Arabic Sla
City (pop., 1994: city, 504,420; Rabat-Salé metro. area, 1,385,872), northwestern Morocco.
Located at the mouth of the Bou Regreg River, opposite Rabat , it was founded in the 10th century and reached its peak as a merchant port. After 1627 Salé, with Rabat as its vassal, became the corsair republic of Bou Regreg and the base for the Sallee Corsairs, the most dreaded of the Barbary Coast pirates. The two cities grew together until the Bou Regreg silted up and Salé port was closed. It has many mosques and mausoleums; its greatest shrine is the tomb of Sīdī ʽAbd Allāh ibn Ḥasan, the city's patron saint.