19th-century Spanish map showing the "Chafarinas".
(Chafarinas Islands) is a
Spanish archipelago. A group of three small
islets located in the
Mediterranean Sea off the coast of
Morocco with an aggregate area of 0.525 km², 45 km to the east of
Melilla and 3.3 km off the Moroccan town of Ra'su l-Ma'. Islas Chafarinas are one of the
Spanish ruled territories on North Africa off the Moroccan coast known as
Plazas de soberanía.
Islas Chafarinas are made up of three islands (with areas in
hectares):
- Isla del Congreso 25,6 ha
- Isla Isabel II 15,3 ha (with garrison)
Under Spanish control since 1847, there is a 190 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.
The islands had a certain relevance in Spanish environmentalist circles during the 1980s and 1990s as the very last individual of
Mediterranean Monk Seal in Spanish territory lived there, until it disappeared in the 1990s
