The old capital, near the centre of the island is variously called Notabile, Citta Vecchia, and Medina, with its suburb Rabat, its population in 1901 was 7515; here are the catacombs and the ancient cathedral of Malta.
Unable to garrison the island with a large force, the Arabs cleared a zone between the central stronghold, Medina, and the suburb called Rabat, to restrict the fortified area.
Rabat trades with Fez and the interior of Morocco, with the neighbouring coast towns and Gibraltar, and with Marseilles, Manchester and London, and is the greatest industrial centre in Morocco.
Rabat was founded by Yak'ub el Mansur in 1184, but Salli was then already an ancient city, and on the scarped hills to the west of Rabat stand the ruins of Sala, a Roman colony, known as Shelia.
The tower of the Kutubia is a memorial of the constructive genius of the early Moors; both it and the similar Hasan tower at Rabat are after the type of the contemporary Giralda at Seville, and if tradition may be trusted, all three were designed by the same architect, Jabir.
