May 22, 2018 Comments Off on Melilla and Ceuta, the chunks of European land on African soil Views: 1928 Urban Trekker

Europe’s two cities that form hard borders with Africa

Not all bits of Europe are accommodated on the Eurasian plateau. A closer inspection of the map of Morocco will reveal little chunks of land that belong not to the African country, but Spain. These are Ceuta and its slightly bigger sister city Melilla, some 250 miles further south along the coastline. The first is closer to the Rock of Gibraltar, the former bit more to the east. Both these cities trace their Spanish past to the 15th century and are currently the home of over 140,000 people.

Overtly coveted by Morocco, both Ceuta and Melilla have long been a flashpoint in diplomatic relations with Spain, as the BBC writes. However, Madrid has recurrently declared in the past that both its wedges of territories on the African side are an integral part of Spanish territory with the same status as semi-autonomous regions found elsewhere on the mainland of Spain.

Historically speaking, both of these cities have emerged as a military and trade hubs, linkage points between Africa and Europe. Since 1995, they have also enjoyed a limited degree of self-government as Autonomous Communities. More interesting is the fact that both the Spanish enclaves resemble the single land borders of Europe with Africa.

The rock of Gibraltar can be seen from Ceuta, that is only 18 miles away on the other side of the sea. Thousands of workers line each morning in a queue to cross the international border for a day of work before crossing back to their homes in the less developed surrounding towns; their very existence depends on Ceuta.

Further striking are the similarities between Ceuta and British Gibraltar, both being strategic military and naval bases, dominated by fortified mountains. Both contain mixed populations and their capitals are miles away on a different soil, the first under Madrid, the second under London.

Melilla, which is more remotely-situated, might feel more different, however, similarly to Ceuta, it has the typical Spanish tapas and wine to offer, the architectural blend is almost the same, the language spoken is also Spanish. The only dead giveaway this is not Europe, but Africa is what lurks at the periphery of the zone, that is an overwhelmingly fortified border, one of the most prominent on the entire planet in fact.

As Vox also reports, the area surrounding the border near Melilla has become a hotbed for ever-incoming migrants, most of them sub-Saharan Africans, some of whom have moved even half the continent through the endless desert in their attempts to make a pass in Europe. There is a multitude of makeshift camps, and that is only a tiny fraction of all the millions of people who, in the recent years, have fleed their homes due to wars, conflicts and rising instability. In the search for peace, security and a better life, for some migrants, Mellila has gained a new status–a getaway city that can guarantee all of that.

While the diplomatic rows are recurrent, and Morocco stick to claims that the two cities form an integral part of the Moroccan soil and their return to their homeland should happen under future negotiation, the Spaniards are also loud and clear that their two cities in Africa have been seeded there centuries before the Kingdom of Morocco. Namely, Melilla was found in 1497 and Ceuta in 1580.

We also thought to remind you of the old Benin city, considered a lost utopia of Africa

Tags: Africa, Ceuta, Europe, Melilla, Morocco, Spain