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Ceuta سَبْتَة
Autonomous city
View of CeutaRoyal WallsPalace of the Assembly
FlagCoat of arms
Location of Ceuta in Spain
Coordinates: 35°53′18″N 5°18′56″W / 35.88833°N 5.31556°W / 35.88833; -5.31556
Country	Spain
First settled	1st millennium BC
End of Muslim rule	14 August 1415
Ceded to Spain	4 August 1578
Autonomy status	14 March 1995
Founded by	Carthaginians
Government
• Type	Autonomous city
• Body	Council of Government
• Mayor-President	Juan Jesús Vivas (PP)
Area
• Total	18.5 km (7.1 sq mi)
• Land	18.5 km (7.1 sq mi)
• Rank	18th
Elevation	10 m (30 ft)
Highest elevation	349 m (1,145 ft)
Population
• Total	85,144
• Rank	19th
• Density	4,600/km (12,000/sq mi)
• Rank	2nd
Demonyms	Ceutan ceutí (es) caballa ("Atlantic mackerel", colloquial)
GDP
• Total	€1.907 billion (2022)
• Per capita	€23,073 (2022)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	ES-CE
Postal code	51001–51005
Official language	Spanish
Parliament	Assembly of Ceuta
Congress	1 deputy (out of 350)
Senate	2 senators (out of 264)
Currency	Euro (€) (EUR)
Website	www.Ceuta.es

Ceuta (UK: /ˈsjuːtə/, US: /ˈseɪuːtə/, Spanish: [ˈθewta, ˈsewta] ; Arabic: سَبْتَة, romanized: Sabtah) 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.

Ceuta, like Melilla and the Canary Islands, was classified as a free port before Spain joined the European Union. Its population is predominantly Christian and Muslim, with a small minority of Sephardic Jews and Sindhi Hindus, from Pakistan.

Spanish is the official language, while Darija Arabic is also a well-spoken language there.

Names

The name Abyla has been said to have been a Punic name ("Lofty Mountain" or "Mountain of God") for Jebel Musa, the southern Pillar of Hercules. The name of the mountain was in fact Habenna (Punic: 𐤀𐤁‬𐤍‬, ʾbn, "Stone" or "Stele") or ʾAbin-ḥīq (𐤀𐤁‬𐤍𐤇‬𐤒, ʾbnḥq, "Rock of the Bay"), about the nearby Bay of Benzú. The name was hellenized variously as Ápini (Ancient Greek: Ἄπινι), Abýla (Ἀβύλα), Abýlē (Ἀβύλη), Ablýx (Ἀβλύξ), and Abilē Stḗlē (Ἀβίλη Στήλη, "Pillar of Abyla") and in Latin as Abyla Mons ("Mount Abyla") or Abyla Columna ("the Pillar of Abyla").

The settlement below Jebel Musa was later renamed for the seven hills around the site, collectively referred to as the "Seven Brothers" (Ancient Greek: Ἑπτάδελφοι, romanized: Heptádelphoi; Latin: Septem Fratres). In particular, the Roman stronghold at the site took the name "Fort at the Seven Brothers" (Castellum ad Septem Fratres). This was gradually shortened to Septem (Σέπτον Sépton) or, occasionally, Septum or Septa. These clipped forms continued as Berber Sebta and Arabic Sabtan or Sabtah (سبتة‎), which themselves became Ceuta in Portuguese (pronounced [ˈseu̯tɐ]) and Spanish (locally pronounced [ˈseu̯ta]).

History

Ancient

Controlling access between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, the Strait of Gibraltar is an important military and commercial chokepoint. The Phoenicians realized the extremely narrow isthmus joining the Peninsula of Almina to the African mainland made Ceuta eminently defensible and established an outpost there early in the 1st millennium BC. The Greek geographers record it by variations of Abyla, the ancient name of nearby Jebel Musa. Beside Calpe, the other Pillar of Hercules now known as the Rock of Gibraltar, the Phoenicians established Kart at what is now San Roque, Spain. Other good anchorages nearby became Phoenician and then Carthaginian ports at what are now Tangiers and Cádiz.

After Carthage's destruction in the Punic Wars, most of northwest Africa was left to the Roman client states of Numidia and—around Abyla—Mauretania. Punic culture continued to thrive in what the Romans knew as "Septem". After the Battle of Thapsus in 46 BC, Caesar and his heirs began annexing North Africa directly as Roman provinces but, as late as Augustus, most of Septem's Berber residents continued to speak and write in Punic.

Caligula assassinated the Mauretanian king Ptolemy in AD 40 and seized his kingdom, which Claudius organized in AD 42, placing Septem in the province of Tingitana and raising it to the level of a colony. It subsequently was Romanized and thrived into the late 3rd century, trading heavily with Roman Spain and becoming well known for its salted fish. Roads connected it overland with Tingis (Tangiers) and Volubilis. Under Theodosius I in the late 4th century, Septem still had 10,000 inhabitants, nearly all Christian citizens speaking African Romance, a local dialect of Latin.

Medieval

Vandals, probably invited by Count Boniface as protection against the empress dowager, crossed the strait near Tingis around 425 and swiftly overran Roman North Africa. Their king, Gaiseric, focused his attention on the rich lands around Carthage; although the Romans eventually accepted his conquests and he continued to raid them anyway, he soon lost control of Tingis and Septem in a series of Berber revolts. When Justinian decided to reconquer the Vandal lands, his victorious general Belisarius continued along the coast, making Septem a westernmost outpost of the Byzantine Empire around 533. Unlike the former ancient Roman administration, however, Eastern Rome did not push far into the hinterland and made the more defensible Septem their regional capital in place of Tingis.

Epidemics, less capable successors and overstretched supply lines forced a retrenchment and left Septem isolated. It is likely that its count (comes) was obliged to pay homage to the Visigoth Kingdom in Spain in the early 7th century. There are no reliable contemporary accounts of the end of the Islamic conquest of the Maghreb around 710. Instead, the rapid Muslim conquest of Spain produced romances concerning Count Julian of Septem and his betrayal of Christendom in revenge for the dishonor that befell his daughter at King Roderick's court. Allegedly with Julian's encouragement and instructions, the Berber convert and freedman Tariq ibn Ziyad took his garrison from Tangiers across the strait and overran the Spanish so swiftly that both he and his master Musa bin Nusayr fell afoul of a jealous caliph, who stripped them of their wealth and titles.

After the death of Julian, sometimes also described as a king of the Ghomara Berbers, Berber converts to Islam took direct control of what they called Sebta. It was then destroyed during their great revolt against the Umayyad Caliphate around 740. Sebta subsequently remained a small village of Muslims and Christians surrounded by ruins until its resettlement in the 9th century by Mâjakas, chief of the Majkasa Berber tribe, who started the short-lived Banu Isam dynasty. His great-grandson briefly allied his tribe with the Idrisids, but Banu Isam rule ended in 931 when he abdicated in favor of Abd ar-Rahman III, the Umayyad ruler of Córdoba, Spain.

Chaos ensued with the fall of the Caliphate of Córdoba in 1031. Following this, Ceuta and Muslim Iberia were controlled by successive North African dynasties. Starting in 1084, the Almoravid Berbers ruled the region until 1147, when the Almohads conquered the land. Apart from Ibn Hud's rebellion in 1232, they ruled until the Tunisian Hafsids established control. The Hafsids' influence in the west rapidly waned, and Ceuta's inhabitants eventually expelled them in 1249. After this, a period of political instability persisted, under competing interests from the Marinids and Granada as well as autonomous rule under the native Banu al-Azafi. The Fez finally conquered the region in 1387, with assistance from Aragon.

Portuguese

On the morning of 21 August 1415, King John I of Portugal led his sons and their assembled forces in a surprise assault that would come to be known as the Conquest of Ceuta. The battle was almost anticlimactic, because the 45,000 men who traveled on 200 Portuguese ships caught the defenders of Ceuta off guard and suffered only eight casualties. By nightfall the town was captured. On the morning of 22 August, Ceuta was in Portuguese hands. Álvaro Vaz de Almada, 1st Count of Avranches was asked to hoist what was to become the flag of Ceuta, which is identical to the flag of Lisbon, but in which the coat of arms derived from that of the Kingdom of Portugal was added to the center; the original Portuguese flag and coat of arms of Ceuta remained unchanged, and the modern-day Ceuta flag features the configuration of the Portuguese shield.

John's son Henry the Navigator distinguished himself in the battle, being wounded during the conquest. The looting of the city proved to be less profitable than expected for John I, so he decided to keep the city to pursue further enterprises in the area.

From 1415 to 1437, Pedro de Meneses became the first governor of Ceuta.

The Marinid Sultanate started the 1419 siege but was defeated by the first governor of Ceuta before reinforcements arrived in the form of John, Constable of Portugal and his brother Henry the Navigator, who were sent with troops to defend Ceuta.

Under King John I's son, Duarte, the colony at Ceuta rapidly became a drain on the Portuguese treasury. Trans-Saharan trade journeyed instead to Tangier. It was soon realized that without the city of Tangier, possession of Ceuta was worthless. In 1437, Duarte's brothers Henry the Navigator and Fernando, the Saint Prince persuaded him to launch an attack on the Marinid sultanate. The resulting Battle of Tangier (1437), led by Henry, was a debacle. In the resulting treaty, Henry promised to deliver Ceuta back to the Marinids in return for allowing the Portuguese army to depart unmolested, which he reneged on.

Possession of Ceuta indirectly led to further Portuguese expansion. The main area of Portuguese expansion, at this time, was the coast of the Maghreb, where there was grain, cattle, sugar, and textiles, as well as fish, hides, wax, and honey.

Ceuta had to endure alone for 43 years, until the position of the city was consolidated with the taking of Ksar es-Seghir (1458), Arzila and Tangier (1471) by the Portuguese.

The city was recognized as a Portuguese possession by the Treaty of Alcáçovas (1479) and by the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494).

In the 1540s the Portuguese began building the Royal Walls of Ceuta as they are today including bastions, a navigable moat and a drawbridge. Some of these bastions are still standing, like the bastions of Coraza Alta, Bandera and Mallorquines.

Luís de Camões lived in Ceuta between 1549 and 1551, losing his right eye in battle, which influenced his work of poetry Os Lusíadas.

Union between Portugal and Spain

In 1578 King Sebastian of Portugal died at the Battle of Alcácer Quibir (known as the Battle of Three Kings) in what is today northern Morocco, without descendants, triggering the 1580 Portuguese succession crisis. His grand-uncle, the elderly Cardinal Henry, succeeded him as King, but also had no descendants, having taken holy orders. When the cardinal-king died after two years later, three grandchildren of King Manuel I of Portugal claimed the throne:

• Infanta Catarina, Duchess of Braganza
• António, Prior of Crato
• Philip II of Spain, uncle of former King Sebastian of Portugal

Philip prevailed and was crowned King Philip I of Portugal in 1581, uniting the two crowns and overseas empires.

During the Union with Spain, 1580 to 1640, Ceuta attracted many settlers of Spanish origin and became the only city of the Portuguese Empire that sided with Spain when Portugal regained its independence in the Portuguese Restoration War of 1640.

Spanish

On 1 January 1668, King Afonso VI of Portugal recognised the formal allegiance of Ceuta to Spain and ceded Ceuta to King Carlos II of Spain by the Treaty of Lisbon.

The city was attacked by Moroccan forces under Moulay Ismail during the Siege of Ceuta (1694–1727). During the longest siege in history, the city underwent changes leading to the loss of its Portuguese character. While most of the military operations took place around the Royal Walls of Ceuta, there were also small-scale penetrations by Spanish forces at various points on the Moroccan coast, and seizure of shipping in the Strait of Gibraltar.

During the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815), Spain allowed Britain to occupy Ceuta. Occupation began in 1810, with Ceuta being returned at the conclusion of the wars. Disagreements regarding the border of Ceuta resulted in the Hispano-Moroccan War (1859–60), which ended at the Battle of Tetuán.

In July 1936, General Francisco Franco took command of the Spanish Army of Africa and rebelled against the Spanish republican government; his military uprising led to the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939. Franco transported troops to mainland Spain in an airlift using transport aircraft supplied by Germany and Italy. Ceuta became one of the first battlegrounds of the uprising: General Franco's rebel nationalist forces seized Ceuta, while at the same time the city came under fire from the air and sea forces of the official republican government.

The Llano Amarillo monument was erected to honor Francisco Franco; it was inaugurated on 13 July 1940. The tall obelisk has since been abandoned, but the shield symbols of the Falange and Imperial Eagle remain visible.

Following the 1947 Partition of India, a substantial number of Sindhi Hindus from current-day Pakistan settled in Ceuta, adding to a small Hindu community that had existed in Ceuta since 1893, connected to Gibraltar's.

When Spain recognized the independence of Spanish Morocco in 1956, Ceuta and the other plazas de soberanía remained under Spanish rule. Spain considered them integral parts of the Spanish state, but Morocco has disputed this point.

Culturally, modern Ceuta is part of the Spanish region of Andalusia. It was attached to the province of Cádiz until 1995, the Spanish coast being only 20 km (12.5 miles) away. It is a cosmopolitan city, with a large ethnic Arab-Berber Muslim minority as well as Sephardic Jewish and Hindu minorities.

On 5 November 2007, King Juan Carlos I visited the city, sparking great enthusiasm from the local population and protests from the Moroccan government. It was the first time a Spanish head of state had visited Ceuta in 80 years.

Since 2010, Ceuta (and Melilla) have declared the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, or Feast of the Sacrifice, an official public holiday. It is the first time a non-Christian religious festival has been officially celebrated in Spanish ruled territory since the Reconquista.

Geography

Ceuta is separated by 17 km (11 mi) from the province of Cádiz on the Spanish mainland by the Strait of Gibraltar and it shares a 6.4 km (4 mi) land border with M'diq-Fnideq Prefecture in the Kingdom of Morocco. It has an area of 18.5 km (7 sq mi; 4,571 acres). It is dominated by Monte Anyera, a hill along its western frontier with Morocco, which is guarded by a Spanish military fort. Monte Hacho on the Peninsula of Almina overlooking the port is one of the possible locations of the southern pillar of the Pillars of Hercules of Greek legend (the other possibility being Jebel Musa).

Important Bird Area

The Ceuta Peninsula has been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because the site is part of a migratory bottleneck, or choke point, at the western end of the Mediterranean for large numbers of raptors, storks and other birds flying between Europe and Africa. These include European honey buzzards, black kites, short-toed snake eagles, Egyptian vultures, griffon vultures, black storks, white storks and Audouin's gulls.

Climate

Ceuta has a maritime-influenced Mediterranean climate, similar to nearby Spanish and Moroccan cities such as Tarifa, Algeciras or Tangiers. The average diurnal temperature variation is relatively low; the average annual temperature is 18.8 °C (65.8 °F) with average yearly highs of 21.4 °C (70.5 °F) and lows of 15.7 °C (60.3 °F) though the Ceuta weather station has only been in operation since 2003. Ceuta has relatively mild winters for the latitude, while summers are warm yet milder than in the interior of Southern Spain, due to the moderating effect of the Straits of Gibraltar. Summers are very dry, but yearly precipitation is still at 849 mm (33.4 in), which could be considered a humid climate if the summers were not so arid.

Government and administration

Since 1995, Ceuta is, along with Melilla, one of the two autonomous cities of Spain.

Ceuta is known officially in Spanish as Ciudad Autónoma de Ceuta (English: Autonomous City of Ceuta), with a rank between a standard municipality and an autonomous community. Ceuta is part of the territory of the European Union. The city was a free port before Spain joined the European Union in 1986. Now it has a low-tax system within the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union.

Since 1979, Ceuta has held elections to its 25-seat assembly every four years. The leader of its government was the Mayor until the Autonomy Statute provided for the new title of Mayor-President. As of 2011, the People's Party (PP) won 18 seats, keeping Juan Jesús Vivas as Mayor-President, which he has been since 2001. The remaining seats are held by the regionalist Caballas Coalition (4) and the Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE, 3).

Owing to its small population, Ceuta elects only one member of the Congress of Deputies, the lower house of the Cortes Generales (the Spanish Parliament). As of the November 2019 election, this post is held by María Teresa López of Vox.

Ceuta is subdivided into 63 barriadas ("neighborhoods"), such as Barriada de Berizu, Barriada de P. Alfonso, Barriada del Sarchal, and El Hacho.

Ceuta maintains its own police force.

Defence and Civil Guard

The defence of the enclave is the responsibility of the Spanish Armed Forces' General Command of Ceuta (COMGECEU). The Spanish Army's combat components of the command include:

• 54th Regulares Infantry Regiment based in González Tablas barracks;
• 2nd Tercio Duke of Alba Regiment of the Spanish Legion based in the Seraglio-Recarga cantonment;
• 3rd "Montesa" Cavalry Regiment (RC-3) located in the Colonel Galindo barracks and equipped with Leopard 2 main battle tanks and Pizarro infantry fighting vehicles
• 30th Mixed Artillery Regiment, one group equipped with 155/52mm towed howitzers and the other with Mistral short-range SAMs and 35/90 SKYDOR/35/90 GDF-007 anti-aircraft guns fulfilling an air defence role; and
• 7th Engineer Regiment

The command also includes its headquarters battalion as well as logistics elements.

In 2023, the Spanish Navy replaced the Aresa-class patrol boat P-114 in the territory with the Rodman-class patrol boat Isla de León.

Ceuta itself is only 113 km (70 mi) distant from the main Spanish naval base at Rota on the Spanish mainland. The Spanish Air Force's Morón Air Base is also within 135 km (84 mi) proximity.

The Civil Guard is responsible for border security and protects both the territory's fortified land border as well as its maritime approaches against frequent, and sometimes significant, migrant incursions.

Economy

The official currency of Ceuta is the euro. It is part of a special low tax zone in Spain. Ceuta is one of two Spanish port cities on the northern shore of Africa, along with Melilla. They are historically military strongholds, free ports, oil ports, and also fishing ports. Today the economy of the city depends heavily on its port (now in expansion) and its industrial and retail centres. Ceuta Heliport is now used to connect the city to mainland Spain by air. Lidl, Decathlon and El Corte Inglés have branches in Ceuta. There is also a casino. Border trade between Ceuta and Morocco is active because of advantage of tax-free status. Thousands of Moroccan women are involved in the cross-border porter trade daily, as porteadoras. The Moroccan dirham is used in such trade, even though prices are marked in euros.

Transport

The city's Port of Ceuta receives high numbers of ferries each day from Algeciras in Andalusia in the south of Spain. The closest airport is Sania Ramel Airport in Morocco.

A single road border checkpoint to the south of Ceuta near Fnideq allows for cars and pedestrians to travel between Morocco and Ceuta. An additional border crossing for pedestrians exists between Benzú and Belyounech on the northern coast. The rest of the border is closed and inaccessible.

There is a bus service throughout the city, and while it does not pass into neighbouring Morocco, it services both frontier crossings.

Hospitals

The following hospitals are located within Ceuta:

• University Hospital of Ceuta, established in 2010, 252 beds
• Primary Care Emergency Services Jose Lafont
• Ceuta Medical Centre
• Spanish Military Hospital (500 beds in 1929, 2020 listed as a clinic)

Demographics

As of 2018, its population was 85,144. Due to its location, Ceuta is home to a mixed ethnic and religious population. The two main religious groups are Christians and Muslims. As of 2006 approximately 50% of the population was Christian and approximately 48% Muslim. As of a 2018 estimate, around 67.8% of the city's population were born in Ceuta.

Spanish is the primary and official language of the enclave. Moroccan Arabic (Darija) is widely spoken. In 2021, the Council of Europe demanded that Spain formally recognize the language by 2023.

Religion

Christianity has been present in Ceuta continuously from late antiquity, as evidenced by the ruins of a basilica in downtown Ceuta and accounts of the martyrdom of St. Daniel Fasanella and his Franciscans in 1227 during the Almohad Caliphate.

The town's Grand Mosque had been built over a Byzantine-era church. In 1415, the year of the city's conquest, the Portuguese converted the Grand Mosque into Ceuta Cathedral. The present form of the cathedral dates to refurbishments undertaken in the late 17th century, combining baroque and neoclassical elements. It was dedicated to St Mary of the Assumption in 1726.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Ceuta was established in 1417. It incorporated the suppressed Diocese of Tanger in 1570. The Diocese of Ceuta was a suffragan of Lisbon until 1675, when it became a suffragan of Seville. In 1851, Ceuta's administration was notionally merged into the Diocese of Cádiz and Ceuta as part of a concordat between Spain and the Holy See; the union was not actually accomplished, however, until 1879.

Small Jewish and Hindu minorities are also present in the city.

Migration

Like Melilla, Ceuta attracts African migrants who try to use it as an entry to Europe. As a result, the enclave is surrounded by double fences that are 6 m (20 ft) high, and hundreds of migrants congregate near the fences waiting for a chance to cross them. The fences are regularly stormed by migrants trying to claim asylum once they enter Ceuta.

Education

The University of Granada offers undergraduate programmes at their campus in Ceuta. Like all areas of Spain, Ceuta is also served by the National University of Distance Education (UNED).

While primary and secondary education are generally offered in Spanish only, a growing number of schools are entering the Bilingual Education Programme.

Notable people from Ceuta

up to 1800

• Qadi Ayyad (1083 in Ceuta – 1149) born in Ceuta, then belonging to the Almoravids was the great imam of that city
• Muhammad al-Idrisi (1100 in Ceuta – 1165 in Ceuta) was a Muslim geographer, cartographer and Egyptologist. He lived in Palermo at the court of King Roger II of Sicily, known for the Tabula Rogeriana.
• Abu al-Abbas as-Sabti (1129 in Ceuta – 1204 in Marrakesh) the main Wali of Marrakesh
• Joseph ben Judah of Ceuta (c. 1160 – 1226) a Jewish physician and poet, and disciple of Moses Maimonides
• Abu al-Abbas al-Azafi (1162 in Ceuta – 1236) a religious and legal scholar, member of the Banu al-Azafi who ruled Ceuta
• Mohammed ibn Rushayd (1259 in Sabta – 1321) a judge, writer and scholar of Hadith
• Álvaro of Braganza (1440–1504) a president of Council of Castile.
• George Camocke (1666–1732) a Royal Navy captain and former admiral for Spain who was exiled to Ceuta to live out the last years of his life.
• Don Fernando de Leyba (1734 in Ceuta – 1780) a Spanish officer who served as the third governor of Upper Louisiana from 1778 until his death.
• Brigadier General Francisco Antonio García Carrasco Díaz (1742 in Ceuta – 1813 in Lima, Peru) a Spanish soldier and Royal Governor of Chile
• Sebastián Kindelán y O'Regan (1757 in Ceuta – 1826 in Santiago de Cuba) a colonel in the Spanish Army who served as governor of East Florida 1812/1815, of Santo Domingo 1818/1821 and was provisional governor of Cuba 1822/1823
• Isidro de Alaix Fábregas Count of Vergara and Viscount of Villarrobledo, (1790 in Ceuta – 1853 in Madrid) a Spanish general of the First Carlist War who backed Isabella II of Spain

since 1800

• General Francisco Llano de la Encomienda (1879 in Ceuta – 1963 in Mexico City), a Spanish soldier. During the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) he remained loyal to the Second Spanish Republic
• General Antonio Escobar Huertas (1879 in Ceuta – executed 1940 in Barcelona), a Spanish military officer
• África de las Heras Gavilán (1909 in Ceuta – 1988 in Moscow), a Spanish Communist, naturalized Soviet citizen, and KGB spy who went by the code name Patria
• Eugenio Martín (born 1925 in Ceuta), a Spanish film director and screenwriter
• Jacob Hassan, PhD (1936 in Ceuta – 2006 in Madrid), a Spanish philologist of Sephardic Jewish descent
• Manuel Chaves González (born 1945 in Ceuta), a Spanish politician of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party. He served as the Third Vice President of the Spanish Government from 2009 to 2011
• Ramón Castellano de Torres (born 1947 in Ceuta), a Spanish artist, thought by some to be an expressionist painter
• Ignacio Velázquez Rivera (born 1953), first Mayor-President of Melilla
• Juan Jesús Vivas Lara (born 1953 in Ceuta), became the Mayor-President of Ceuta in Spain in 2001
• Pedro Avilés Gutiérrez (born 1956 in Ceuta), a Spanish novelist from Madrid.
• Eva María Isanta Foncuberta (born 1971 in Ceuta), a Spanish actress
• Mohamed Taieb Ahmed (born 1975 in Ceuta), a Spanish-Moroccan drug lord responsible for trafficking hashish across the Strait of Gibraltar and into Spain.
• Rakesh Narwani (born 1981 in Ceuta), a Spanish Filmmaker

Sport

• Francisco Lesmes (1924–2005) and Rafael Lesmes (1926–2012), brothers and Spanish footballers.
• José Martínez Sánchez (born 1945 in Ceuta), nicknamed Pirri, a retired Spanish footballer, mainly played for Real Madrid, appearing in 561 competitive games and scoring 172 goals
• José Ramón López (born 1950), a sprint canoer, silver medallist at the 1976 Summer Olympics
• Miguel Bernardo Bianquetti (born 1951 in Ceuta), known as Migueli, a Spanish retired footballer, 391 caps for FC Barcelona and 32 for Spain
• Nayim (born 1966 in Ceuta), a retired Spanish footballer; he scored a last-minute goal for Real Zaragoza in the 1995 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final.
• Lorena Miranda (born 1991 in Ceuta), a Spanish female water polo player, silver medallist at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
• Anuar Tuhami (born 1995 in Ceuta), a Spanish-Moroccan footballer, played one game for Morocco

Twin towns and sister cities

Ceuta is twinned with:

• Aci Catena, Italy
• Algeciras, Spain (since 1997)
• Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Cádiz, Spain (since 2007)
• Melilla, Spain
• Santarém, Portugal

Dispute with Morocco

The Moroccan government has repeatedly called for Spain to transfer the sovereignty of Ceuta, Melilla and the plazas de soberanía to Morocco, with Spain's refusal to do so serving as a major source of tension in Morocco–Spain relations. In Morocco, Ceuta is frequently referred to as the "occupied Sebtah", and the Moroccan government has argued that the city, along with other Spanish territories in the region, are colonies. One of the major arguments used by Morocco in their attempts to acquire sovereignty over Ceuta refers to the geographical position of the city, as Ceuta is an exclave surrounded by Moroccan territory and the Mediterranean Sea and has no territorial continuity with the rest of Spain. This argument was originally developed by one of the founders of the Moroccan Istiqlal Party, Alal-El Faasi, who openly advocated for Morocco to invade and occupy Ceuta and other North African territories under Spanish rule. Spain, in line with the majority of nations in the rest of the world, has never recognized Morocco's claim over Ceuta. The official position of the Spanish government is that Ceuta is an integral part of Spain, and has been since the 16th century, centuries prior to Morocco's independence from Spain and France in 1956. The majority of Ceuta's population support continued Spanish sovereignty and are opposed to Moroccan control over the territory.

In 1986, Spain joined NATO. However, Ceuta is not under NATO protection since Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty limits such coverage to Europe and North America and islands north of the Tropic of Cancer. However, French Algeria was explicitly included in the treaty upon France's entry. Legal experts have claimed that other articles of the treaty could cover Spanish territories in North Africa but this interpretation has not been tested in practice. During the 2022 Madrid summit, the issue of the protection of Ceuta was raised by Spain, with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stating: "On which territories NATO protects and Ceuta and Melilla, NATO is there to protect all Allies against any threats. At the end of the day, it will always be a political decision to invoke Article 5, but rest assured NATO is there to protect and defend all Allies". On 21 December 2020, following statements made by Moroccan Prime Minister Saadeddine Othmani that Ceuta is "Moroccan as the Sahara", the Spanish government summoned the Moroccan ambassador, Karima Benyaich, to convey that Spain expects all its partners to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its territory in Africa and asked for an explanation for Othmani's words.

See also

• AD Ceuta FC, football club
• Arab Baths in Ceuta
• Benzú
• Hotel Tryp Ceuta
• Ceuta border fence
• Ceuta and Melilla (disambiguation)
• Plazas de soberanía – Spanish exclaves on the Moroccan coast
• Porteadoras – mule ladies, bale workers
• Royal Walls of Ceuta
• Spanish Morocco
• European enclaves in North Africa before 1830

References

Notes

Citations

1. Municipal Register of Spain 2018. National Statistics Institute.
2. "Caballas". El Faro de Ceuta (in Spanish). 15 May 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
3. caballa | Diccionario de la lengua española (in Spanish) (23.5 ed.). RAE-ASALE. 2021. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
4. "Contabilidad Regional de España" (PDF). www.ine.es.
5. Wells, John C. (2008). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.). Longman. ISBN 978-1-4058-8118-0.
6. Jones, Daniel (2011). Roach, Peter; Setter, Jane; Esling, John (eds.). Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (18th ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-15255-6.
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Bibliography

• Bonney, Thomas George; et al. (1907), The Mediterranean: Its Storied Cities and Venerable Ruins, New York: James Pott & Co.
• Cauvin, Joseph; et al., eds. (1843), "Abila", Lempriere's Classical Dictionary, Abridged by E.h. Barker, London: Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans.
• Dyer, Thomas H. (1873), "Septem Fratres", A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, vol. II, London: John Murray, p. 965.
• Lipiński, Edward (2004), Itineraria Phoenicia, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, No. 127, Studia Phoenicia, Vol. XVIII, Leuven: Uitgeverij Peeters, ISBN 9789042913448.
• Smedley, Edward; et al., eds. (1845), "Mauritania", Encyclopaedia Metropolitana, vol. XXII, London: B. Fellowes & al., pp. 48–49.
• Smith, Philip (1854), "Abyla", Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, London: Walton & Maberly.

External links

• "Ceuta" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
• (in Spanish) Official Ceuta government website
• Ceuta tourism website

v t e Ceuta
Architecture	Anyera Arab Baths Bienes de interés cultural in Ceuta Casa de los Dragones Cathedral of St Mary of the Assumption Ceuta border fence Ceuta Heliport Church of San Francisco Shrine of Our Lady of Africa Ermita de San Antonio Estadio Alfonso Murube Hotel Tryp Ceuta Punta Almina Lighthouse Military Museum of the Legion Monumento del Llano Amarillo Mosque of Muley El Mehdi Palace of Assembly of Ceuta Parque Marítimo del Mediterráneo Plaza de África Royal Walls of Ceuta Marinid Walls of Ceuta
Geography	Bay of Ceuta Benzú Isla de Santa Catalina Monte Hacho Peninsula of Almina Perejil Island Pillars of Hercules Playa Benítez Playa Calamocarro Playa del Chorillo Playa El Desnarigado Playa El Tarajal Playa Miramar Playa de la Ribera Playa del Sarchal Playa San Amaro Port of Ceuta Príncipe Punta Blanca Tingitan Peninsula Tramaguera
History	Septem (Roman Ceuta) Julian, Count of Ceuta Banu Isam Taifa of Ceuta Daniel and Companions Conquest of Ceuta Kingdom of the Algarve Roman Catholic Diocese of Ceuta Siege of Ceuta (1419) Treaty of Lisbon (1668) Vidal Marín del Campo Sieges of Ceuta (1694–1727) Siege of Ceuta (1790–1791) COVID-19 pandemic in Ceuta
Politics	2007 Morocco–Spain diplomatic conflict Caballas Coalition Ceuta (Spanish Congress Electoral District) Ceuta (Senate constituency) Ceuta Ya! Ceutan Democratic Union Democratic and Social Party of Ceuta Movement for Dignity and Citizenship List of governors of Ceuta Mayor-President of Ceuta People's Party of Ceuta Socialist Party of the People of Ceuta Statute of Autonomy of Ceuta Union of Muslims of Ceuta
Sport	Ceuta Football Federation Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol in Ceuta and Melilla Estadio Alfonso Murube Teams AD Ceuta AD Ceuta B AD Ceuta FC AD Ceuta FC B AgD Ceuta SD Ceuta AUGC Deportiva Ceuta 6 de Junio Imperio de Ceuta Ramón y Cajal
Other	Africa Star Coat of arms of Ceuta Flag of Ceuta Haketia Medalla de la Autonomía de Ceuta Radio Televisión Ceuta

v t e Autonomous communities of Spain
Autonomous communities	Andalusia  Aragon  Asturias  Balearic Islands  Basque Country  Canary Islands  Cantabria  Castilla–La Mancha  Castile and León  Catalonia  Extremadura  Galicia  La Rioja  Community of Madrid  Murcia  Navarre  Valencian Community
Autonomous cities	Ceuta  Melilla
Plazas de soberanía	Alhucemas Chafarinas Vélez de la Gomera

v t e Capitals of autonomous communities of Spain
Seville Andalusia Zaragoza Aragon Oviedo Asturias Palma Balearic Islands Vitoria-Gasteiz Basque Country Santa Cruz and Las Palmas Canary Islands Santander Cantabria Toledo Castilla–La Mancha Valladolid de facto, Castile and León Barcelona Catalonia Mérida Extremadura Santiago de Compostela Galicia Logroño La Rioja Madrid Community of Madrid Murcia Region of Murcia Pamplona Navarre Valencia Valencian Community Ceuta Melilla
Autonomous cities

v t e Portuguese Empire
North Africa 15th century 1415–1640 Ceuta 1458–1550 Alcácer Ceguer (El Qsar es Seghir) 1471–1550 Arzila (Asilah) 1471–1662 Tangier 1485–1550 Mazagan (El Jadida) 1487–16th century Ouadane 1488–1541 Safim (Safi) 1489 Graciosa 16th century 1505–1541 Santa Cruz do Cabo de Gué (Agadir) 1506–1525 Mogador (Essaouira) 1506–1525 Aguz (Souira Guedima) 1506–1769 Mazagan (El Jadida) 1513–1541 Azamor (Azemmour) 1515–1541 São João da Mamora (Mehdya) 1577–1589 Arzila (Asilah)
Sub-Saharan Africa 15th century 1455–1633 Arguim 1462–1975 Cape Verde 1470–1975 São Tomé 1471–1975 Príncipe 1474–1778 Annobón 1478–1778 Fernando Poo (Bioko) 1482–1637 Elmina (São Jorge da Mina) 1482–1642 Portuguese Gold Coast 1498–1540 Mascarene Islands 16th century 1500–1630 Malindi 1501–1975 Portuguese Mozambique 1502–1659 Saint Helena 1503–1698 Zanzibar 1505–1512 Quíloa (Kilwa) 1506–1511 Socotra 1508–1547 Madagascar 1557–1578 Accra 1575–1975 Portuguese Angola 1588–1974 Cacheu 1593–1698 Mombassa (Mombasa) 17th century 1645–1888 Ziguinchor 1680–1961 São João Baptista de Ajudá, Benin 1687–1974 Bissau 18th century 1728–1729 Mombassa (Mombasa) 1753–1975 Portuguese São Tomé and Príncipe 19th century 1879–1974 Portuguese Guinea 1885–1974 Portuguese Congo Part of São Tomé and Príncipe from 1753. Or 1600. A factory (Anosy Region) and small temporary coastal bases. Part of Portuguese Guinea from 1879. Part of Portuguese Angola from the 1920s.
Middle East 16th century 1506–1615 Gamru (Bandar Abbas) 1507–1643 Sohar 1515–1622 Hormuz (Ormus) 1515–1648 Quriyat 1515–? Qalhat 1515–1650 Muscat 1515?–? Barka 1515–1633? Julfar (Ras al-Khaimah) 1521–1602 Bahrain (Muharraq • Manama) 1521–1529? Qatif 1521?–1551? Tarut Island 1550–1551 Qatif 1588–1648 Matrah 17th century 1620–? Khor Fakkan 1621?–? As Sib 1621–1622 Qeshm 1623–? Khasab 1623–? Libedia 1624–? Kalba 1624–? Madha 1624–1648 Dibba Al-Hisn 1624?–? Bandar-e Kong
South Asia 15th century 1498–1545 Laccadive Islands (Lakshadweep) 16th century Portuguese India  • 1500–1663 Cochim (Kochi)  • 1501–1663 Cannanore (Kannur)  • 1502–1658  1659–1661 Quilon (Coulão / Kollam)  • 1502–1661 Pallipuram (Cochin de Cima)  • 1507–1657 Negapatam (Nagapatnam)  • 1510–1961 Goa  • 1512–1525  1750 Calicut (Kozhikode)  • 1518–1619 Portuguese Paliacate outpost (Pulicat)  • 1521–1740 Chaul   (Portuguese India)  • 1523–1662 Mylapore  • 1528–1666 Chittagong (Porto Grande De Bengala)  • 1531–1571 Chaul  • 1531–1571 Chalé  • 1534–1601 Salsette Island  • 1534–1661 Bombay (Mumbai)  • 1535 Ponnani  • 1535–1739 Baçaím (Vasai-Virar)  • 1536–1662 Cranganore (Kodungallur)  • 1540–1612 Surat  • 1548–1658 Tuticorin (Thoothukudi)  • 1559–1961 Daman and Diu  • 1568–1659 Mangalore   (Portuguese India)  • 1579–1632 Hugli  • 1598–1610 Masulipatnam (Machilipatnam) 1518–1521 Maldives 1518–1658 Portuguese Ceylon (Sri Lanka) 1558–1573 Maldives 17th century Portuguese India  • 1687–1749 Mylapore 18th century Portuguese India  • 1779–1954 Dadra and Nagar Haveli
East Asia and Oceania 16th century 1511–1641 Portuguese Malacca 1512–1621 Maluku  • 1522–1575  Ternate  • 1576–1605  Ambon  • 1578–1650  Tidore 1512–1665 Makassar 1515–1859 Larantuka 1557–1999 Macau 1580–1586 Nagasaki 17th century 1642–1975 Portuguese Timor (East Timor) 19th century Portuguese Macau  • 1864–1999 Coloane  • 1851–1999 Taipa  • 1890–1999 Ilha Verde 20th century Portuguese Macau  • 1938–1941 Lapa and Montanha (Hengqin) 1975 is the year of East Timor's Declaration of Independence and subsequent invasion by Indonesia. In 2002, East Timor's independence was fully recognized.
North America and North Atlantic 15th century 1420 Madeira 1432 Azores 16th century 1500–1579? Terra Nova (Newfoundland) 1500–1579? Labrador 1516–1579? Nova Scotia
South America and Caribbean 16th century 1500–1822 Brazil  • 1534–1549  Captaincy Colonies of Brazil  • 1549–1572  Brazil  • 1572–1578  Bahia  • 1572–1578  Rio de Janeiro  • 1578–1607  Brazil  • 1621–1815  Brazil 1536–1620 Barbados 17th century 1621–1751 Maranhão 1680–1777 Nova Colónia do Sacramento 18th century 1751–1772 Grão-Pará and Maranhão 1772–1775 Grão-Pará and Rio Negro 1772–1775 Maranhão and Piauí 19th century 1808–1822 Cisplatina (Uruguay) 1809–1817 Portuguese Guiana (Amapá) 1822 Upper Peru (Bolivia)
Armorial of Portuguese colonies Evolution of the Portuguese Empire Portuguese colonial architecture Portuguese colonization of the Americas Portuguese Empire in the Indonesian Archipelago Portuguese India Theory of the Portuguese discovery of Australia

v t e Phoenician cities and colonies
Algeria	Camarata Cartennae (Tenes) Hippo Regius Icosium (Algiers) Igilgili (Jijel) Iol (Cherchell) Iomnium (Tigzirt) Cirta (Constantine) Kissi (Djinet) Macomades Malaca Rachgoun Rusazus (Azeffoun) Rusguniae (Tamentfoust) Rusicade (Skikda) Rusippisir (Taksebt) Rusubbicari (Zemmouri El Bahri) Rusuccuru (Dellys) Sarai (Aïn Oulmene) Thagora (Taoura) Tipasa in Mauretania Tipasa in Numidia Timici
Cyprus	Dhali Kition (Larnaca) Lapathus Marion
Greece	Callista (Santorini) Paxi Rhodes Delos
Israel	Achzib Akka (Acre) Dora Michal Jaffa Reshef Shikmona (Haifa) Strato's Tower (Caesarea)
Italy	Bitan (Chia) Cape Melqart (Cefalù) Drepanum (Trapani) Eryx (Erice) Heraclea Minoa Kapara (Soluntum) Karaly (Cagliari) Lilybaeum Motya Neapolis Nora Olbia Pantelleria Selinunte Sulci (Sant'Antioco) Tharros Ṣiṣ (Palermo)
Lebanon	Amia Ampi Arqa Athar (Tripoli) Baalbek Birut (Beirut) Botrys (Teros) Gebal (Byblos) Ornithon (Tell el-Burak) Porphyreon (Jieh) Sarepta Sidon Sur (Tyre), Ushu (Palaetyrus) Umm al-Amad
Libya	Lepcis (Khoms) Oyat (Tripoli) Tsabratan
Malta	Maleth (Cospicua) Ann (Mdina) Gaulos (Gozo) Għajn Qajjet Mtarfa Ras il-Wardija Tas-Silġ
Morocco	Azama (Azemmour) Arambys (Mogador) Caricus Murus Heq she Elisha (Ksar es-Seghir) Likush (Larache) Shalat (Chellah) Tamusida Tinga (Tangier) Anfa (Casablanca) Volubilis Mogador Rusadir Oualidia Zilil Gadir Sala Thymiaterium Rusibis
Portugal	Portus Hannibalis Portus Magonis (Portimão) Olissipona (Lisbon) Ossonoba (Faro) Balsa (Tavira)
Spain	Abdera (Adra) Abyla (Ceuta) Akra Leuka (Alicante) Gadir (Cadiz) Herna Iboshim (Ibiza) Mahón Malake (Málaga) Onoba Carthage (Cartagena) Rushadir (Melilla) Saguntum Sexi (Almunecar) Tagilit (Tíjola) Toscanos (Velez) Tyreche
Syria	Arwad Marat (Amrit) Balanaea (Baniyas) Carne Paltus Safita Shuksi Sumur Ugarit
Tunisia	Aspis (Kelibia) Bulla Regia Carthage Hadrumetum (Sousse) Hippo Diarrhytus (Bizerte) Kerkouane Lepcis (Monastir) Maqom Hadesh (Ounga) Meninx (Djerba) Ruspe Ruspina Sicca (El Kef) Tabarka Tayinat (Thyna) Thapsus Thysdrus (El Djem) Utica
Other	Myriandus Phoenicus Gibraltar Tahpanhes

• Ceuta
• Autonomous cities of Spain
• Enclaves and exclaves
• Former Portuguese colonies
• Kingdom of the Algarve
• Mediterranean port cities and towns in Spain
• Morocco–Spain border crossings
• NUTS 2 statistical regions of the European Union
• Populated places of the Byzantine Empire
• Port cities in Africa
• Special territories of the European Union
• States and territories established in 1995
• Territorial disputes of Morocco
• Territorial disputes of Spain
• Populated places established in the 5th century BC
• 1415 establishments in the Portuguese Empire
• 1668 disestablishments in the Portuguese Empire
• 1668 establishments in the Spanish Empire
• 1995 disestablishments in the Spanish Empire
• Phoenician colonies in Spain
• Important Bird Areas of Spain
• Important Bird Areas of Africa