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 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 and off the Moroccan town of Ras Kebdana. The Chafarinas Islands are one of the Spanish 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 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 (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 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 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 (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 shearwaters, 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, Audouin's gull, 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