Kenitra
- Location: Morocco
- Variant names:
Mina Hassan Tani
, Port Lyautey
Founded by the French in 1913 on the site of a small fort called Kenitra, it was later given the name of Port Lyautey after Marshal of France Louis-Hubert-Gonzalve Lyautey (1854–1934), who established the French protectorate over Morocco in 1912, became governor, and who ordered the port-city to be built in 1913. The original and present name, which it readopted in about 1958, means 'Little Fort', a diminutive of the Arabic (
al-) kantara 'bridge'.
Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names. Copyright © John Everett-Heath 2005. All rights reserved.
