Rommani ( ar, الرماني

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...

: ⴰⵔⵓⵎⴻⵏⵉ transliterated ar-Rammānī) is a Moroccan town in the

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

of Rabat-Salé-Kénitra. It is situated at approximately 60 km (40 Mi) southeast of Morocco's capital of

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ar, الرِّبَاط, er-Ribât; ber, ⵕⵕⴱⴰⵟ, ṛṛbaṭ) is the capital city of Morocco and the country's seventh largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan populati ...

and 100 km (60 Mi) east of its economic and cultural hub of

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

(ad-Dar-al-Bayda).

History

Camp Marchand (present-day Rommani) was established on 30 July 1911 at Zebida, on the boundary of the Northern (مزارعة) and Southern Zaer (الكفيان). Camp Marchand was a seat of government comparable to a

prefecture A prefecture (from the Latin ''Praefectura'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain international ...

. The town served as a regional services hub. The town had a post office, which served the surrounding villages of Christian (Brachoua) Le Jacqueline (Zhayliga), Merzougha (Marchouch), N'Nkreila and Sidi Bettache as well as the more dispersed population of the area, including forester's families living in the surrounding forests. The town rapidly developed during the colonial period. Many immigrants from different regions settled there, mainly Doukala but also from the Sraghna, Chyadma, Iribat (Sahara) and Benimaskine of Soussis

tribes. The majority of these tribe members were shopkeepers, field workers or construction workers. The latter were in high demand due to a boost in civil and public construction. The name of Camp Marchand was changed to Rommani at a later stage. Currently, Rommani is a town of some 15,000 inhabitants.

Etymology

The town's name stems from ''Oued Romane'' (واد الرمان), meaning '' pomegranate river''. This

wadi Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water onl ...

runs through the city centre.

Demographic development

ImageSize = width:220 height:220 PlotArea = left:70 right:40 top:20 bottom:20 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify Colors = id:gray1 value:gray(0.9) DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:0 till:13389 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2500 start:0 gridcolor:gray1 PlotData = bar:1994 color:gray1 width:1 from:0 till:11433 width:15 text:11,433 textcolor:red fontsize:8px bar:2004 color:gray1 width:1 from:0 till:12172 width:15 text:12,172 textcolor:red fontsize:8px

References

*
Rommani on Stefan Helders' ''World Gazetteer'' web site
*

* This article is based on a translation of the French Wikipedia article on Rommani. {{Coord, 33, 32, N, 6, 37, W, type:city_region:MA, display=title Populated places in Khémisset Province Cities in Morocco