Melilla ( , ; ; rif, Mřič ;
ar, مليلية ) is an
autonomous city
Autonomous city is a type of autonomous administrative division.
Argentina
The 1994 amendment of the Constitution of Argentina granted Buenos Aires city, previously the federal district of Argentina, the status of autonomous city, to allow its c ...
of
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
located in north
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
. It lies on the eastern side of the
Cape Three Forks
Cape Three Forks, Cape des Trois Fourches, or Cape Tres Forcas is a headland on the Mediterranean coast of northeastern Morocco.
Geography
The cape is a large mountainous promontory of North Africa into the Mediterranean Sea. For centuries, ...
,
bordering Morocco and facing the
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...
. It has an area of . It was part of the
Province of Málaga
The province of Málaga ( es, Provincia de Málaga ) is located in Andalusia, Spain. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the south and by the provinces of Cádiz to the west, Seville to the northwest, Córdoba to the north, and Granada to ...
until 14 March 1995, when the
Statute of Autonomy of Melilla The Statute of Autonomy of Melilla ( es, Estatuto de Autonomía de Melilla) is the basic institutional norm of the autonomous city of Melilla, in Spain. It is an organic law approved on 13 March 1995 and published in the Official State Gazette (''B ...
was passed.
Melilla is one of the
special member state territories of the European Union. Movements to and from the rest of the EU and Melilla are subject to specific rules, provided for ''inter alia'' in the Accession Agreement of Spain to the
Schengen Convention
The Schengen Agreement ( , ) is a treaty which led to the creation of Europe's Schengen Area, in which internal border checks have largely been abolished. It was signed on 14 June 1985, near the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, by five of the t ...
.
As of 2019, Melilla had a population of 86,487. The population is chiefly divided between people of Iberian and
Riffian extraction. There is also a small number of
Sephardic Jews
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...
and
Sindhi Hindus
Sindhi Hindus are Sindhis who follow the Hindu religion, whose origins lie in the Sindh region and spread across modern-day India and Pakistani Sindh province. After the Partition of India in 1947, many Sindhi Hindus were among those who f ...
. Regarding sociolinguistics, Melilla features a
diglossia
In linguistics, diglossia () is a situation in which two dialects or languages are used (in fairly strict compartmentalization) by a single language community. In addition to the community's everyday or vernacular language variety (labeled ...
between the official Spanish (strong language) and
Tarifit
Tmazight or Tarifit Berber, also known as Riffian ( rif, Tmaziɣt , ) is a Zenati Berber language spoken in the Rif region in northern Morocco. It is spoken natively by some 1,271,000 Rifians primarily in the Rif provinces of Al Hoceima, Nad ...
(weak language).
Melilla, like the autonomous city of
Ceuta
Ceuta (, , ; ar, سَبْتَة, Sabtah) is a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa.
Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of several Spanish territori ...
and Spain's other territories in Africa, is subject to an
irredentist claim by Morocco.
Names
The original name (currently rendered as ''
Rusadir
Rusadir was an ancient Punic and Roman town at what is now Melilla, Spain, in northwest Africa. Under the Roman Empire, it was a colony in the province of Mauretania Tingitana.
Name
( xpu, 𐤓𐤔𐤀𐤃𐤓) was a Punic name meaning " ...
'') was a
Punic language
The Punic language, also called Phoenicio-Punic or Carthaginian, is an extinct variety of the Phoenician language, a Canaanite language of the Northwest Semitic branch of the Semitic languages. An offshoot of the Phoenician language of coastal ...
name, coming from the name given to the nearby
Cape Three Forks
Cape Three Forks, Cape des Trois Fourches, or Cape Tres Forcas is a headland on the Mediterranean coast of northeastern Morocco.
Geography
The cape is a large mountainous promontory of North Africa into the Mediterranean Sea. For centuries, ...
. ''Addir'' meant "powerful". The name creation is similar to that of other names given in Antiquity to outlets along the North African coast, including ''
Rusguniae
Tamentfoust ( ar, تمنتفوست), the classical Rusguniae and colonial , is a site in the Dar El Beïda District of Algiers in Algeria.
Geography
Tamentfoust lies on Cape Matifou, which forms the northeast side of the Bay of Algiers.
Name ...
'', ''
Rusubbicari'', ''
Rusuccuru
Dellys ( ar, دلّس, Berber: Delles) is a small Mediterranean town in northern Algeria's coastal Boumerdès Province, almost due north of Tizi-Ouzou and just east of the Sebaou River. It is the district seat of the daïra of Dellys. The town ...
'', ''
Rusippisir
Rusippisir was a Phoenician, Carthaginian, and Roman town on Algeria's Mediterranean coast at the site of present-day Taksebt.
Name
Rusippisir is the latinization of the town's Punic name, which probably meant "Cape Rosemary".
Geography
R ...
'', ''
Rusigan'' (Rachgoun), ''
Rusicade'', ''
Ruspina Ruspina was a Phoenician, Carthaginian and Roman town near Monastir, Tunisia, situated in Roman times in '' Africa propria'', and mentioned by Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy.
Name
The Phoenician and Punic name () or () seems to mean "Angle ...
'', ''
Ruspe Ruspe or Ruspae was a town in the Roman province of Byzacena, in '' Africa propria''. It served as the episcopal see of Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe. It is now a Roman Catholic titular bishopric.
Name
The name "Ruspe" is usually understood to be a h ...
'' or ''Rsmlqr''.
Meanwhile, the etymology of the current city name (dating back to the 9th century, rendered as in Spanish) is uncertain. Since Melilla was an active
beekeeping
Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in man-made beehives. Honey bees in the genus ''Apis (insect), Apis'' are the most-commonly-kept species but other honey-producing bees such as ''Melipona'' stingless bees ar ...
location in the past, the name has been related to
honey
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...
; this is tentatively backed up by two ancient coins featuring a bee as well as the inscriptions and . Others relate the name to "discord" or "fever" or also to an ancient Arab personality.
History
Antiquity and Middle Ages
It was a
Phoenicia
Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their his ...
n and later
Punic
The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of t ...
trade establishment under the name of
Rusadir
Rusadir was an ancient Punic and Roman town at what is now Melilla, Spain, in northwest Africa. Under the Roman Empire, it was a colony in the province of Mauretania Tingitana.
Name
( xpu, 𐤓𐤔𐤀𐤃𐤓) was a Punic name meaning " ...
(''Rusaddir'' for the
Romans
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
and ''Russadeiron'' ( grc, Ῥυσσάδειρον) for the Greeks). Later Rome absorbed it as part of the Roman province of
Mauretania Tingitana
Mauretania Tingitana ( Latin for "Tangerine Mauretania") was a Roman province, coinciding roughly with the northern part of present-day Morocco. The territory stretched from the northern peninsula opposite Gibraltar, to Sala Colonia (or Chel ...
. Rusaddir is mentioned by
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...
(IV, 1) and
Pliny
Pliny may refer to:
People
* Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'')
* Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...
(V, 18) who called it ''"oppidum et portus"'' (a fortified town and port). It was also cited by
Mela (I, 33) as ''Rusicada'', and by the ''Itinerarium Antonini''.
[ Sophrone Pétridès, "Rusaddir" in ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (New York 1912)] Rusaddir was said to have once been the seat of a bishop, but there is no record of any bishop of the purported see,
which is not included in the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
's list of
titular see
A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbi ...
s.
As centuries passed, it was ruled by
Vandal,
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
and
Visigoth
The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kn ...
bands. The political history is similar to that of towns in the region of the Moroccan
Rif
The Rif or Riff (, ), also called Rif Mountains, is a geographic region in northern Morocco. This mountainous and fertile area is bordered by Cape Spartel and Tangier to the west, by Berkane and the Moulouya River to the east, by the Mediterrane ...
and southern Spain. Local rule passed through a succession of Phoenician, Punic,
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
* Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...
,
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
,
Cordobese,
Idrisid
The Idrisid dynasty or Idrisids ( ar, الأدارسة ') were an Arab Muslim dynasty from 788 to 974, ruling most of present-day Morocco and parts of present-day western Algeria. Named after the founder, Idris I, the Idrisids were an Alid and ...
,
Almoravid
The Almoravid dynasty ( ar, المرابطون, translit=Al-Murābiṭūn, lit=those from the ribats) was an imperial Berber Muslim dynasty centered in the territory of present-day Morocco. It established an empire in the 11th century tha ...
,
Almohad
The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the unity of God) was a North African Berber Muslim empire fou ...
,
Marinid
The Marinid Sultanate was a Berber Muslim empire from the mid-13th to the 15th century which controlled present-day Morocco and, intermittently, other parts of North Africa (Algeria and Tunisia) and of the southern Iberian Peninsula (Spain) ar ...
, and then
Wattasid
The Wattasid dynasty ( ber, Iweṭṭasen; ar, الوطاسيون, ''al-waṭṭāsīyūn'') was a ruling dynasty of Morocco. Like the Marinid dynasty, its rulers were of Zenata Berber descent. The two families were related, and the Marinids ...
rulers.
Early Modern period
During the 15th century, the city subsumed into decadence, just like most of the rest of cities of the
Kingdom of Fez
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
located along the Mediterranean coast, eclipsed by those along the Atlantic facade. Following the completion of the
conquest of the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada by the
Catholic Monarchs
The Catholic Monarchs were Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, whose marriage and joint rule marked the ''de facto'' unification of Spain. They were both from the House of Trastámara and were second cousins, being bot ...
in 1492, their Secretary started to compile information about the sorry state of the north-African coast with the prospect of a potential territorial expansion in mind, sending field agents to investigate, and subsequently reporting the Catholic Monarchs that, by early 1494, locals had expelled the authority of the Sultan of Fez and had offered to pledge service. While the 1494
Treaty of Tordesillas
The Treaty of Tordesillas, ; pt, Tratado de Tordesilhas . signed in Tordesillas, Spain on 7 June 1494, and authenticated in Setúbal, Portugal, divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between the Portuguese Empire and the Spanish Em ...
put Melilla and
Cazaza (until then reserved to the Portuguese) under the sphere of Castile, the conquest of the city had to wait, delayed by the occupation of Naples by
Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII, called the Affable (french: l'Affable; 30 June 1470 – 7 April 1498), was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. He succeeded his father Louis XI at the age of 13.Paul Murray Kendall, ''Louis XI: The Universal Spider'' (Ne ...
.
The Duke of Medina Sidonia,
Juan Alfonso Pérez de Guzmán promoted the seizure of the place, to be headed by , while the Catholic Monarchs,
Isabella I of Castile
Isabella I ( es, Isabel I; 22 April 1451 – 26 November 1504), also called Isabella the Catholic (Spanish: ''la Católica''), was Queen of Castile from 1474 until her death in 1504, as well as Queen consort of Aragon from 1479 until 1504 b ...
and
Ferdinand II of Aragon
Ferdinand II ( an, Ferrando; ca, Ferran; eu, Errando; it, Ferdinando; la, Ferdinandus; es, Fernando; 10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516), also called Ferdinand the Catholic (Spanish: ''el Católico''), was King of Aragon and Sardinia fro ...
endorsed the initiative, also providing the assistance of their artillery officer
Francisco Ramírez de Madrid Francisco Ramírez de Madrid (died 1501) was a Spanish artillery officer, counselor of the Catholic Monarchs and Secretary of King Ferdinand II of Aragon.
Biography
Francisco Ramírez de Madrid was the son of Juan Ramírez de Oreña and Catalina de ...
during the operation. Melilla was occupied on 17 September 1497 virtually without any violence as it, located on the border between the
Kingdom of Tlemcen and the Kingdom of Fez, and as a result, it had been fought over many times and so had been left abandoned. No big-scale expansion into the Kingdom of Fez ensued, and, barring the enterprises of the
Cardinal Cisneros
Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to:
Animals
* Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae
**'' Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, th ...
along the coast in
Mers El Kébir and
Oran
Oran ( ar, وَهران, Wahrān) is a major coastal city located in the north-west of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria after the capital Algiers, due to its population and commercial, industrial, and cultural ...
(in the Algerian coast), and the
rock of Badis (this one in the territorial scope of the Kingdom of Fez), the imperial impetus of the Hispanic monarchy was eventually directed elsewhere, to the
Italian Wars
The Italian Wars, also known as the Habsburg–Valois Wars, were a series of conflicts covering the period 1494 to 1559, fought mostly in the Italian peninsula, but later expanding into Flanders, the Rhineland and the Mediterranean Sea. The pr ...
waged against France, and, particularly since 1519, to the newly discovered continent across the Atlantic.
Melilla was initially jointly administered by the
House of Medina Sidonia
The House of Medina Sidonia (Spanish: ''Casa de Medina Sidonia'') is a Spanish noble house originating from the crown of Castile, whose name comes from the Duke of Medina Sidonia, a hereditary noble title that John II of Castile granted to ...
and the Crown, and a 1498 settlement forced the former to station a 700-men garrison in Melilla and forced the latter to provide the city with a number of
maravedí
The ''maravedí'' () or ''maravedi'' (), (from ''Almoravid dinar''), was the name of various Iberian coins of gold and then silver between the 11th and 14th centuries and the name of different Iberian accounting units between the 11th and 19th ce ...
es and wheat ''
fanega
The fanega or Spanish bushel was an old measure of dry capacity in Spanish-speaking countries. It was generally used in an agricultural context to measure quantities of grain. The measure varied greatly, but in Castile, it was equivalent to ...
s''. The Crown's interest in Melilla decreased during the reign of
Charles V Charles V may refer to:
* Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558)
* Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain
* Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise
* Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690)
* Infa ...
. During the 16th century, soldiers stationed in Melilla were badly remunerated, leading to many desertions. The Duke of Medina Sidonia relinquished responsibility over the garrison of the place on 7 June 1556.
During the late 17th century, Alaouite sultan
Ismail Ibn Sharif
Moulay Ismail Ibn Sharif ( ar, مولاي إسماعيل بن الشريف), born around 1645 in Sijilmassa and died on 22 March 1727 at Meknes, was a Sultan of Morocco from 1672–1727, as the second ruler of the Alaouite dynasty. He was the se ...
attempted to conquer the ''
presidio
A presidio ( en, jail, fortification) was a fortified base established by the Spanish Empire around between 16th and 18th centuries in areas in condition of their control or influence. The presidios of Spanish Philippines in particular, were cen ...
'', taking the outer fortifications in the 1680s and further unsuccessfully besieging Melilla in the 1690s.
One Spanish officer reflected, "an hour in Melilla, from the point of view of merit, was worth more than thirty years of service to Spain."
[ Rezette, p. 41]
Late Modern period
The current limits of the Spanish territory around the Melilla fortress were fixed by treaties with Morocco in 1859,
1860
Events
January–March
* January 2 – The discovery of a hypothetical planet Vulcan is announced at a meeting of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris, France.
* January 10 – The Pemberton Mill in Lawrence, Massachusetts ...
, 1861, and 1894. In the late 19th century, as Spanish influence expanded in this area, the Crown authorized Melilla as the only centre of trade on the Rif coast between
Tetuan and the
Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
n frontier. The value of trade increased, with goat skins, eggs and
beeswax
Beeswax (''cera alba'') is a natural wax produced by honey bees of the genus ''Apis''. The wax is formed into scales by eight wax-producing glands in the abdominal segments of worker bees, which discard it in or at the hive. The hive work ...
being the principal exports, and cotton goods, tea, sugar and candles being the chief imports.
Melilla's civil population in 1860 still amounted to only 375 estimated inhabitants. In a 1866 Hispano-Moroccan arrangement signed in
Fes, both parts agreed to allow for the installment of a customs office near the border with Melilla, to be operated by Moroccan officials. The Treaty of Peace with Morocco that followed the 1859–60 War entailed the acquisition of a new perimeter for Melilla, bringing its area to the 12 km
2 the autonomous city currently stands. Following the declaration of Melilla as free port in 1863, the population began to increase, chiefly by Sephardi Jews fleeing from
Tetouan who fostered trade in and out the city. The first Jews from Tetouan probably arrived in 1864, meanwhile the first rabbi arrived in 1867 and began to operate the first synagogue, located in the Calle de San Miguel. Many Jews arrived fleeing from persecution in Morocco, instigated by
Roghi Bu Hamara. Following the 1868 lifting of the veto to emigrate to Melilla from Peninsular Spain, the population further increased with Spaniards. The Jewish population, who also progressively acquired Spanish citizenship, increased to 572 in 1893. The economic opportunities created in Melilla henceforth favoured the installment of a Berber population.
File:1893-10-30, La Ilustración Española y Americana, Vista general de la plaza de Melilla y de su campo, Venancio Álvarez Cabrera (cropped).jpg
File:1893-10-30, La Ilustración Española y Americana, Vista general de la plaza de Melilla y de su campo, Venancio Álvarez Cabrera (cropped 2).jpg
The first proper body of local government was the ''junta de arbitrios'', created in 1879, and in which the military used to enjoy preponderance. The Polígono excepcional de Tiro, the first neighborhood outside the walled core (
Melilla la Vieja), began construction in 1888.
In 1893, Riffian tribesmen launched the
First Melillan campaign
The First Melillan Campaign, also called the Melilla War or the Margallo War (after Juan García y Margallo, the Spanish governor of Melilla whose defeat and death infuriated the Spanish public) in Spain, was a conflict between Spain and 39 o ...
to take back this area; the Spanish government sent 25,000 soldiers to defend against them. The conflict was also known as the ''Margallo War'', after Spanish General
Juan García y Margallo, Governor of Melilla, who was killed in the battle. The new 1894 agreement with Morocco that followed the conflict increased trade with the hinterland, bringing the economic prosperity of the city to a new level. The total population of Melilla amounted for 10,004 inhabitants in 1896.
The turn of the new century saw however the attempts by France (based in
French Algeria
French Algeria (french: Alger to 1839, then afterwards; unofficially , ar, الجزائر المستعمرة), also known as Colonial Algeria, was the period of French colonisation of Algeria. French rule in the region began in 1830 with the ...
) to profit from their newly acquired
sphere of influence
In the field of international relations, a sphere of influence (SOI) is a spatial region or concept division over which a state or organization has a level of cultural, economic, military or political exclusivity.
While there may be a formal a ...
in Morocco to counter the trading prowess of Melilla by fostering trade links with the Algerian cities of
Ghazaouet
Ghazaouet is a town and commune in Tlemcen Province in northwestern Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algi ...
and
Oran
Oran ( ar, وَهران, Wahrān) is a major coastal city located in the north-west of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria after the capital Algiers, due to its population and commercial, industrial, and cultural ...
. Melilla began to suffer from this, to which the instability brought by revolts against
Muley Abdel Aziz in the hinterland also added, although after 1905 Sultan pretender El Rogui (
Bou Hmara) carried out a defusing policy in the area that favoured Spain. The French occupation of
Oujda
Oujda ( ar, وجدة; ber, ⵡⵓⵊⴷⴰ, Wujda) is a major Moroccan city in its northeast near the border with Algeria. Oujda is the capital city of the Oriental region of northeastern Morocco and has a population of about 558,000 people. It ...
in 1907, compromised the Melillan trade with that city. and the enduring instability in the Rif still threatened Melilla. Between 1909 and 1945, the ''modernista'' (
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
) style was very present in the local architecture, making the streets of Melilla a "true museum of ''modernista''-style architecture", second only to Barcelona (in Spain), mainly stemming from the work of prolific architect
Enrique Nieto.
Mining companies began to enter the hinterland of Melilla by 1908. A Spanish one, the , was constituted in July 1908, shared by Clemente Fernández, Enrique Macpherson, the
Count of Romanones
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New Yor ...
, the and , who appointed
Miguel Villanueva as chairman. Thus two mining companies under the protection of Bou Hmara, started mining lead and iron some 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) from Melilla. They started to construct a railway between the port and the mines. In October of that year, Bou Hmara's vassals revolted against him and raided the mines, which remained closed until June 1909. By July the workmen were again attacked and several were killed. Severe fighting between the Spaniards and the tribesmen followed, in the
Second Melillan campaign
The Second Melillan campaign ( es, Campaña Guerra de Melilla ) was a conflict in 1909 in Morocco around Melilla. The fighting involved local Riffians and the Spanish Army.
Historical background
The Treaty of Peace with Morocco that fo ...
that took place in the vicinity of Melilla.
In 1910, the Spaniards restarted the mines and undertook harbor works at Mar Chica, but hostilities broke out again in 1911. On 22 July 1921, the Berbers under the leadership of
Abd el Krim
Muhammad ibn Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi (; Tarifit: Muḥend n Ɛabd Krim Lxeṭṭabi, ⵎⵓⵃⵏⴷ ⵏ ⵄⴰⴱⴷⵍⴽⵔⵉⵎ ⴰⵅⵟⵟⴰⴱ), better known as Abd el-Krim (1882/1883, Ajdir, Morocco – 6 February 1963, Cairo, Egypt) ...
inflicted a grave defeat on the Spanish at the
Battle of Annual
The Battle of Annual was fought on 22 July 1921 at Annual, in northeastern Morocco, between the Spanish Army and Rifian Berbers during the Rif War. The Spanish suffered a major military defeat, which is almost always referred to by the Spanish ...
. The Spanish retreated to Melilla, leaving most of the protectorate under the control of the Republic of Rif.
A royal decree pursuing the creation of an ''
ayuntamiento
''Ayuntamiento'' ()In other languages of Spain:
* ca, ajuntament ().
* gl, concello ().
* eu, udaletxea (). is the general term for the town council, or ''cabildo'', of a municipality or, sometimes, as is often the case in Spain and Latin Amer ...
'' in Melilla was signed on 13 December 1918 but the regulation did not come into force, and thus the existing government body, the , remained in force.
A "junta municipal" with a rather civil composition was created in 1927; on 10 April 1930, an ''ayuntamiento'' featuring the same membership as the junta was created, equalling to the same municipal regime as the rest of Spain on 14 April 1931, with the arrival of the first democratically elected municipal corporation on the wake of the proclamation of the
Second Republic.
The city was used as one of the staging grounds for
the July 1936 military coup d'état that started the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...
.
In the context of the passing of the Ley de Extranjería in 1986, and following social mobilization from the Berber community, conditions for citizenship acquisition were flexibilised and allowed for the naturalisation of a substantial number of inhabitants, until then born in Melilla but without Spanish citizenship.
Recent developments
In 1995, Melilla (which was until then just another municipality of the
Province of Málaga
The province of Málaga ( es, Provincia de Málaga ) is located in Andalusia, Spain. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the south and by the provinces of Cádiz to the west, Seville to the northwest, Córdoba to the north, and Granada to ...
) became an "autonomous city", as the
Statute of Autonomy of Melilla The Statute of Autonomy of Melilla ( es, Estatuto de Autonomía de Melilla) is the basic institutional norm of the autonomous city of Melilla, in Spain. It is an organic law approved on 13 March 1995 and published in the Official State Gazette (''B ...
was passed.
On 6 November 2007, King
Juan Carlos I
Juan Carlos I (;,
* ca, Joan Carles I,
* gl, Xoán Carlos I, Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, born 5 January 1938) is a member of the Spanish royal family who reigned as King of Spain from 22 Novem ...
and
Queen Sofia
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mo ...
visited the city, which caused a demonstration of support. The visit also sparked protests from the Moroccan government. It was the first time a Spanish monarch had visited Melilla in 80 years.
Melilla (and Ceuta) declared the Muslim holiday of
Eid al-Adha
Eid al-Adha () is the second and the larger of the two main holidays celebrated in Islam (the other being Eid al-Fitr). It honours the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his son Ismail (Ishmael) as an act of obedience to Allah's com ...
or Feast of the Sacrifice, as an official public holiday from 2010 onward. It is the first time a non-Christian religious festival has been officially celebrated in Spain since the
Reconquista
The ' ( Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the N ...
.
In 2018, Morocco decided to close the customs office near Melilla, in operation since the mid-19th century, without consulting the counterparty.
Geography
Location
Melilla is located in the northwest of the African continent, on the shores of the
Alboran Sea
The Alboran Sea (from Arabic , ''al-Baḥrān'') is the westernmost portion of the Mediterranean Sea, lying between the Iberian Peninsula and the north of Africa (Spain on the north and Morocco and Algeria on the south). The Strait of Gibraltar, w ...
, a marginal sea of the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...
, the latter's westernmost portion. The city layout is arranged in a wide semicircle around the beach and the
Port of Melilla
The Port of Melilla is a cargo, fishing, and passenger port and marina located in Melilla, a Spanish autonomous city off the coast of North Africa.
History
A port existed in Phoenician and Punic ''Russadir'' that continued its activity under Ro ...
, on the eastern side of the peninsula of
Cape Tres Forcas
Cape Three Forks, Cape des Trois Fourches, or Cape Tres Forcas is a headland on the Mediterranean coast of northeastern Morocco.
Geography
The cape is a large mountainous promontory of North Africa into the Mediterranean Sea. For centuries, this ...
, at the foot of and around the mouth of the
Río de Oro
Río de Oro (Spanish for "Gold River"; , ''wādī-að-ðahab'', often transliterated as ''Oued Edhahab'') was, with Saguia el-Hamra, one of the two territories that formed the Spanish province of Spanish Sahara after 1969; it had been taken as ...
intermittent water stream, above sea level. The urban nucleus was originally a
fortress
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
,
Melilla la Vieja, built on a peninsular mound about in height.
The Moroccan settlement of
Beni Ansar
Beni Ansar (Tarifit: Bni Nṣaa, ⴱⵏⵉ ⵏⵚⴰⴰ; Arabic: بني أنصار; Spanish: Beni Ensar) is a town in Nador Province, Oriental, Morocco, located 12 km (7½ miles) north of the city of Nador. It is bordered on the north by the ...
lies immediately south of Melilla. The nearest Moroccan city is
Nador
Nador ( Riffian-Berber: ⵏⴰⴷⵓⵔ) is a coastal city and provincial capital in the northeastern Rif region of Morocco with a population of about 161,726 (2014 census).
Nador city is separated from the Mediterranean Sea by a salt lagoon nam ...
, and the ports of Melilla and
Nador
Nador ( Riffian-Berber: ⵏⴰⴷⵓⵔ) is a coastal city and provincial capital in the northeastern Rif region of Morocco with a population of about 161,726 (2014 census).
Nador city is separated from the Mediterranean Sea by a salt lagoon nam ...
are both within the same bay; nearby is the Bou Areg Lagoon.
[World Port Source abou]
Port Nador
retrieved 10 June 2012
Climate
Melilla has a warm
Mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...
influenced by its proximity to the sea, rendering much cooler summers and more precipitation than inland areas deeper into Africa. The climate, in general, is similar to the southern coast of peninsular Spain and the northern coast of Morocco, with relatively small temperature differences between seasons.
Government and administration
Self-government institutions
The government bodies stipulated in the Statute of Autonomy are the
Assembly of Melilla
The Assembly of Melilla ( es, Asamblea de Melilla) is the representative institution of the autonomous city of Melilla, an exclave of Spain located on the north coast of Africa. As autonomous cities lack legislative powers, which are reserved onl ...
, the
President of Melilla and the Council of Government. The assembly is a 25-member body whose members are elected through universal suffrage every 4 years in
closed party lists following the schedule of local elections at the national level. Its members are called "local
deputies
A legislator (also known as a deputy or lawmaker) is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people of the state. Legislatures may be supra-national (for e ...
" but they rather enjoy the status of ''
concejales'' (municipal councillors). Unlike
regional legislatures (and akin to municipal councils), the assembly does not enjoy
right of initiative for primary legislation.
The president of Melilla (who, often addressed as Mayor-President, also exerts the roles of Mayor, president of the Assembly, president of the Council of Government and representative of the city) is invested by the Assembly. After local elections, the president is invested through a
qualified majority
A supermajority, supra-majority, qualified majority, or special majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of more than one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority ru ...
from among the leaders of the election lists, or, failing to achieve the former, the leader of the most voted list at the election is invested to the office. In case of a
motion of no confidence
A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...
the president can only be ousted with a qualified majority voting for an alternative assembly member.
The Council of Government is the traditional collegiate executive body for
parliamentary system
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of th ...
s. Unlike the municipal government boards in the standard
''ayuntamientos'', the members of the Council of Government (including the vice-presidents) do not need to be members of the assembly.
Melilla is the city in Spain with the highest proportion of
postal voting
Postal voting is voting in an election where ballot papers are distributed to electors (and typically returned) by post, in contrast to electors voting in person at a polling station or electronically via an electronic voting system.
In an ...
;
vote buying (via mail-in ballots) is widely reported to be a common practice in the poor neighborhoods of Melilla.
Court cases in this matter had involved the PP, the CPM and the PSOE.
On 15 June 2019, following the
May 2019 Melilla Assembly election, the regionalist and left-leaning party of Muslim and Amazigh persuasion
Coalition for Melilla
Coalition for Melilla ( es, Coalición por Melilla, CpM) is a political party in the Spanish city of Melilla.
History
The party was formed shortly before the 1995 municipal regional elections of Melilla, as a split from the Spanish Socialist Worke ...
(CPM, 8 seats), the
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources:
*
*
*
* political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...
(PSOE, 4 seats) and
Citizens–Party of the Citizenry
Citizens ( es, link=no, Ciudadanos ; ca, link=no, Ciutadans ; eu, link=no, Hiritarrak; gl, link=no, Cidadáns; shortened as Cs—C's until January 2017), officially Citizens–Party of the Citizenry (''Ciudadanos–Partido de la Ciudadanía'') ...
(Cs, 1 seat) voted in favour of the Cs' candidate (
Eduardo de Castro
Eduardo de Castro González (born 3 March 1957) is a Spanish public servant and politician who currently serves as the Mayor-President of the autonomous city of Melilla. Since 2015 he has been a member of the Assembly of Melilla.
Biography
De ...
) as the Presidency of the Autonomous City, ousting
Juan José Imbroda
Juan José Imbroda Ortiz (born 24 June 1944 in Melilla) is a Spanish politician who served as the Mayor-President of the Spanish enclave of Melilla
Melilla ( , ; ; rif, Mřič ; ar, مليلية ) is an autonomous city of Spain located ...
, from the
People's Party (PP, 10 seats), who had been in office since 2000.
Administrative subdivisions
Melilla is subdivided into eight districts (''distritos''), which are further subdivided into neighbourhoods (''
barrio
''Barrio'' () is a Spanish word that means " quarter" or " neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city, usually delimited by functional (e.g. residential, commercial, industrial, etc.), social, a ...
s''):
*
1st
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
**Barrio de Medina Sidonia.
**Barrio del General Larrea.
**Barrio de Ataque Seco.
*
2nd
A second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI).
Second, Seconds or 2nd may also refer to:
Mathematics
* 2 (number), as an ordinal (also written as ''2nd'' or ''2d'')
* Second of arc, an angular measurement unit, ...
**Barrio Héroes de España.
**Barrio del General Gómez Jordana.
**Barrio Príncipe de Asturias.
*
3rd
Third or 3rd may refer to:
Numbers
* 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3
* , a fraction of one third
* 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute''
Places
* 3rd Street (disambiguation)
* Third Avenue (disambiguation)
* H ...
**Barrio del Carmen.
*
4th
**Barrio Polígono Residencial La Paz.
**Barrio Hebreo-Tiro Nacional.
*
5th
Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five.
Fifth or The Fifth may refer to:
* Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth"
* Fifth column, a political term
* Fifth disease, a contagious rash tha ...
**Barrio de Cristóbal Colón.
**Barrio de Cabrerizas.
**Barrio de Batería Jota.
**Barrio de Hernán Cortes y Las Palmeras.
**Barrio de Reina Regente.
*
6th
6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number.
In mathematics
Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second ...
**Barrio de Concepción Arenal.
**Barrio Isaac Peral (Tesorillo).
*
7th
**Barrio del General Real.
**Polígono Industrial SEPES.
**Polígono Industrial Las Margaritas.
**Parque Empresarial La Frontera.
*
8th
**Barrio de la Libertad.
**Barrio del Hipódromo.
**Barrio de Alfonso XIII.
**Barrio Industrial.
**Barrio Virgen de la Victoria.
**Barrio de la Constitución.
**Barrio de los Pinares.
**Barrio de la Cañada de Hidum
Economy
The
Gross domestic product
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is of ...
(GDP) of the autonomous community was 1.6 billion euros in 2018, accounting for 0.1% of Spanish economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 19,900 euros or 66% of the EU27 average in the same year. Melilla was the
NUTS2
Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics or NUTS (french: Nomenclature des unités territoriales statistiques) is a geocode standard for referencing the subdivisions of countries for statistical purposes. The standard, adopted in 2003, ...
region with the lowest GDP per capita in Spain.
Melilla does not participate in the
European Union Customs Union
The European Union Customs Union (EUCU), formally known as the Community Customs Union, is a customs union which consists of all the member states of the European Union (EU), Monaco, and the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekel ...
(EUCU). There is no
VAT (IVA) tax, but a local reduced-rate tax called IPSI. Preserving the status of
free port
Free economic zones (FEZ), free economic territories (FETs) or free zones (FZ) are a class of special economic zone (SEZ) designated by the trade and commerce administrations of various countries. The term is used to designate areas in which co ...
, imports are free of tariffs and the only tax concerning them is the IPSI. Exports to the Customs Union (including Peninsular Spain) are however subject to the correspondent customs tariff and are taxed with the correspondent VAT. There are some special manufacturing taxes regarding electricity and transport, as well as complementary charges on tobacco and oil and fuel products.
The principal industry is fishing. Cross-border commerce (legal or smuggled) and Spanish and European grants and wages are the other income sources.
Melilla is regularly connected to the Iberian peninsula by air and sea traffic and is also economically connected to Morocco: most of its fruit and vegetables are imported across the border. Moroccans in the city's hinterland are attracted to it: 36,000 Moroccans cross the border daily to work, shop or trade goods.
[English translation of Volkskrant article]
Melilla North-Africa's European dream
, 5 August 2010, visited 3 June 2012 The port of Melilla offers several daily connections to
Almería
Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city g ...
and
Málaga
Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most po ...
.
Melilla Airport offers daily flights to Almería, Málaga and
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
. Spanish operators
Air Europa
Air Europa Líneas Aéreas, S.A.U., branded as Air Europa, is the third-largest Spanish airline after Iberia and Vueling. The airline is headquartered in Llucmajor, Mallorca, Spain; it has its main hub at Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport ...
and
Iberia
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese language, Aragonese and Occitan language, Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a pe ...
operate in Melilla's airport.
Many people travelling between Europe and Morocco use the ferry links to Melilla, both for passengers and for freight. Because of this, the port and related companies form an important economic driver for the city.
Water supply
Melilla's water supply primarily came from a network of dug wells (which by the turn of the 21st century suffered from overexploitation and had also experienced a degradation of the water quality and the intrusion of
seawater
Seawater, or salt water, is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% (35 g/L, 35 ppt, 600 mM). This means that every kilogram (roughly one liter by volume) of seawater has appro ...
), as well as from the capture of the Río de Oro's underflow. Seeking to address the problem of water supply in Melilla, works for the construction of a
desalination plant
Desalination is a process that takes away mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination refers to the removal of salts and minerals from a target substance, as in soil desalination, which is an issue for agriculture. Saltw ...
in the Aguadú cliffs, projected to produce a day, started in November 2003. The plant entered operation in March 2007. The daily operation of the plant is partially funded by the central government. Relative to the Spanish average (and similarly to the Canary and Balearic Islands), the city's population spends a comparatively larger amount of money on
bottled water
Bottled water is drinking water (e.g., well water, distilled water, mineral water, or spring water) packaged in plastic or glass water bottles. Bottled water may be carbonated or not. Sizes range from small single serving bottles to lar ...
.
Funded by the
European Regional Development Fund
The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is one of the European Structural and Investment Funds allocated by the European Union. Its purpose is to transfer money from richer regions (not countries), and invest it in the infrastructure and s ...
and the , works for the expansion of the plant's production capabilities up to a day started by September 2020.
Architecture
The dome of the Chapel of Santiago, built in the mid-16th century by Miguel de Perea with help from Sancho de Escalante, is a rare instance of
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture (or pointed architecture) is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It ...
in the African continent.
Parallel to the urban development of Melilla in the early 20th century, the new architectural style of ''
modernismo
''Modernismo'' is a literary movement that took place primarily during the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth-century in the Spanish-speaking world, best exemplified by Rubén Darío who is also known as the father of ''Modernismo''. The ter ...
'' (irradiated from
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
and associated to the bourgeois class) was imported to the city, granting it a ''modernista'' architectural character, primarily through the works of the prolific Catalan architect
Enrique Nieto.
Accordingly, Melilla has the second most important concentration of ''Modernista'' works in Spain after Barcelona. Nieto was in charge of designing the main Synagogue, the Central Mosque and various Catholic Churches.
File:Capilla de Santiago3.jpg, Dome of the
File:EDIFICIO DEL ANTIGÜA REDACCIÓN EL TELEGRAMA DEL RIF.jpg, ''Modernista'' building, former headquarters of ''El Telegrama del Rif'' newspaper.
File:Sinagoga Orr Zoruah, Ruta de los Templos (6) (5446069722).jpg, Local synagogue
File:Mezquita central melilla.jpg, Melilla's central mosque
Demographics
Religion
Melilla has been praised as an example of
multiculturalism
The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for " ethnic pluralism", with the two terms often used interchang ...
, being a small city in which one can find Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, and Buddhists represented. There is a small, autonomous, and commercially important Hindu community present in Melilla, which has fallen over the past decades as its members move to the Spanish mainland and numbers about 100 members today. According to the Spanish Center for Sociological Research,
Roman Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
is the largest religion in Melilla.
In 2019, the proportion of Melillans that identify themselves as Roman Catholic was 65.0% (41.7% define themselves as not practising, while 23.3% as practising). 20% identify as followers of other faiths, 11.7% identify as non-believers, and 3.3% identify as atheists.
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
s may account for roughly half the population in Melilla.
The Roman Catholic churches in Melilla belong to the
Diocese of Málaga
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...
.
Language
Regarding sociolinguistics, Melilla features a
diglossia
In linguistics, diglossia () is a situation in which two dialects or languages are used (in fairly strict compartmentalization) by a single language community. In addition to the community's everyday or vernacular language variety (labeled ...
with
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
being the strong and official language, whereas
Tarifit
Tmazight or Tarifit Berber, also known as Riffian ( rif, Tmaziɣt , ) is a Zenati Berber language spoken in the Rif region in northern Morocco. It is spoken natively by some 1,271,000 Rifians primarily in the Rif provinces of Al Hoceima, Nad ...
remains the weak and unofficial language, with limited written codification, and usage restricted to family and domestic relations and oral speech.
The population can be thus divided in 1st) monolingual Spanish speakers of European ethnic origin (without competence in any other language than those formally taught at school); 2nd, those descent of Tamazight-speaking parents, usually bilingual in Spanish and Tamazight; and 3rd, Moroccan immigrants and cross-border workers, with a generally dominant Tamazight language (with some also featuring competence in Arabic) and a L2 competence in Spanish. The Spanish spoken in Melilla is similar to the
Andalusian variety from
Cádiz
Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia.
Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...
, whereas the Berber variant spoken in Melilla is the
Riffian language
Tmazight or Tarifit Berber, also known as Riffian ( rif, Tmaziɣt , ) is a Zenati Berber language spoken in the Rif region in northern Morocco. It is spoken natively by some 1,271,000 Rifians primarily in the Rif provinces of Al Hoceima, Nad ...
common with the neighbouring
Nador
Nador ( Riffian-Berber: ⵏⴰⴷⵓⵔ) is a coastal city and provincial capital in the northeastern Rif region of Morocco with a population of about 161,726 (2014 census).
Nador city is separated from the Mediterranean Sea by a salt lagoon nam ...
area. Rather than Berber ( es, bereber, link=no), Berber speakers in Melilla use either the glotonym , or, when speaking Spanish, for their language.
The first attempt to legislate a degree of recognition for Berber in Melilla was in 1994, in the context of the elaboration of the Statute of Autonomy, by mentioning the promotion of the linguistic and cultural pluralism (without explicitly mentioning the Berber language). The initiative went nowhere, voted down by PP and PSOE. Reasons cited for not recognizing Tamazight are related to the argument that the variety is not standardized.
Border Security
Defence and Civil Guard
The defence of the enclave is the responsibility of the
Spanish Armed Forces
The Spanish Armed Forces are in charge of guaranteeing the sovereignty and independence of the Kingdom of Spain, defending its territorial integrity and the constitutional order, according to the functions entrusted to them by the Constitution o ...
' General Command of Melilla. The
Spanish Army
The Spanish Army ( es, Ejército de Tierra, lit=Land Army) is the terrestrial army of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is one of the oldest active armies — dating back to the late 15th century.
The ...
's combat components of the command include:
*
52nd ''Regulares'' Infantry Regiment;
*
1st Tercio ''Gran Capitán'' Regiment of the
Spanish Legion
For centuries, Spain recruited foreign soldiers to its army, forming the Foreign Regiments () - such as the Regiment of Hibernia (formed in 1709 from Irishmen who fled their own country in the wake of the Flight of the Earls and the pen ...
;
* 10th 'Alcántara' Cavalry Regiment equipped with
Leopard 2 main battle tanks and
Pizarro infantry fighting vehicles;
* 32nd Mixed Artillery Regiment with ''Grupo de Artillería de Campaña I/32'' equipped with
155/52mm towed howitzers and ''Grupo de Artillería Antiaérea II/32'' equipped with
35/90 SKYDOR/35/90 GDF-007 anti-aircraft guns; and,
* 8th Engineer Regiment
The command also includes its headquarters battalion as well as logistics elements.
In addition to the defence of Melilla, the garrison is also responsible for
the defence of islands and rock formations claimed by Spain off the coast of Morocco. Units of the garrison are deployed to these rock formations to secure them against Moroccan incursions and did so notably during the
Perejil Island crisis
The Perejil Island crisis (; ) was a bloodless armed conflict between Spain and Morocco that took place on 11–18 July 2002. The incident took place over the small, uninhabited Perejil Island, when a squad of the Royal Moroccan Navy occupied it ...
in 2002. Melilla itself is about 350 km distant from the main Spanish naval base at
Rota
Rota or ROTA may refer to:
Places
* Rota (island), in the Marianas archipelago
* Rota (volcano), in Nicaragua
* Rota, Andalusia, a town in Andalusia, Spain
* Naval Station Rota, Spain
People
* Rota (surname), a surname (including a list of peop ...
on the Spanish mainland while the
Spanish Air Force
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march = Spanish Air and Space Force Anthem
, mascot =
, anniversaries = 10 December
, equipment ...
's
Morón air base
Morón Air Base is located at in southern Spain, approximately southeast of the city of Seville. The base gets its name from the nearby town of Morón de la Frontera while is located inside Arahal municipality territory.
Currently the bas ...
is within 300 km proxmity.
The
Civil Guard
Civil Guard refers to various policing organisations:
Current
* Civil Guard (Spain), Spanish gendarmerie
* Civil Guard (Israel), Israeli volunteer police reserve
* Civil Guard (Brazil), Municipal law enforcement corporations in Brazil
Historic ...
is responsible for border security and protects both the territory's
fortified land border against frequent, and sometimes significant, migrant incursions.
Trans-border relations
Melilla forms a sort of trans-border urban conurbation with limited integration together with the neighbouring Moroccan settlements, located at one of the ends of a linear succession of
urban sprawl
Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...
spanning southward in Morocco along the
R19 road from
Beni Ensar
Beni Ansar (Tarifit: Bni Nṣaa, ⴱⵏⵉ ⵏⵚⴰⴰ; Arabic: بني أنصار; Spanish: Beni Ensar) is a town in Nador Province, Oriental, Morocco, located 12 km (7½ miles) north of the city of Nador. It is bordered on the north by ...
down to
Nador
Nador ( Riffian-Berber: ⵏⴰⴷⵓⵔ) is a coastal city and provincial capital in the northeastern Rif region of Morocco with a population of about 161,726 (2014 census).
Nador city is separated from the Mediterranean Sea by a salt lagoon nam ...
and
Selouane
Selouane ( Tarifit: Seřwan, ⵙⴻⵔⵡⴰⵏ; Arabic: سلوان) is a town in Nador Province, Oriental, Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It o ...
. The urban system features a high degree of hierarchization, specialization and
division of labour
The division of labour is the separation of the tasks in any economic system or organisation so that participants may specialise (specialisation). Individuals, organizations, and nations are endowed with, or acquire specialised capabilities, an ...
, with Melilla as chief provider of services, finance and trade; Nador as an eminently industrial city whereas the rest of Moroccan settlements found themselves in a subordinate role, presenting
agro-town features and operating as providers of workforce.
The asymmetry, as reflected for example in the provision of healthcare, has fostered situations such as the large-scale use of the Melillan health services by Moroccan citizens, with Melilla attending a number of urgencies more than four times the standard for its population in 2018. In order to satisfy the workforce needs of Melilla (mainly in areas such as
domestic service
A domestic worker or domestic servant is a person who works within the scope of a residence. The term "domestic service" applies to the equivalent occupational category. In traditional English contexts, such a person was said to be "in service ...
, construction and cross-border bale workers, often under informal contracts), Moroccan inhabitants of the
province of Nador were granted exemptions from visa requirement to enter the autonomous city. This development in turn induced a strong flux of
internal migration Internal migration or domestic migration is human migration within a country. Internal migration tends to be travel for education and for economic improvement or because of a natural disaster or civil disturbance, though a study based on the full ...
from other Moroccan provinces to Nador, in order to acquire the aforementioned exemption.
The 'fluid' trans-border relations between Melilla and its surroundings are however not free from conflict, as they are contingent upon the
'tense' trans-national relations between Morocco and Spain.
Securing the border
Following the increasing influx of Algerian and sub-Saharan irregular migrants into Ceuta and Melilla in the early 1990s, a process of border
fortification
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere ...
in both cities ensued after 1995 in order to reduce the border permeability,
a target which was attained to some degree by 1999, although peak level of fortification was reached in 2005.
The Melilla's border with Morocco is secured by the
Melilla border fence, a tall double fence with watch towers; yet migrants (in groups of tens or sometimes hundreds) storm the fence and manage to cross it from time to time. Since 2005, at least 14 migrants have died trying to cross the fence. The Melilla migrant reception centre was built with a capacity of 480. In 2020 works to remove the barbed wire from the top of the fence (meanwhile raising its height up to more than in the stretches most susceptible to breaches) were commissioned to .
In June 2022, at least 23 sub-Saharan migrants and two Moroccan security personnel were killed when around 2000 migrants stormed the border in an attempt to cross into Melilla. The death toll has been estimated to be as high as 37 by certain NGOs. Around 200 Spanish and Moroccan law enforcement officers and at least 76 migrants were injured. Hundreds of migrants succeeded in breaching the fence, and 133 made it across the border. Widely circulated footage showed dozens of motionless migrants piled together. It was the worst such incident in Melilla's history. The United Nations, the African Union and a number of human rights groups condemned what they deemed excessive force used by Moroccan and Spanish border guards, although no lethal weapons were employed, and the deaths were later attributed to "mechanical asphyxiation".
Morocco has been paid tens of million euros by both Spain and the European Union to outsource the EU migration control.
Besides the double fence in the Spanish side of the border, there is an additional high fence entirely made of
razor wire lying on the Moroccan side as well as a moat in between.
Transportation
Melilla Airport is serviced by
Air Nostrum
Air Nostrum, legally incorporated as ''Air Nostrum Líneas Aéreas del Mediterráneo, S.A.'', is a Spanish regional airline based in Valencia.
It currently operates as a franchisee of Iberia as Iberia Regional and an affiliate member of the On ...
, flying to the Spanish cities of
Málaga
Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most po ...
,
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
,
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
,
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, on the Atlantic Ocean.
It is the capital (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife), the most populous city in the auto ...
,
Palma de Mallorca
Palma (; ; also known as ''Palma de Mallorca'', officially between 1983–88, 2006–08, and 2012–16) is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situated on the south coast of Mallorca ...
,
Granada
Granada (,, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the c ...
,
Badajoz
Badajoz (; formerly written ''Badajos'' in English) is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portuguese border, on the left bank of the river Guadiana. The populati ...
,
Sevilla
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
and
Almería
Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city g ...
. In April 2013, a local enterprise set up
Melilla Airlines, flying from the city to Málaga. The city is linked to Málaga, Almería and
Motril by ferry.
Three roads connect Melilla and
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...
but require clearance through border checkpoints.
Sport
Melilla is a
surfing
Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suitable ...
destination. The city's football club,
UD Melilla
Unión Deportiva Melilla is a Spanish football team based in the autonomous city of Melilla. Founded in 1976, it currently plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 5, holding home matches at ''Estadio Municipal Álvarez Claro'', with a 8,000 ca ...
, plays in the third tier of Spanish football, the
Segunda División B
Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foo ...
. The club was founded in 1943 and since 1945 have played at the 12,000-seater
Estadio Municipal Álvarez Claro
The Estadio Álvarez Claro is a stadium in Melilla, Spain. It is currently used for football matches and it is the home venue of UD Melilla
Unión Deportiva Melilla is a Spanish football team based in the autonomous city of Melilla. Founded in ...
. Until the other club was dissolved in 2012, UD Melilla played the Ceuta-Melilla derby against
AD Ceuta
Asociación Deportiva Ceuta was a Spanish football team based in the autonomous city of Ceuta. Founded in 1996, its last season was 2011–12 in Segunda División B, holding home matches at ''Estadio Alfonso Murube'', with a capacity of 6,500. ...
. The clubs travelled to each other via the Spanish mainland to avoid entering Morocco.
The second-highest ranked club in the city are
Casino del Real CF of the fourth-tier
Tercera División
Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the '' Segunda División'', and the semi-professional '' Segunda ...
. The football's governing institution is the
Melilla Football Federation.
Dispute with Morocco
The government of Morocco has repeatedly called for Spain to transfer the sovereignty of Ceuta and Melilla, along with uninhabited islets such as the
Alhucemas Islands, the rock of
Vélez de la Gomera Velez may refer to:
Places
* Vélez de Benaudalla, Spain
* Vélez Sársfield (barrio), Buenos Aires, Argentina
* Vélez-Blanco, Spain
* Vélez-Málaga, Spain
* Vélez-Rubio, Spain
* Vélez, Santander, Colombia
* Velež (Bosnia and Herzegovina), a m ...
and the
Perejil island
Perejil Island ( es, Isla de Perejil, ber, Tura or , ar, تورة, translit=Tūra), also known as Parsley Island, is a small, uninhabited rocky islet located off the coast of Morocco. It is administered by Spain as one of the '' plazas de ...
, drawing comparisons with Spain's territorial claim to
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = "Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gibr ...
. In both cases, the national governments and local populations of the disputed territories reject these claims by a large majority.
[* François Papet-Périn, "La mer d'Alboran ou Le contentieux territorial hispano-marocain sur les deux bornes européennes de Ceuta et Melilla". Tome 1, 794 p., tome 2, 308 p., thèse de doctorat d'histoire contemporaine soutenue en 2012 à Paris 1-Sorbonne sous la direction de Pierre Vermeren.] The Spanish position states that both Ceuta and Melilla are integral parts of Spain, and have been since the 16th century, centuries prior to Morocco's independence from France in 1956, whereas Gibraltar, being a
British Overseas Territory
The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remnants of the former Br ...
, is not and never has been part of the United Kingdom. Both cities also have the same
semi-autonomous status as the mainland region in Spain. Melilla has been under Spanish rule for longer than cities in northern Spain such as
Pamplona
Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region.
Lying at near above ...
or
Tudela Tudela may refer to:
*Tudela, Navarre, a town and municipality in northern Spain
** Benjamin of Tudela Medieval Jewish traveller
** William of Tudela, Medieval troubadour who wrote the first part of the ''Song of the Albigensian Crusade''
** Ba ...
, and was conquered roughly in the same period as the last Muslim cities of Southern Spain such as
Granada
Granada (,, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the c ...
,
Málaga
Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most po ...
,
Ronda
Ronda () is a town in the Spanish province of Málaga. It is located about west of the city of Málaga, within the autonomous community of Andalusia. Its population is about 35,000. Ronda is known for its cliff-side location and a deep chasm ...
or
Almería
Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city g ...
: Spain claims that the enclaves were established before the creation of the Kingdom of Morocco. Morocco denies these claims and maintains that the Spanish presence on or near its coast is a remnant of the colonial past which should be ended. The
United Nations list of non-self-governing territories
Chapter XI of the United Nations Charter defines a non-self-governing territory (NSGT) as a territory "whose people have not yet attained a full measure of self-government". In practice, an NSGT is a territory deemed by the United Nations Gene ...
does not include these Spanish territories and the dispute remains bilaterally debated between Spain and Morocco.
In 1986, Spain entered the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
. However Ceuta and Melilla are not under NATO protection since Article 6 of the treaty limits the coverage to Europe and North America and islands north of the
Tropic of Cancer
The Tropic of Cancer, which is also referred to as the Northern Tropic, is the most northerly circle of latitude on Earth at which the Sun can be directly overhead. This occurs on the June solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted towa ...
. This contrasts with
French Algeria
French Algeria (french: Alger to 1839, then afterwards; unofficially , ar, الجزائر المستعمرة), also known as Colonial Algeria, was the period of French colonisation of Algeria. French rule in the region began in 1830 with the ...
which was explicitly included in the treaty. Legal experts have interpreted that other articles could cover the Spanish North African cities but this take has not been tested in practice.
On the occasion of NATO's Madrid Summit in 2022, the issue of the protection Cueta and Melilla was a prominent one with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stating: "On which territories NATO protects and Ceuta and Melilla, NATO is there to protect all Allies against any threats. At the end of the day, it will always be a political decision to invoke Article 5, but rest assured NATO is there to protect and defend all Allies".
On 21 December 2020, following the affirmations of the Moroccan Prime Minister,
Saadeddine Othmani
Saadeddine Othmani ( ber, ⵙⴰⵄⴷ ⴷⴷⵉⵏ ⵍⵄⵓⵜⵎⴰⵏⵉ; ar, سعد الدين العثماني; born 16 January 1956), sometimes translated as Saad Eddine el-Othmani, is a Moroccan politician. He served as the 16th prime mi ...
, stating that Ceuta and Melilla "are Moroccan as the
esternSahara
, photo = Sahara real color.jpg
, photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972
, map =
, map_image =
, location =
, country =
, country1 =
, ...
s, Spain urgently summoned the Moroccan Ambassador to convey that Spain expects respect from all its partners to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its country and asked for explanations about the words of Othmani.
Notable people
Twin towns – sister cities
Melilla is
twinned with:
*
Caracas
Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in th ...
(Venezuela).
*
Cavite City
Cavite City, officially the City of Cavite ( fil, Lungsod ng Kabite, Spanish and cbk, Ciudad de Cavite), is a 4th class component city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 100,674 people.
The city was the ...
(Philippines).
*
Ceuta
Ceuta (, , ; ar, سَبْتَة, Sabtah) is a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa.
Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of several Spanish territori ...
(Spain).
*
Toledo (Spain).
*
Málaga
Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most po ...
(Spain).
*
Montevideo
Montevideo () is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . Montevideo is situated on the southern co ...
(Uruguay).
*
Motril (Spain); since January 2008.
*
Almería
Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city g ...
(Spain).
*
Mantua
Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and '' comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the province of the same name.
In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture. In 2017, it was named as the Eur ...
(Italy); since September 2013.
*
Vélez-Málaga (Spain); since January 2014.
*
Antequera
Antequera () is a city and municipality in the Comarca de Antequera, province of Málaga, part of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia. It is known as "the heart of Andalusia" (''el corazón de Andalucía'') because of its central locat ...
(Spain); as of 2016, in process.
See also
*
European enclaves in North Africa before 1830
The European enclaves in North Africa (technically ‘ semi-enclaves’) were towns, fortifications and trading posts on the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts of western North Africa (sometimes called also "Maghreb"), obtained by various European p ...
*
Melilla (Congress of Deputies constituency)
Melilla is one of the 52 constituencies ( es, circunscripciones) represented in the Congress of Deputies, the lower chamber of the Spanish parliament, the Cortes Generales. The constituency currently elects one deputy using plurality voting. Its b ...
References
;Citations
;Bibliography
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External links
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Postal Codes Melilla
{{Authority control
Autonomous cities of Spain
Enclaves and exclaves
Mediterranean port cities and towns in Spain
Morocco–Spain border crossings
NUTS 2 statistical regions of the European Union
Port cities in Africa
Special territories of the European Union
States and territories established in 1995
Territorial disputes of Morocco
Territorial disputes of Spain