On the road linking Rabat and Tangier lies Kenitra along the Atlantic Ocean by the Sebour River.  Marshal Louis Hubert Gonzalve Lyauteyin founded Kenitra in 1912. He was the primary French resident general who converted Kenitra into a military fort in place of Larache.  It was under Lyauteyin’s rule when Kenitra was renamed Port Lyauteyin. In 1965 when the French relinquished Morocco over to Moroccan rule the name was changed into Kenitra.

Nowadays, Kenitra is still a very significant naval base and it is exporting grains, fruits, vegetables, citrus and zinc coming from the Midlet and cork souced from the Mamora forests.  The city also ventured into textile milling, tobacco processing, fish importation and fertilizer processing.