Ceuta is an autonomous city of Spain on the North African coast. Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ceuta is one of the special member state territories of the European Union, and it is one of several Spanish territories in Africa, which include Melilla and the Canary Islands. It was a regular municipality belonging to the province of Cádiz prior to the passing of its Statute of Autonomy in March 1995, as provided by the Spanish Constitution, henceforth becoming an autonomous city.
Spain is a country located in southwestern Europe occupying most of the Iberian Peninsula. It also includes a small exclave inside France called Llívia, as well as the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean 108 km (67 mi) off northwest Africa, and five places of sovereignty on and off the coast of North Africa: Ceuta, Melilla, Islas Chafarinas, Peñón de Alhucemas, and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera.
Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera is a Spanish exclave and rocky tidal 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 tidal island was named Hajar Badis and was connected to the town of Badis.
Rail transport in Spain operates on four rail gauges and services are operated by a variety of private and public operators. Total railway length in 2020 was 15,489 km. The Spanish high-speed rail network is the longest HSR network in Europe with 3,966 km and the second longest in the world, after China's.
Plazas de soberanía, meaning "strongholds of sovereignty," are a series of Spanish overseas territories scattered along the Mediterranean coast bordering Morocco in North Africa. This term is used for those territories that have been a part of Spain since the formation of the modern country (1492–1556). The vast majority of the population living in these areas are focused on Ceuta mainly and Mellila as well.
The Alboran Sea is the westernmost portion of the Mediterranean Sea, lying between the Iberian Peninsula and the north of Africa. The Strait of Gibraltar, which lies at the west end of the Alboran Sea, connects the Mediterranean with the Atlantic Ocean.
The African Union covers almost the entirety of continental Africa and several off-shore islands. Consequently, it is wildly diverse, including the world's largest hot desert, huge jungles and savannas, and the world's longest river.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Spain:
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. After an exchange of declarations between both countries, the Spanish troops eventually evicted the Moroccan infantry who had relieved their Navy comrades.
The siege of Melilla was an attempt by the Sultanate of Morocco, supported by Great Britain and Algerian mercenaries, to capture the Spanish fortress of Melilla on the Moroccan Mediterranean coast. Mohammed ben Abdallah, then Sultan of Morocco, invaded Melilla in December 1774 with a large army of Royal Moroccan soldiers and Algerian mercenaries. The city was defended by a small garrison under Irish-born Governor Don Juan Sherlocke until the siege was lifted by a relief fleet in March 1775.
Moroccan–Portuguese conflicts refer to a series of battles between Morocco and Portugal throughout history including Battle of Tangier, Fall of Agadir and other battles and sieges in the Moroccan coast.
The Conquest of Melilla occurred on the 17th of September 1497, when a fleet sent by the Duke of Medina Sidonia occupied the north African city of Melilla.
The Morocco–Spain border consists of three non-contiguous lines totalling 18.5 km around the Spanish territories of Ceuta, Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera and Melilla. Spanish islets such as the Chafarinas or the Alhucemas are located off the Moroccan coast.
The Committee for the Liberation of Ceuta and Melilla (CLCM) was a Moroccan irredentist organisation focused on Spain's plazas de soberanía. It was based on the irredentist idea of Greater Morocco.
The European enclaves in North Africa were towns, fortifications and trading posts on the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts of western North Africa, obtained by various European powers in the period before they had the military capacity to occupy the interior. The earliest medieval enclaves were established in the 11th century CE by the Italian Kingdom of Sicily and Maritime republics; Spain and Portugal were the main European powers involved; both France and, briefly, England also had a presence. Most of these enclaves had been evacuated by the late 18th century, and today only the Spanish possessions of Ceuta, Melilla, and the Plazas de soberanía remain.
The 2012 Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera incident was a territorial incident that involved Spain and Morocco, the second fought in the 21st century after the one that occurred on Perejil Island in 2002.
Yahya Yahya is a Spanish-born Moroccan politician and a fugitive from Spanish justice for having been accused of ill-treatment in politics in Morocco. He was a senator of the kingdom of Morocco and former mayor of Beni Ansar, as well as co-president of the Spanish-Moroccan Friendship Commission. He has dual Moroccan and Dutch nationality. He is one of the main promoters of the Moroccan claim on his hometown, as well as on Ceuta. He is linked to the Moroccan Sahara Association.
The topographical relief of Spain is characterized by being quite high, with an average altitude of 660 meters above sea level, quite mountainous compared to other European countries and only surpassed by Switzerland, Austria, Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia and the microstates of Andorra and Liechtenstein. In peninsular Spain, the terrain is articulated around a large Meseta Central that occupies most of the center of the Iberian Peninsula. Outside the plateau, there is the depression of the Guadalquivir river, located in the southwest of the peninsula, and the Ebro river depression, located in the northeast.
