The river was historically known as
Malva (
Anglicized:
Malve),
Malua,
Malvam,
Mulva,
Mulucha, or
Molochath flumen, the names possibly related to the
Semitic root melach or
malach, meaning "salt".
Maurice Besnier suggested that the lower parts of the river were used for salt production, but no material confirmation has been found. From the end of the fourth to the beginning of the third centuries BC, the Mulucha formed the boundary between the
Kingdom of the Mauri to the west and the
Kingdom of the Masaesylli to the east. Mentioned as Mulucha by
Titus Livius (also known as Livy). In the
Historia Brittonum (c. 828) it appears as the River Malvam, along the legendary route of the
Scoti from Egypt to
Hispania. In
Geoffrey of Monmouth's
Historia Regum Britanniae (c. 1136),
Brutus of Troy follows a similar route from Leogecia, adding encounters with pirates, raids in
Mauretania, and sirens at the
Pillars of Hercules, passing the River Malvam before entering Mauretania. The Moulouya River formed the eastern border of the
Rif Republic in the 1920s, a small part of Morocco containing important cities like Saïdia and
Oujda lying to the east, between the Moulouya and the border with Algeria. Until 1956 the river also formed the eastern border of the
Spanish Protectorate of Morocco. Before French colonisation, the Moulouya River was considered as the border between
Regency of Algiers and the dynasties that controlled Morocco. A
battle between the Algerians and the Alawites took place in 1692 at the ford of this river. The illusionary
Martian canals were given names of mythical and real rivers, including one
named the "Malva" after the River Malvam. ==Ecology==