The Morocco–Spain land border consists of three non-contiguous lines totalling 18.5 km (11.5 miles) around the Spanish territories 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 ...
(8 km; 5 miles),
Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera
(; ) is a Spanish exclave and rocky tied island, in the western Mediterranean Sea, connected to the Moroccan shore by a sandy isthmus. It is also connected to a smaller islet to the east, La Isleta, by a rocky isthmus. The tied island was name ...
(75 metres; 80 yards) and
Melilla
Melilla ( , ; ; rif, Mřič ; ar, مليلية ) is an autonomous city of Spain located in north Africa. It lies on the eastern side of the Cape Three Forks, bordering Morocco and facing the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of . It was pa ...
(10.5 km; 6½ miles). Spanish islets such as the
Chafarinas
The Chafarinas Islands ( es, Islas Chafarinas , ber, Igumamen Iceffaren, script=Latn or , ar, جزر الشفارين or ), also spelled Zafarin, Djaferin or Zafarani, are a group of three small Spanish islets located in the Alboran Sea off the ...
or the
Alhucemas are located off the Moroccan coast.
History
Historically the were part of various Muslim empires of north-west Africa.
Ceuta was conquered by
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...
in 1415.
[Payne, Stanley G., ''A History of Spain and Portugal'', Vol. 1, Chap. 10 "The Expansion"]
/ref> Following 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 ...
of the Iberian peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...
, Spain looked south to the North African coast, capturing Melilla from the Sultanate of Fez in 1497, with Portugal's blessing. Spain took the then-island of Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera by force in 1508, with Portugal recognising this claim the following year with the Treaty of Cintra. Retaken by the Kingdom of Fez in 1554, Spain reconquered it in 1564, and it has remained in Spanish hands since that time.
During the period of Iberian Union
pt, União Ibérica
, conventional_long_name =Iberian Union
, common_name =
, year_start = 1580
, date_start = 25 August
, life_span = 1580–1640
, event_start = War of the Portuguese Succession
, event_end = Portuguese Restoration War
, ...
(1580-1640) Ceuta attracted many Spanish settlers; as a result, when Portugal regained its independence from Spain in 1640 Ceuta opted to remain with Spain, a situation Portugal acquiesced to in 1688 with the Treaty of Lisbon
The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is an international agreement that amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by the EU member s ...
. A treaty outlining Ceuta's boundary with Morocco was signed 7 October 1844 and confirmed by another on 6 May 1845. A treaty outlining the Melilla-Morocco boundary, replete with a parallel ‘neutral zone’, was signed 24 August 1859.
Repeated Moroccan attempts to gain control of the two exclaves by force during the 18th-19th centuries failed, culminating in the Hispano-Moroccan War of 1859–60, which resulted in a Spanish victory. The subsequent Treaty of Wad-Ras (aka the Treaty of Tétouan) of 26 April 1860 expanded the border of Ceuta to its present limit. Melilla's border was supposed to be fixed by 'the range of a piece of cannon', however this proved impractical, and a further treaty was therefore signed on 30 October 1861 and confirmed on 26 June 1862 which outlined the modern boundary line. Localised disputes in Melilla continued however, and further treaties were signed in 1894–95.
By a Franco-Spanish treaty of 27 November 1912, Spain was granted a protectorate over Morocco's Mediterranean littoral, referred to as Spanish 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 ...
.
Treaty Between France and Spain Regarding Morocco
', in: The American Journal of International Law, vol.7, no.2, Apr. 1913 Ceuta, Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera and Melilla thereafter were absorbed into this entity. When Morocco gained independence from France in 1956, Spanish Morocco was handed to the new kingdom. However, Spain maintained control of the ', asserting that they were Spanish territory long before the creation of the protectorate in 1912 and should therefore remain part of Spain, a position contested by Morocco.
In 1934 a huge storm created a tombolo
A tombolo is a sandy or shingle isthmus. A tombolo, from the Italian ', meaning 'pillow' or 'cushion', and sometimes translated incorrectly as ''ayre'' (an ayre is a shingle beach of any kind), is a deposition landform by which an island becom ...
between Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera and the Moroccan mainland, effectively making the former island a new Spanish exclave on the coast of Morocco. A formal border treaty was never signed between Morocco and Spain regarding the newly-formed exclave, and a short 75-metre (80 yard) straight line throughout the sandy spit connecting it to Morocco has functioned as a ''de facto
''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with '' de jure'' ("by l ...
'' frontier since that time.
Since Moroccan independence the dispute over the ' has flared up from time-to-time, most notably in 1975 when it was feared Morocco would attempt an invasion of the territories similar to the Green March
The Green March was a strategic mass demonstration in November 1975, coordinated by the Moroccan government, to force Spain to hand over the disputed, autonomous semi-metropolitan province of Spanish Sahara to Morocco. At that time, the Span ...
invasion of Western Sahara
Western Sahara ( '; ; ) is a disputed territory on the northwest coast and in the Maghreb region of North and West Africa. About 20% of the territory is controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), while the ...
conducted that same year. At present Spain remains in control of the ' and refuses to discuss the issue of their sovereignty with Morocco.
In 1993 Spain began building the 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 Melilla border fence, which were further strengthened in 1995. In response to an increase in the number of migrants attempts to breach the fence, both were significantly fortified in 2005, creating a doubled-fence system replete with barbed wire and surveillance equipment.[Building Fortress Europe? Schengen and the Cases of Ceuta and Melilla](_blank)
/ref> Since then there have been numerous attempts to cross the fences, resulting in several fatalities. On 17 May 2021, more than 6,000 migrants crossed the border into Ceuta. It was widely speculated that Morocco permitted the sudden influx to punish Spain for allowing Polisario Front
The Polisario Front, Frente Polisario, Frelisario or simply Polisario, from the Spanish abbreviation of (Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro), (in ar, rtl=yes, الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير الس� ...
leader Brahim Ghali
Brahim Ghali () ( ar, rtl=yes, إبراهيم غالي, Ibrāhīm Ġālī; es, Brahim Gali; born 16 September 1949) is a Sahrawi politician and military officer that serves as the current president of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) ...
to be treated at a Spanish hospital. The next day, Morocco closed the border again. Most of the arrivals returned to Morocco.
Maritime borders
Morocco and Spain also share a maritime border in the Canary Islands
The Canary Islands (; es, :es:Canarias, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to ...
area and along the Strait of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar ( ar, مضيق جبل طارق, Maḍīq Jabal Ṭāriq; es, Estrecho de Gibraltar, Archaic: Pillars of Hercules), also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Medi ...
and 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, ...
. The shortest distance between land along the Strait of Gibraltar is . The British territory of 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 ...
(claimed by Spain) is located on the northern coast of this strait.
Gallery
Image:Ceuta en.png, Map of Ceuta
File:Ceuta border fence.jpg, The Ceuta border fence as it enters the sea
File:Valla de Ceuta.jpg, The Ceuta border fence
Image:Melilla en.png, Map of Melilla
File:El paso fronterizo de Farjana en Melilla.jpg, The Farjana–Melilla border crossing
File:Verjamelilla.jpg, The Melilla border fence
File:Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera 31.jpg, Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera; the border runs along the grey sand spit where the boats are laid
See also
* Ceuta border fence
The Ceuta border fence forms part of the Morocco–Spain border at Ceuta, a city on the North Africa, North African coast. Constructed by Spain, its purpose is to prevent smuggling and to stop Immigration, migrants from entering Europe. Morocco o ...
* Melilla border fence
* Morocco–Spain relations
Morocco and Spain maintain extensive diplomatic, commercial, and military ties. Morocco’s foreign policy has focused on Western partners, including neighboring Spain. They have however, been historically intense and conflictive.
History
Pr ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morocco-Spain border
Borders of Morocco
Borders of Spain
International borders