Rei Sebastian in the decisive Portuguese defeat at the hands of the Saadi Empire in the Battle of Alcácer Quibir and the ensuing crisis of succession, Portugal and with it Casablanca became part of the Iberian Union from 1580 to 1640. With the secession of Portugal in 1640, Casablanca again became a Portuguese outpost until 1755 AD, when it was destroyed by an earthquake and the Portuguese abandoned it. The Medina of Casablanca as was founded in 1770 AD by Sultan Muhammad III ben Abdallah (1756–1790), the grandson of Ismail Ibn Sharif. Built with the aid of Spaniards, the town was called Casa Blanca (white house in Spanish), translated to Dar el Beida in Arabic.

19th century

In the 19th century Casablanca became a major supplier of wool to the booming textile industry in Britain and shipping traffic increased (the British, in return, began importing Morocco's now famous national drink, gunpowder tea). By the 1860s, there were around 5,000 residents, and the population grew to around 10,000 by the late 1880s.Pennel, CR: Morocco from Empire to Independence, Oneworld, Oxford, 2003, p 121 Casablanca grew due to the protégé system, through which Moroccans protected by European powers became independent of the Makhzen. Casablanca was also one of the main Atlantic ports to receive Jewish migrants from the Moroccan hinterlands following the mission of Moses Montefiore to Morocco in 1864.

Casablanca remained a modestly sized port, with a population reaching around 12,000 within a few years of the French conquest and arrival of French colonialists in the town, at first administrators within a sovereign sultanate, in 1906. By 1921, this was to rise to 110,000, largely through the development of bidonvilles."Whereas Casablanca appears somewhat forbidding and hostile from the sea, it could not present a more welcoming picture to those traveling from inland. Its leafy gardens are topped by willowy palm trees, crenelated walls, flat roofs, and whitewashed minarets dazzling in the African sun; all this offers a striking backdrop against the deep blue of the natural haven that cradles svelte yachts and burly black and red steamboats." - F. Weisgerber

French rule

French Invasion

Following the Treaty of Algeciras in 1906, which granted the French holding company La Compagnie Marocaine rights to build modern ports in Casablanca and in Asfi, construction at the port of Casablanca began on May 2, 1907. A narrow gauge railway extending from the port to a quarry in Roches Noires for stones to build the breakwater, passed over the Sidi Belyout necropolis, an area held sacred by the Moroccans. In addition, the French had started to control the customs.

On July 28, a delegation representing the tribes of the Chaouia, led by of the tribe, pressed Abu Bakr Bin Buzaid, qaid of Casablanca and representative of Sultan Abdelaziz and the Makhzen in the city, with three demands: the removal of the French officers from the customs house, an immediate halt on the construction of the port, and the destruction of the railroad.

The pasha equivocated and postponed his decision to mid-day on July 30, by which time regional tribesmen had entered the city and started an insurrection. A group waited for the train to make its way out to Roches Noires to pick up rocks from the quarry, then piled rocks onto the tracks behind it to isolate it. When the train returned, it was ambushed, and the French, Spanish, and Italian workers aboard were killed and the train destroyed.

This was the justification the French had been waiting for. From August 5–7, a fleet of French armored cruisers bombarded Casablanca and French troops were landed, marking the beginning of the invasion of Morocco from the west. The French then took control of Casablanca and the Chaouia. This effectively began the process of colonization, although French control of Casablanca was not formalized until the signature of the Treaty of Fez on March 30, 1912.

Commercial explosion The city overflowed outside of its walls; a West African quarter and a mass of sordid adobe constructions were built around Bab Marrakesh. The market gate was surrounded by warehouses and shops. Inside the walls was the Moroccan city, semi-modern in places, with winding streets, pointed or poorly paved, that the slightest rain changed into mud-holes, with narrow squares, tightened between terraced houses, low and without architecture. Apart from the mosques, a few residential doors, and the German consulate, no monument attracted the gaze of the visitor "lieutenant segongs, 1910".

Colonial port Hubert Lyautey was the first French military governor in Morocco, with the title résident général. In 1913, Lyautey invited Henri Prost to handle the urban planning of Moroccan cities, and his work in Casablanca was lauded for applying principles of urbanization.Cohen, Jean-Louis. Henri Prost and Casablanca: the art of making successful cities (1912-1940). The New City, (fall 1996), № 3, p. 106-121. The ville européenne or "European city" fanned out Eastward around Casablanca's medina, or—as the French called it—la ville indigène. The area just outside the eastern walls of the medina, which had previously been used as a market space, Assouq Elkbiir (السوق الكبير) the "big market", was transformed into Place de France, now known as United Nations Square. Dominated by the clock tower built in 1908, it demarked a contact point between the Moroccan medina and the European nouvelle ville.

In 1915, the French authorities held the Exposition Franco-Marocaine, a display of French soft power after the bombardment of the city in 1907 and during the ongoing pacification or wars of occupation—notably the Zaian War—and an opportunity to inventory Morocco's resources and crafts.

The city has experienced a population increase since 1907; part of its growth was a result of European immigration and French colonial policies. As the capital of French-administered Morocco, the city attracted European professionals, merchants and settlers to settle in Casablanca. The European population was of varied origin; French descent formed the majority of that population, alongside a significant population of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese descent. In 1914, Europeans formed 40% of the total Casablanca population; the European population had their own schools, churches, hospitals and places of recreation.

In 1930, Casablanca hosted a round of the Formula One World Championship. The race was held at the new Anfa Racecourse. In 1958, the race was held at Ain-Diab circuit - (see Moroccan Grand Prix). In 1983, Casablanca hosted the Mediterranean Games.

Under Lyautey's tenure, Casablanca transformed into Morocco's economic center and Africa's biggest port. Casablanca's street plan is based on that of a French architect named Henri Prost, who placed the center of the city where the main market of Anfa had been. From this point all main streets radiate to the east and to the south.

A 1937-1938 typhoid fever outbreak was exploited by colonial authorities to justify the appropriation of urban spaces in Casablanca. Bidonvilles were cheated out of the center and their residents displaced.

World War II Casablanca was an important strategic port during World War II. In November 1942, the British and Americans organised a 3-pronged attack on North Africa (Operation Torch), of which the westernmost one was at Casablanca.

The Task Force landed before daybreak on 8 November 1942, at three points in Morocco: Asfi (Operation Blackstone), Fedala (Operation Brushwood, the largest landing with 19,000 men), and Mehdiya-Port Lyautey (Operation Goalpost). Because it was hoped that the French would not resist, there were no preliminary bombardments. This proved to be a costly error as French defenses took a toll of American landing forces.