The new name indicates the modern character of this city. ( March 2022) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)įedala was renamed Mohammedia on 25 June 1960 in honor of King Mohammed V, the restorer of Moroccan independence, on the occasion of laying the foundation stone of the Samir oil refinery. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. This section's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. The invasion was carried out by the Center Attack Group of the Western Task Force which landed on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. US Army invaded Fedala from the Atlantic on Novemas part of operation Torch. The town also has a school "Jacques Hersent", founded in 1929 by Georges Hersent, which claims to be named after his son Jacques who was drowned in Mohammedia. The church of Saint James (Saint Jacques), which overlooks the main square, was erected in 1934 by Jean and Georges Hersent, in memory of their son and nephew Jacques (3 February 1893 - 26 July 1917), who died at the Marne during the First World War.
The construction of the sea line in 1951 made of Fédala the first and most modern oil port in North Africa. The seaside town took shape in 1925 and the Esplanade was built in 1938. The rapid growth of the city started around the port, which allowed the development of various industries such as canning fishery products, agro-industry plants, tannery, textile, etc. The group Hersent created the Franco-Moroccan company in 1912 and founded the port company in 1914 that took a leading part in the development of Fédala. The Treaty of Novembetween France and Germany on the partition of Africa forced the Mannesmann family to abandon the lands they held for Georges and Jacques Hersent, two French industrialists, who noticed the existence of a natural bay, valuable for the creation of a large port at low cost. In the region of Fédala, the German family Mannesmann acquired a large area of land. During the precolonial period, competition between the Western powers to ensure the economical exploitation of Africa was behind the merger of Europeans interests in the ports of Morocco.