Jerada city

This brick-red coloured town developed with the mining of coal from the end of the 1920s.



It has a total population of 43,916 inhabitants (2004).



Geography

Jerada is located about sixty kilometres south of Oujda.

It experiences waves of Siberian cold in winter and becomes a real furnace in summer.

The quality of the coal (anthracite) extracted there is among the best in the world. The mine had to close its doors, as the cost of extraction became increasingly unsustainable compared to power stations.



History

Its date of birth dates back to 1927, during the French protectorate in Morocco. The population is made up of migrants from different regions of Morocco, strongly attached to their land of origin. Gradually, a stable population was created, united by the same way of life and whose true belonging became the working-class environment of the mining centre. Over time, the work of the men therefore gave birth to a real industrial centre which created its own community, taking charge of all problems of general interest. The former workers settled permanently in Jerada. It consolidated with the next generation, with children who were born and grew up in this environment and are unaware of that of their parents.