History of Casablanca held at the new Anfa Racecourse. In 1958, the race was held at Ain-Diab circuit - "(see Moroccan Grand Prix)". In 1983, Casablanca hosted the Mediterranean Games. The city is now developing a tourism industry. Casablanca has become the economic and business capital of Morocco, while Rabat is the political capital. In March 2000, women's groups organised demonstrations in Casablanca proposing reforms to the legal status of women in the country. 40,000 women attended, calling for a ban on polygamy and the introduction of divorce law (divorce being a purely religious procedure at that time). Although counter-demonstration attracted half a
Casablanca which is "Ad-dar Al Baidaa"', although Arabic also has its own version of Casablanca (كازابلانكا, "Kāzāblānkā"). The city is still nicknamed "Casa" by many locals and outsiders to the city. In many other cities with a different dialect, it is called "Ad-dar Al-Bida", instead. The area which is today Casablanca was founded and settled by Berbers by at least the seventh century BC. It was used as a port by the Phoenicians and later the Romans. In his book Description of Africa, Leo Africanus refers to ancient Casablanca as "Anfa", a great city founded in the Berber kingdom of Barghawata