Melilla (
Tarifit:
Tamelilt/Mritch, meaning "the white one") is an
autonomous Spanish city located on the
Mediterranean, on the north coast of North Africa. It was regarded as a part of
Málaga province prior to 14 March 1995, when the city's
Statute of Autonomy was passed.
Melilla was a
free port before Spain joined the
European Union. As of 2008 it has a population of 71,448. Its population consists of
Christians,
Muslims (chiefly
Berber), and small minorities of
Jews and
Hindus. Both
Spanish and
Tarifit-Berber are widely spoken. Spanish is the official language, while there are many calls to recognize
Berber as well.
Political status
Melilla is, along with
Ceuta, one of two Spanish
autonomous cities located in mainland North Africa.
Morocco claims Melilla, along with
Ceuta and various small Spanish islands off the coast of
Africa (
Plazas de soberanía) that are sovereign posts. Morocco bases its claim on the fact that the area was part of the
Idrisid and other succeeding Muslim dynasties from 791 until 1497, when the city was taken by
Castile.
The government of Morocco has also drawn comparisons with Spain's territorial claim to
Gibraltar, which is a British Overseas Territory situated on the mainland of Spain. In both cases, the national governments and local populations of the contended territories reject these claims by a wide margin. Spanish sources claim that unlike the
Protectorate territories included in former
Spanish Morocco Melilla has been a constituent part of
Spain since the very dawn of Spain as an independent country, the city being a part of Castile for longer than even other current Spanish regions such as
Navarre.
These sources also dispute any ties between the former Muslim dynasties ruling the city and the present day Kingdom of Morocco, noting that if those latter dynasties were to be considered,
most of present day Spain would be a part of Morocco, as well.
The history of Melilla is similar to that of Moroccan towns in the region of the
Rif and southern Spanish towns, passing through
Amazigh,
Phoenician,
Punic,
Roman,
Ummayyad,
Idrisid,
Hammudid,
Almoravid,
Almohad,
Merinid, and then
Wattasid rulers before being annexed by Spain five years after the latter kingdom completed the
Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula in 1492.
Melilla and
Ceuta are the only two European-Union territories located in mainland Africa. The
amateur radio call sign used for both cities is EA9.
Subdivisions
Melilla is subdivided into eight
wards or
neighborhoods (
barrios):
- Barrio de los Héroes de España
- Barrio del General Gómez Jordana
- Barrio del Príncipe de Asturias
Climate
Economy
Melilla city
The principal industry is
fishing; cross-border commerce (legal or smuggled) and Spanish and European grants and wages are the other income sources.
Melilla is regularly connected to the Peninsula by plane and vessels and also economically connected to Morocco: most of its fruits and vegetables are imported across the border. Also, Moroccans in the city's influence area are attracted to it: 36,000 Moroccans cross the border daily to work, shop, or trade goods.
Map of Melilla, Spain
History
Melilla was a
Phoenician and later
Punic establishment under the name of
Rusadir. Later it became a part of the Roman province of
Mauretania Tingitana. As centuries passed, it went through Vandal, Byzantine and Hispano-Visigothic hands. Melilla was part of the
Kingdom of Fez when
Juan Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, known as
Guzmán el Bueno, the 3rd
Duke of Medina Sidonia conquered it in 1497, a few years before (1492)
Castile had taken control of the
Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, the last remnant of
Al-Andalus.
The current limits of the Spanish territory around the fortress were fixed by treaties with Morocco in 1859,
1860, 1861, and 1894. In the late 19th century, as Spanish influence expanded, Melilla became the only authorized centre of trade on the Rif coast between
Tetuan and the
Algerian frontier. The value of trade increased, goat skins, eggs and
beeswax being the principal exports, and cotton goods, tea, sugar, and candles being the chief imports.
The Spaniards had had much trouble with the neighboring tribes—the turbulent Rif, independent
Berbers (
Amazighs) hardly subject to the
sultan of Morocco.
In
1893, the Rif berbers
besieged Melilla, and 25,000 men had to be dispatched against them.
In 1908 two companies, under the protection of El Roghi, a chieftain then ruling the Rif region, started
mining lead and
iron some 20 kilometers from Melilla. A railway to the mines was begun. In October of that year the Roghi's vassals revolted against him and raided the mines, which remained closed until June 1909. By July the workmen were again attacked and several of them killed. Severe fighting between the Spaniards and the tribesmen followed.
In
1910, the Rif having submitted, the Spaniards restarted the mines and undertook harbour works at Mar Chica. But hostilities broke out again in 1911, and the
Abd el Krim forces inflicted a grave defeat on the Spanish (see
Battle of Annual), and were not pacified until 1927, when the
Spanish Protectorate finally managed to control the area again.
General
Francisco Franco used the city as one of his staging grounds for his rebellion in 1936, and a statue of him - the last statue of Franco in Spain - is still prominently featured.
On 6 November 2007, King
Juan Carlos I and
Queen Sofia visited the city, which caused a previously unknown jubilee in the city, expressed by a massive support demonstration while, on the other side, it also sparked protests from the Moroccan government. It was the first time a Spanish monarch had visited Melilla in 80 years.
City culture and society
Lighthouse of Melilla
Melilla's
Capilla de Santiago or James's Chapel, by the city walls, is the only genuine
Gothic architecture in Africa.
In the first quarter of the
20th century, Melilla became a thriving port benefitting from the recently established Protectorate of
Spanish Morocco in the contiguous Rif. The new architectural style of
Modernisme was expressed by a new bourgeois class. This style, frequently referred to as the Catalan version of
Art Nouveau, was extremely popular in the early part of the 20th century in Spain.
The workshops inspired by the Catalan architect,
Enrique Nieto, continued in the modernist style, even after
Modernisme went out of fashion elsewhere. Accordingly, Melilla has the second most important concentration of Modernist works in Spain after
Barcelona.
Melilla has been praised as an example of
multiculturalism, being a small city in which one can find up to three major religions represented. However, the Christian majority of the past, constituting around 65% of the population at one point, has been shrinking, while the number of Muslims has steadily increased to its present 45% of the population.
Jews, who had lived in Melilla for centuries, have been leaving the Spanish North African city in more recent years (from 20% of the population before
World War II to less than 5% today). There is a small, autonomous, and commercially important Hindu community present in Melilla, as well. The culture in this little city is thus virtually divided into two halves; one being European and the other Amazigh. While the first is represented all over the rest of the country, the second, being represented only in this little part of Spain, is considered by some, especially in the mainland, to be foreign.
Immigration
There is considerable pressure by African refugees to enter Melilla, a part of the European Union. The border is secured by the
Melilla border fence, a six-meter-tall double fence with watch towers, yet refugees frequently manage to cross it illegally, avoiding the attempts by Spanish police to take them back to their home countries. Detection wires,
tear gas dispensers, radar, and day/
night vision cameras are planned to increase security and prevent illegal immigration. In October 2005, over 700
sub-Saharan migrants tried to enter Spanish territory from the Moroccan border.
Transportation
The most common means to reach Melilla is by air to
Melilla Airport from Barcelona, Granada, Almeria, Valencia, Malaga or Madrid, by the land border with Morocco or by
ferry from
Almería or
Málaga. The nearby
Moroccan city of
Nador is reached by a 10 km long semi-autoroute. It's also possible to catch a
train from nearby
Nador to the rest of
Morocco.
International relations
Twin towns — Sister cities
See also
