On Thursday, many Americans learned for the first time that the European Union (EU) shares a land border with Africa as 49,000 (mainly Moroccan male) migrants poured into Ceuta, a Spanish exclave on the south side of the Strait of Gibraltar that on Wednesday had a population of 83,500. Understanding why they came highlights the importance of Mullin v. Al Otro Lado (Spanish, ironically, for “the other side”), the most important U.S. Supreme Court case this last term that most people missed.
A Brief History of Two Spanish Exclaves on the African Coast
Actually, the EU shares two land borders with Africa, both Spanish exclaves (and enclaves): one Ceuta (“Sebtah” to the Moroccans) and the other Melilla (called “Melilah” by Morocco).
The former was the launchpad for the Islamic invasion of the Iberian peninsula in the 8th century (which began a Muslim occupation that continued in places for nearly 800 years), and ironically, each was subsequently conquered during the Reconquista that ended Muslim rule: Melilla by Spanish captains in 1494 (it was annexed to Spain in 1556); and Ceuta by the Portuguese in 1415, who transferred it to Spain in 1661.
Spain kept the two exclaves even after Morocco gained its independence (from French and Spanish “protectorates”, a complicated story for another day) in 1956, and as the BBC has noted: “For the Muslims, Ceuta and Melilla are a painful reminder of Muslim defeat and humiliation by rising Western, Christian powers.”
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