The Chafarinas Islands ( , or , or ), also spelled Zafarin, Djaferin or Zafarani, are a group of three small

islet An islet ( ) is generally a small island. Definitions vary, and are not precise, but some suggest that an islet is a very small, often unnamed, island with little or no vegetation to support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/ ...

s located in the

Alboran Sea The Alboran Sea 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, which lies at the west end of the ...

off the coast of

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

with an aggregate area of , to the east of

Nador Nador () is a coastal city and provincial capital in the northeastern Rif region of Morocco with a population of about 158,202 (2024 census). The Nador Province has over 600,000 inhabitants. Nador is considered the second largest city in the Ori ...

and off the Moroccan town of

Ras Kebdana Ras Kebdana or Ras El Ma (Tarifit: Qabuyawa ⵇⴰⴱⵓⵢⴰⵡⴰ; Arabic: رأس الماء) is a town in Nador Province, Oriental (Morocco), Oriental, Morocco. It is a seaport, is located in the province of Nador. According to the 2014 cens ...

. The Chafarinas Islands are one of the

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 countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

territories in North Africa off the Moroccan coast known as . The islands are administered by Spain but also claimed by Morocco as part of its territory alongside other Spanish overseas territories in Northern Africa.

History

These offshore islands were probably the of the Romans and the of the Arabs. They were uninhabited and unclaimed in 1848, when the French government decided to occupy them, in order to monitor the tribes living in the border area between Morocco and French Algeria. A small expedition under the command of then Colonel

MacMahon McMahon or MacMahon ( or ) may refer to: Places * Division of McMahon, an electorate for the Australian House of Representatives * McMahon, Saskatchewan, a hamlet in Canada * McMahon Line, a boundary between India and China * McMahons Poin ...

left Oran by sea and by land in January 1848 to take possession of the islands. Forewarned by its consul in Oran, Spain, which also coveted the Chafarinas, quickly dispatched a warship to the islands from Malaga. When the French arrived, the Spaniards had already taken possession of the islands in the name of Queen Isabel II.

Geography

The Chafarinas Islands are made up of three islands (from west to east, with areas in

hectares The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. A ...

): *

Isla del Congreso The Isla del Congreso is a rock islet located as part of the Chafarinas Islands, an archipelago located on the Mediterranean Sea. It is located approximately four kilometers from the Moroccan shore. The island has an area of 0.256 km2. The is ...

(25.6 ha) * Isla de Isabel II (15.3 ha) (with garrison) * Isla del Rey (11.6 ha). Under Spanish control since 1847, there is a 30-man military garrison on Isla Isabel II, the only stable population on the small archipelago, down from 426 people in 1900 and 736 people in 1910. Small numbers of scientists, anti-trafficking police, and other authorized personnel sometimes increase the population to around 50.

Natural history

The islands had relevance in Spanish environmentalist circles during the 1980s and 1990s, as the last individual of

Mediterranean monk seal The Mediterranean monk seal (''Monachus monachus'') is a monk seal belonging to the family Phocidae. , it is estimated that fewer than 700 individuals survive in three or four isolated subpopulations in the Mediterranean, (especially) in the A ...

in Spanish territory lived there until it disappeared in the 1990s. Nine out of eleven of its

marine invertebrates Marine invertebrates are invertebrate animals that live in marine habitats, and make up most of the macroscopic life in the oceans. It is a polyphyletic blanket term that contains all marine animals except the marine vertebrates, including the ...

are considered

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

and it is the home of the second largest colony of endangered

Audouin's gull Audouin's gull (''Ichthyaetus audouinii'') is a large gull restricted to the Mediterranean and the western coast of Saharan Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''ikhthus'', "fish", and ''aetos'', "eagle", and t ...

in the world.Ceberia, Monica et al (17 September 2012
The last remains of the empire
El Pais in English, Retrieved 24 September 2012 The islands have been recognised as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

because they support, as well as the Audouin's gull colony, a breeding colony of

Scopoli's shearwater Scopoli's shearwater (''Calonectris diomedea'') is a seabird in the petrel family Procellariidae. It breeds on rocky islands and on steep coasts in the Mediterranean but outside the breeding season it forages in the Atlantic. It is brownish grey ...

s, with some 800–1,000 breeding pairs estimated in 2001–2004.

Gallery

File:Chafarinas desde el cabo de Agua.jpg, Islas Chafarinas as seen from Cabo de Agua File:Korallenmöve seitlich.jpg,

, a Vulnerable species breeding on the islands File:Isla de Isabel II desde el cabo de Agua.jpg, Island of Isabel II File:Iglesia de la Purísima Concepción (Chafarinas) en 1893.jpg, Church of la Purísima Concepción on the island of Isabel II in 1893 File:Coat of Arms of the Chafarinas Islands.svg, Coat of arms of the Chafarinas Islands File:Îles Zaffarines.JPG, Chafarinas Islands viewed from Ras El Ma,

References

{{Coord, 35, 11, N, 2, 26, W, type:isle, display=title Islands of Africa Archipelagoes of Spain Mediterranean islands Plazas de soberanía Territorial disputes of Spain Archipelagoes of Africa Natura 2000 in Spain Important Bird Areas of Spain Important Bird Areas of Mediterranean islands Seabird colonies

History

Geography

Natural history

Gallery

See also

References