1.
Ceuta
–
Ceuta is an 18. 5-square-kilometre Spanish autonomous city located on the north coast of Africa, sharing its land border with Morocco, in which it is thus an enclave. Separated from the Iberian peninsula by the Strait of Gibraltar, Ceuta lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ceuta, along with the Spanish exclave Melilla, is one of nine populated Spanish territories in Africa and it was part of Cádiz province until 14 March 1995 when the citys Statute of Autonomy was passed. Ceuta, like Melilla and the Canary Islands, was a port before Spain joined the European Union. As of 2011, it has a population of 82,376 and its population consists of Christians, Muslims, and small minorities of Sephardic Jews and ethnic Sindhi Hindus. Spanish is the language, while Moroccan Darija of the northern Jebli variety is spoken by between 40% and 50% of the population which is of Moroccan origin. It was known variously in Ancient Greek as, Ἀβύλη, Ἀβύλα, Ἀβλύξ, or Ἀβίλη στήλη – Abyle, Abila, Ablyx or Abile Stele – Pillar of Abyle), together with Gibraltar on the European side, it formed one of the famous Pillars of Hercules. It changed hands again approximately 400 years later, when Vandal tribes ousted the Romans, after being controlled by the Visigoths, it then became an outpost of the Byzantine Empire. Ceuta was an important Christian center since the fourth century, in the 7th century the Umayyads tried to conquer the region but were unsuccessful. Under the leadership of the Berber general Tariq ibn Ziyad, the Muslims used Ceuta as a ground for an assault on Visigothic Iberian Peninsula. After Julians death, the Berbers took direct control of the city and they destroyed Ceuta during the Kharijite rebellion led by Maysara al-Matghari in 740. Ceuta lay in ruins until it was resettled 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 the Banu Isam rule ended in 931 when he abdicated in favor of Abd ar-Rahman III, Ceuta reverted to Moorish Andalusian rule in 927 along with Melilla, and later Tangier, in 951. Chaos ensued with the fall of the Umayyad caliphate in 1031, following this Ceuta and the rest of Muslim Iberia were controlled by successive North African dynasties. Starting in 1084, the Almoravid Berbers ruled the region until 1147, apart from Ibn Huds rebellion of 1232, they ruled until the Tunisian Hafsids established control. The Hafsids influence in the west rapidly waned, and Ceutas inhabitants eventually expelled them in 1249, after this, a period of political instability persisted, under competing interests from the Kingdom of Fez and the Kingdom of Granada. The Kingdom of Fez finally conquered the region in 1387, with assistance from the Crown of Aragon, in 1415, during the Battle of Ceuta, the city was captured by the Portuguese during the reign of John I of Portugal. The Benemerine sultan besieged the city in 1418 but was defeated, phillip II ascended the Portuguese throne in 1580 and Spanish kings of Portugal governed Ceuta for 60 years
Ceuta
–
Ceuta, as seen from Monte Hacho
Ceuta
–
Flag
Ceuta
–
The
Royal Walls of Ceuta and navigable moats
Ceuta
–
A street of Ceuta, c. 1905–1910
2.
Melilla
–
Melilla is a Spanish autonomous city located on the north coast of Africa, sharing a border with Morocco with an area of 12.3 square kilometres. Melilla, along with Ceuta, is one of two permanently inhabited Spanish cities in mainland Africa and it was part of Málaga province until 14 March 1995 when the citys Statute of Autonomy was passed. Melilla, like Ceuta, was a port before Spain joined the European Union. As of 2011, it had a population of 78,476 made up of ethnic Spaniards, ethnic Riffian Berbers, both Spanish and Riffian-Berber are the two most widely spoken languages, with Spanish as the only official language. Melilla is officially subject to a claim along with the city of Ceuta. The current Berber name of Melilla is Mřič or Mlilt which means the white one, Melilla was an ancient Berber village and a Phoenician and later Punic trade establishment under the name of Rusadir. Later it became a part of the Roman province of Mauretania Tingitana, rusaddir is mentioned by Ptolemy and Pliny who call it oppidum et portus, also by Mela, under the corrupted form Rusicada and by the Itinerarium Antonini. Rusaddir was supposed to have once been the seat of a bishop, but there is no record of any bishop of the supposed see, as centuries passed, it went through Vandal, Byzantine and Hispano-Visigothic hands. The political history is similar to that of towns in the region of the Moroccan Rif, local rule passed through Amazigh, Phoenician, Punic, Roman, Umayyad, Idrisid, Almoravid, Almohad, Marinid, and then Wattasid rulers. During the Middle Ages it was the Berber city of Mlila, Melilla was immediately threatened with reconquest and was besieged during 1694–1696 and 1774–1775. One Spanish officer reflected, an hour in Melilla, from the point of view of merit, was more than thirty years of service to Spain. 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 authorized center 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, in 1893, the Rif Berbers launched the First Melillan campaign and 25,000 Spanish soldiers had to be dispatched against them. The conflict was known as the Margallo War, after the Governor of Melilla and Spanish General Juan García y Margallo. In 1908 two companies, under the protection of Bou Hmara, a chieftain ruling the Rif region, started mining lead. A railway to the mines was begun, in October of that year the Bou Hmaras 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 the Second Melillan campaign
Melilla
–
Port of Melilla
Melilla
–
Illustration of the death of Spanish General
Juan García y Margallo during the
First Melillan campaign in 1893
Melilla
–
Juan José Imbroda, current
Mayor-President of Melilla
Melilla
–
Old Town
3.
Spain
–
By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
Spain
–
Lady of Elche
Spain
–
Flag
Spain
–
Altamira Cave paintings, in
Cantabria.
Spain
–
Celtic castro in
A Guarda,
Galicia.
4.
North Africa
–
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of Africa. The United Nationss definition of Northern Africa is, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, the countries of Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya are often collectively referred to as the Maghreb, which is the Arabic word for sunset. Egypt lies to the northeast and encompasses part of West Asia, while Sudan is situated on the edge of the Sahel, Egypt is a transcontinental country because of the Sinai Peninsula, which geographically lies in Western Asia. North Africa also includes a number of Spanish possessions, the Canary Islands and Madeira in the North Atlantic Ocean northwest of the African mainland are included in considerations of the region. From 3500 BC, following the abrupt desertification of the Sahara due to changes in the Earths orbit. The Islamic influence in the area is significant, and North Africa is a major part of the Muslim world. Some researchers have postulated that North Africa rather than East Africa served as the point for the modern humans who first trekked out of the continent in the Out of Africa migration. The Atlas Mountains extend across much of Morocco, northern Algeria and Tunisia, are part of the mountain system that also runs through much of Southern Europe. They recede to the south and east, becoming a steppe landscape before meeting the Sahara desert, the sediments of the Sahara overlie an ancient plateau of crystalline rock, some of which is more than four billion years old. Sheltered valleys in the Atlas Mountains, the Nile Valley and Delta, a wide variety of valuable crops including cereals, rice and cotton, and woods such as cedar and cork, are grown. Typical Mediterranean crops, such as olives, figs, dates and citrus fruits, the Nile Valley is particularly fertile, and most of the population in Egypt and Sudan live close to the river. Elsewhere, irrigation is essential to improve yields on the desert margins. The inhabitants of Saharan Africa are generally divided in a manner corresponding to the principal geographic regions of North Africa, the Maghreb, the Nile valley. The edge of the Sahel, to the south of Egypt has mainly been inhabited by Nubians, Ancient Egyptians record extensive contact in their Western desert with people that appear to have been Berber or proto-Berber, as well as Nubians from the south. They have contributed to the Arabized Berber populations, the official language or one of the official languages in all of the countries in North Africa is Arabic. The people of the Maghreb and the Sahara regions speak Berber languages and several varieties of Arabic, the Arabic and Berber languages are distantly related, both being members of the Afroasiatic language family. The Tuareg Berber languages are more conservative than those of the coastal cities. Over the years, Berbers have been influenced by contact with cultures, Greeks, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Romans, Vandals, Arabs, Europeans
North Africa
–
Market of
Biskra in Algeria, 1899
North Africa
–
Northern Africa (UN subregion)
North Africa
–
The
kasbah of
Aït Benhaddou in Morocco
North Africa
–
The first
Roman emperor native to North Africa was
Septimius Severus, born in Leptis Magna in present-day Libya.
5.
Mediterranean
–
The sea is sometimes considered a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it is usually identified as a separate body of water. The name Mediterranean is derived from the Latin mediterraneus, meaning inland or in the middle of land and it covers an approximate area of 2.5 million km2, but its connection to the Atlantic is only 14 km wide. The Strait of Gibraltar is a strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Gibraltar. In oceanography, it is called the Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea or the European Mediterranean Sea to distinguish it from mediterranean seas elsewhere. The Mediterranean Sea has a depth of 1,500 m. The sea is bordered on the north by Europe, the east by Asia and it is located between latitudes 30° and 46° N and longitudes 6° W and 36° E. Its west-east length, from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Gulf of Iskenderun, the seas average north-south length, from Croatia’s southern shore to Libya, is approximately 800 km. The Mediterranean Sea, including the Sea of Marmara, has an area of approximately 2,510,000 square km. The sea was an important route for merchants and travelers of ancient times that allowed for trade, the history of the Mediterranean region is crucial to understanding the origins and development of many modern societies. In addition, the Gaza Strip and the British Overseas Territories of Gibraltar and Akrotiri, the term Mediterranean derives from the Latin word mediterraneus, meaning amid the earth or between land, as it is between the continents of Africa, Asia and Europe. The Ancient Greek name Mesogeios, is similarly from μέσο, between + γη, land, earth) and it can be compared with the Ancient Greek name Mesopotamia, meaning between rivers. The Mediterranean Sea has historically had several names, for example, the Carthaginians called it the Syrian Sea and latter Romans commonly called it Mare Nostrum, and occasionally Mare Internum. Another name was the Sea of the Philistines, from the people inhabiting a large portion of its shores near the Israelites, the sea is also called the Great Sea in the General Prologue by Geoffrey Chaucer. In Ottoman Turkish, it has also been called Bahr-i Sefid, in Modern Hebrew, it has been called HaYam HaTikhon, the Middle Sea, reflecting the Seas name in ancient Greek, Latin, and modern languages in both Europe and the Middle East. Similarly, in Modern Arabic, it is known as al-Baḥr al-Mutawassiṭ, in Turkish, it is known as Akdeniz, the White Sea since among Turks the white colour represents the west. Several ancient civilisations were located around the Mediterranean shores, and were influenced by their proximity to the sea. It provided routes for trade, colonisation, and war, as well as food for numerous communities throughout the ages, due to the shared climate, geology, and access to the sea, cultures centered on the Mediterranean tended to have some extent of intertwined culture and history. Two of the most notable Mediterranean civilisations in classical antiquity were the Greek city states, later, when Augustus founded the Roman Empire, the Romans referred to the Mediterranean as Mare Nostrum
Mediterranean
–
Circa the 6th century BCE: In ancient times the Mediterranean provided sources of food and local commerce and direct routes for trade and communications, colonisation, and war. Numerous cities and colonies were situated at its shores or within the basin: Greek (red) and Phoenician (yellow)
colonies in antiquity; and other cities (grey), including the provincial
"Rom".
Mediterranean
–
Map of the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean
–
With its highly indented coastline and large number of islands, Greece has the longest Mediterranean coastline.
Mediterranean
–
The
Battle of Lepanto, 1571, ended in victory for the European
Holy League against the Ottoman Turks.
6.
Morocco
–
Morocco, officially known as the Kingdom of Morocco, is a sovereign country located in the Maghreb region of North Africa. Geographically, Morocco is characterized by a mountainous interior, large tracts of desert. Morocco has a population of over 33.8 million and an area of 446,550 km2 and its capital is Rabat, and the largest city is Casablanca. Other major cities include Marrakesh, Tangier, Tetouan, Salé, Fes, Agadir, Meknes, Oujda, Kenitra, a historically prominent regional power, Morocco has a history of independence not shared by its neighbours. Marinid and Saadi dynasties continued the struggle against foreign domination, the Alaouite dynasty, the current ruling dynasty, seized power in 1666. In 1912 Morocco was divided into French and Spanish protectorates, with a zone in Tangier. Moroccan culture is a blend of Arab, indigenous Berber, Sub-Saharan African, Morocco claims the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara as its Southern Provinces. Morocco annexed the territory in 1975, leading to a war with indigenous forces until a cease-fire in 1991. Peace processes have thus far failed to break the political deadlock, Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. The King of Morocco holds vast executive and legislative powers, especially over the military, foreign policy, the king can issue decrees called dahirs which have the force of law. He can also dissolve the parliament after consulting the Prime Minister, Moroccos predominant religion is Islam, and the official languages are Arabic and Tamazight. The Moroccan dialect, referred to as Darija, and French are also widely spoken, Morocco is a member of the Arab League, the Union for the Mediterranean, and the African Union. It has the fifth largest economy of Africa, the full Arabic name al-Mamlakah al-Maghribiyyah translates to Kingdom of the West, although the West in Arabic is الغرب Al-Gharb. The basis of Moroccos English name is Marrakesh, its capital under the Almoravid dynasty, the origin of the name Marrakesh is disputed, but is most likely from the Berber words amur akush or Land of God. The modern Berber name for Marrakesh is Mṛṛakc, in Turkish, Morocco is known as Fas, a name derived from its ancient capital of Fes. The English name Morocco is an anglicisation of the Spanish Marruecos, the area of present-day Morocco has been inhabited since Paleolithic times, sometime between 190,000 and 90,000 BC. During the Upper Paleolithic, the Maghreb was more fertile than it is today, twenty-two thousand years ago, the Aterian was succeeded by the Iberomaurusian culture, which shared similarities with Iberian cultures. Skeletal similarities have been suggested between the Iberomaurusian Mechta-Afalou burials and European Cro-Magnon remains, the Iberomaurusian was succeeded by the Beaker culture in Morocco
Morocco
–
Berber Roman King
Ptolemy of Mauretania.
Morocco
–
Flag
Morocco
–
Roman mosaic of Diana in
Volubilis.
Morocco
–
Morocco, Safi ceramic vessel Jobbana
7.
Autonomous cities of Spain
–
Spain is not a federation, but a highly decentralized unitary state. Some scholars have referred to the system as a federal system in all. There are 17 autonomous communities and two cities that are collectively known as autonomies. The two autonomous cities have the right to become autonomous communities, but neither has yet used this right and this unique framework of territorial administration is known as the State of Autonomies. The autonomous communities are governed according to the constitution and their own organic laws known as Statutes of Autonomy, since devolution was intended to be asymmetrical in nature, the scope of competences vary for each community, but all have the same parliamentary structure. Spain is a country made up of different regions with varying economic and social structures, as well as different languages. While the entire Spanish territory was united under one crown by the 16th century, the constituent territories—be it crowns, kingdoms, principalities or dominions—retained much of their former institutional existence, including limited legislative, judicial or fiscal autonomy. These territories also exhibited a variety of customs, laws. From the 18th century onwards, the Bourbon kings and the government tried to establish a more centralized regime, leading figures of the Spanish Enlightenment advocated for the building of a Spanish nation beyond the internal territorial boundaries. This culminated in 1833, when Spain was divided into 49 provinces and these were the Basque Country and Catalonia. This gave rise to peripheral nationalisms along with Spanish nationalism, therefore, economic and social changes that had produced a national cultural unification in France had the opposite effect in Spain. In a response to Catalan demands, limited autonomy was granted to Catalonia in 1913 and it was granted again in 1932 during the Second Spanish Republic, when the Generalitat, Catalonias mediaeval institution of government, was restored. During General Francos dictatorial regime, centralism was most forcefully enforced as a way of preserving the unity of the Spanish nation, peripheral nationalism, along with communism and atheism were regarded by his regime as the main threats. When Franco died in 1975, Spain entered into a phase of transition towards democracy, the then Prime Minister of Spain, Adolfo Suárez, met with Josep Tarradellas, president of the Generalitat of Catalonia in exile. An agreement was made so that the Generalitat would be restored and limited competencies would be transferred while the constitution was still being written. In the end, the constitution, published and ratified in 1979, found a balance in recognizing the existence of nationalities and regions in Spain, within the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation. The starting point in the organization of Spain was the second article of the constitution. In order to exercise this right, the established a open process whereby the nationalities
Autonomous cities of Spain
–
A map of
Iberia in 1757
Autonomous cities of Spain
–
Galicia
Autonomous cities of Spain
–
The Spanish Parliament, Congress of Deputies
Autonomous cities of Spain
–
Pro-Catalan independence and pro-Spanish pertenence demonstrations in
Barcelona.
8.
Reconquista
–
The Reconquista ended just before the European discovery of the Americas—the New World—which ushered in the era of the Portuguese and Spanish colonial empires. The concept of a Christian reconquest of the peninsula first emerged, in tenuous form, a landmark was set by the Christian Chronica Prophetica, a document stressing the Christian and Muslim cultural and religious divide in Iberia and the necessity to drive the Muslims out. Nevertheless, the difference between Christian and Muslim kingdoms in early medieval Spain was not seen at the time as anything like the clear-cut opposition that later emerged, both Christian and Muslim rulers fought amongst themselves. Alliances between Muslims and Christians were not uncommon, blurring distinctions even further were the mercenaries from both sides who simply fought for whoever paid the most. The period is looked back upon today as one of religious tolerance. In fact previous documents from the 10th and 11th centuries are mute on any idea of reconquest and their rebellious pursuit was thus a Crusade for the restoration of Churchs unity, where Franco stood for both Pelagius of Asturias and El Cid. Many recent historians dispute the concept of Reconquista as a concept created a posteriori in the service of later political goals. A number of historians have called it a myth, One of the first Spanish intellectuals to question the idea of a reconquest that lasted for eight centuries was José Ortega y Gasset, writing in the first half of the 20th century. However, the term is widely in use. In 711, Muslim Moors, mainly North African Berber soldiers with some Arabs, crossed the Strait of Gibraltar, from their stronghold of Narbonne, they launched raids into the Duchy of Aquitaine. At no point did the invading Islamic armies exceed 60,000 men and these armies established an Islamic rule that would last 300 years in much of the Iberian Peninsula and 770 years in Granada. After the establishment of a local Emirate, Caliph Al-Walid I, ruler of the Umayyad caliphate, tariq ibn Ziyad, the first governor of the newly conquered province of Al-Andalus, was recalled to Damascus and replaced with Musa bin Nusair, who had been his former superior. Musas son, Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa, apparently married Egilona, Roderics widow and he was suspected of being under the influence of his wife, accused of wanting to convert to Christianity, and of planning a secessionist rebellion. Apparently a concerned Al-Walid I ordered Abd al-Azizs assassination, Caliph Al-Walid I died in 715 and was succeeded by his brother Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik. Sulayman seems to have punished the surviving Musa bin Nusair, who soon died during a pilgrimage in 716. In the end Abd al-Aziz ibn Musas cousin, Ayyub ibn Habib al-Lakhmi became the emir of Al-Andalus, the conquering generals were necessarily acting very independently, due to the methods of communication available. Old rivalries and perhaps even full-fledged conspiracies between rival generals may have had influence over this development, in the end, the old successful generals were replaced by a younger generation considered more loyal by the government in Damascus. A serious weakness amongst the Muslim conquerors was the tension between Berbers and Arabs
Reconquista
–
A battle of the Reconquista from the
Cantigas de Santa Maria
Reconquista
–
Northeastern al-Andalus, the Pyrenees and southern Gaul at the time of the Berber rebellion (739-742).
Reconquista
–
Forces of
Muhammed IX,
Nasrid Sultan of
Granada, at the
Battle of La Higueruela, 1431
Reconquista
–
Santiago the Moor-slayer
9.
Granada
–
Granada is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of four rivers, the Beiro, the Darro, the Genil and the Monachil. It sits at an elevation of 738 m above sea level, yet is only one hour by car from the Mediterranean coast. Nearby is the Sierra Nevada Ski Station, where the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1996 were held, about 3. 3% of the population did not hold Spanish citizenship, the largest number of these people coming from South America. Its nearest airport is Federico García Lorca Granada-Jaén Airport, the Alhambra, a Moorish citadel and palace, is in Granada. It is the most renowned building of the Andalusian Islamic historical legacy with its cultural attractions that make Granada a popular destination among the touristic cities of Spain. The Almohad influence on architecture is preserved in the Granada neighborhood called the Albaicín with its fine examples of Moorish. Granada is also well-known within Spain for the University of Granada which has about 80,000 students spread over five different campuses in the city, the pomegranate is the heraldic device of Granada. The region surrounding what today is Granada has been populated since at least 5500 BC and experienced Roman, the most ancient ruins found in the city belongs to an Iberian oppidum called Ilturir, in the region known as Bastetania. This oppidum eventually changed its name to Iliberri, and after the Roman conquest of Iberia, the Umayyad conquest of Hispania, starting in AD711, brought large parts of the Iberian Peninsula under Moorish control and established Al-Andalus. In the early 11th century, after a war that ended the Caliphate, the Berber, Zawi ben Ziri, established an independent kingdom for himself. Jewish people were established in another close to Illiberis, called Gárnata or Gárnata al-Yahūd. Granadas historical name in the Arabic language was غرناطة, the word Gárnata possibly means hill of strangers. Because the city was situated on a low plain and, as a result, difficult to protect from attacks, in a short time this town was transformed into one of the most important cities of Al-Andalus. By the end of the 11th century, the city had spread across the Darro to reach the hill of the future Alhambra, the Almoravids ruled Granada from 1090 and the Almohad dynasty from 1166. With the Reconquista in full swing after the conquest of Córdoba in 1236, according to some historians, Granada was a tributary state to the Kingdom of Castile since that year. It provided connections with Muslim and Arab trade centers, particularly for gold from sub-Saharan Africa and the Maghreb, the Nasrids also supplied troops from the Emirate and mercenaries from North Africa for service to Castile. Ibn Battuta, a traveler and an authentic historian, visited the Kingdom of Granada in 1350
Granada
–
From top left: The
Alhambra,
Generalife, Patio de los Leones in Alhambra, Royal Hall in Alhambra,
Albaicín and
Sacromonte, Huerto del Carlos, in Albaicín, Plaza Nueva, house in Albaicín, façade of the
cathedral, bell tower of the cathedral,
Royal Chapel
Granada
–
Arco/puerta de Elvira in Granada
Granada
–
Historic map of Granada by
Piri Reis
10.
Crown of Castile
–
The title of King of Castile remained in use by the Habsburg rulers during the 16th and 17th centuries. Charles I was King of Aragon, Majorca, Valencia, and Sicily, in the early 18th century, Philip of Bourbon won the War of the Spanish Succession and imposed unification policies over the Crown of Aragon, supporters of their enemies. This unified the Crown of Aragon and the Crown of Castile into the kingdom of Spain, even though the Nueva Planta decrees did not formally abolish the Crown of Castile, the country of was called Spain by both contemporaries and historians. King of Castile also remains part of the title of Felipe VI of Spain. The Kingdom of León arose out of the Kingdom of Asturias, the Kingdom of Castile appeared initially as a county of the Kingdom of León. From the second half of the 10th century to the first half of the 11th century it changed hands between León and the Kingdom of Navarre, in the 11th century it became a kingdom in its own right. The two kingdoms had been united twice previously, From 1037 until 1065 under Ferdinand I of León, upon his death his kingdoms passed to his sons, León to Alfonso VI, Castile to Sancho II, and Galicia to García. From 1072 until 1157 under Alfonso VI, Urraca, and Alfonso VII, from 1111 until 1126 Galicia was separate from the union under Alfonso VII. In 1157 the kingdoms were divided between Alfonsos sons, with Ferdinand II receiving León and Sancho III Castile, from then on the two kingdoms were united under the name of the Kingdom of León and Castile, or simply as the Crown of Castile. Ferdinand III later conquered the Guadalquivir Valley, while his son Alfonso X conquered the Kingdom of Murcia from Al-Andalus, the heir to the throne has been titled Prince of Asturias since the 14th century. Almost immediately after the union of the two kingdoms under Ferdinand III, the parliaments of Castile and León were united. It was divided into three estates, which corresponded with the nobility, the church and the cities, and included representation from Castile, León, Galicia, Toledo, Navarre, under Alfonso X, most sessions of the Cortes of both kingdoms were held jointly. The Cortes of 1258 in Valladolid comprised representatives of Castile, Extremadura and León, subsequent Cortes were celebrated separately, for example in 1301 that of Castile in Burgos and that of León in Zamora, but the representatives demanded that the parliaments be reunited from then on. These laws continued to be in force until 1889, when a new Spanish civil code, in the 13th century there were many languages spoken in the Kingdoms of León and Castile among them Castilian, Leonese, Basque and Galician-Portuguese. But, as the century progressed, Castilian gained increasing prominence as the language of culture, henceforth all public documents were written in Castilian, likewise all translations of Arabic legal and government documents were made into Castilian instead of Latin. In 1492, under the Catholic Monarchs, the first edition of the Grammar of the Castilian Language by Antonio de Nebrija was published, Castilian was eventually carried to the Americas in the 16th century by the conquistadors. Because of Castilians importance in the land ruled by the Spanish Crown, on the death of Alfonso XI a dynastic conflict started between his sons, the Infantes Peter and Henry, Count of Trastámara, which became entangled in the Hundred Years War. Alfonso XI had married Maria of Portugal with whom he had his heir, however, the King also had many illegitimate children with Eleanor of Guzman, among them the above-mentioned Henry, who disputed Peters right to the throne once the latter became king
Crown of Castile
–
The Recapture of Granada (F. Padilla)
Crown of Castile
–
Royal Standard
Crown of Castile
–
Columbus and the Catholic Monarchs (The return of Columbus)
Crown of Castile
–
"The Comuneros Padilla, Bravo and Maldonado in the Patíbulo ", by
Antonio Gisbert, 1860.
11.
Kingdom of Portugal
–
The Kingdom of Portugal was a monarchy on the Iberian Peninsula and the predecessor of modern Portugal. It was in existence from 1139 until 1910, after 1248, it was also known as the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves and between 1815 and 1822, it was known as the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. The name is often applied to the Portuguese Empire, the realms extensive overseas colonies. The nucleus of the Portuguese state was the County of Portugal, established in the 9th century as part of the Reconquista, by Vímara Peres, a vassal of the King of Asturias. The county became part of the Kingdom of León in 1097, the kingdom was ruled by the Alfonsine Dynasty until the 1383–85 Crisis, after which the monarchy passed to the House of Aviz. During the 15th and 16th century, Portuguese exploration established a vast colonial empire, from 1580 to 1640, the kingdom of Portugal was in personal union with Habsburg Spain. After the Portuguese Restoration War of 1640–1668, the passed to the House of Braganza and after to the House of Braganza-Saxe-Coburg. From this time, the influence of Portugal declined, but it remained a major due to its most valuable colony. Portugal was an absolute monarchy before 1822. It rotated between absolute and constitutional monarchy from 1822 until 1834, and was a constitutional monarchy after 1834. The Kingdom of Portugal finds its origins in the County of Portugal, the Portuguese County was a semi-autonomous county of the Kingdom of León. Independence from León took place in three stages, The first on 26 July 1139 when Afonso Henriques was acclaimed King of the Portuguese internally, the second was on 5 October 1143, when Alfonso VII of León and Castile recognized Afonso Henriques as king through the Treaty of Zamora. The third, in 1179, was the Papal Bull Manifestis Probatum, once Portugal was independent, D. Afonso Is descendants, members of the Portuguese House of Burgundy, would rule Portugal until 1383. Even after the change in houses, all the monarchs of Portugal were descended from Afonso I, one way or another. With the start of the 20th century, Republicanism grew in numbers and support in Lisbon among progressive politicians, however a minority with regard to the rest of the country, this height of republicanism would benefit politically from the Lisbon Regicide on 1 February 1908. When returning from the Ducal Palace at Vila Viçosa, King Carlos I, with the death of the king and his heir, Carlos Is second son would become king as King Manuel II of Portugal. Manuels reign, however, would be short-lived, ending by force with the 5 October 1910 revolution, sending Manuel into exile in England, on 19 January 1919, the Monarchy of the North was proclaimed in Porto. The monarchy would be deposed a month later and no other monarchist counterrevolution in Portugal has happened since, after centuries of Portuguese dominion in Angola, the Kingdom of Kongo was made a vassal state of the Portuguese kingdom, its king pledging allegiance to the King of Portugal
Kingdom of Portugal
–
Flag (1830–1910)
12.
Barbary corsairs
–
This area was known in Europe as the Barbary Coast, a term derived from the name of its Berber inhabitants. The main purpose of their attacks was to capture Christian slaves for the Ottoman slave trade as well as the general Muslim slavery market in North Africa and the Middle East. In that period Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli came under the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire, similar raids were undertaken from Salé and other ports in Morocco. Corsairs captured thousands of ships and repeatedly raided coastal towns, as a result, residents abandoned their former villages of long stretches of coast in Spain and Italy. The raids were such a problem coastal settlements were seldom undertaken until the 19th century, from the 16th to 19th century, corsairs captured an estimated 800,000 to 1.25 million people as slaves. Some corsairs were European outcasts and converts such as John Ward, Hayreddin Barbarossa and Oruç Reis, Turkish Barbarossa Brothers, who took control of Algiers on behalf of the Ottomans in the early 16th century, were also notorious corsairs. The European pirates brought advanced sailing and shipbuilding techniques to the Barbary Coast around 1600, the effects of the Barbary raids peaked in the early to mid-17th century. However, the ships and coasts of Christian states without such effective protection continued to suffer until the early 19th century. Following the Napoleonic Wars and the Congress of Vienna in 1814–15, European powers agreed upon the need to suppress the Barbary corsairs entirely and the threat was largely subdued. Occasional incidents occurred, including two Barbary wars between the United States and the Barbary States, until terminated by the French conquest of Algiers in 1830. Piracy by Muslim populations had been known in the Mediterranean since at least the 9th century, in the 14th century Tunisian corsairs became enough of a threat to provoke a Franco-Genoese attack on Mahdia in 1390, also known as the Barbary Crusade. The Barbary pirates had long attacked English and other European shipping along the North Coast of Africa and they had been attacking English merchant and passengers ships since the 1600s. Regular fundraising for ransoms was undertaken generally by families and local church groups, the government did not ransom ordinary persons. The English became familiar with captivity narratives written by Barbary pirates prisoners and ransomed captives, during the American Revolution the pirates attacked American ships. The Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship stands as the U. S. s oldest non-broken friendship treaty with a foreign power, in 1778 Morocco became the first nation to recognize the new United States. As late as 1798, an islet near Sardinia was attacked by the Tunisians, throughout history, geography was on the pirates side on the Northern coast of Africa. The coast was ideal for their wants and needs, with natural harbours often backed by lagoons, it provided a haven for guerrilla warfare, such as attacks on shipping vessels venturing through their territory. On the coast, mountainous areas provided ample reconnaissance for the corsairs as well, ships were spotted from afar, the pirates had time to prepare their attacks and surprise the ships
Barbary corsairs
–
A Sea Fight with Barbary Corsairs by
Laureys a Castro, c. 1681
Barbary corsairs
–
British sailors boarding an Algerine pirate ship
Barbary corsairs
–
A man from the Barbary states
Barbary corsairs
–
A Barbary pirate,
Pier Francesco Mola 1650
13.
Papal bull
–
A Papal bull is a specific kind of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by a pope of the Roman Catholic Church. It is named after the seal that was traditionally appended to the end in order to authenticate it. Papal bulls have been in use at least since the 6th century, but the phrase was not used until around the end of the 13th century, and then only internally for unofficial administrative purposes. However, it had become official by the 15th century, when one of the offices of the Apostolic Chancery was named the register of bulls, by the accession of Pope Leo IX in 1048, a clear distinction developed between two classes of bulls of greater and less solemnity. The majority of the bulls now in existence are in the nature of confirmations of property or charters of protection accorded to monasteries. In an epoch when there was much fabrication of such documents, a Papal confirmation, under certain conditions, could be pleaded as itself constituting sufficient evidence of title in cases where the original deed had been lost or destroyed. Since the 12th century, Papal bulls have carried a seal with the heads of the Apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul on one side. Papal bulls were issued by the Pope for many kinds of communication of a public nature. Papyrus seems to have used almost uniformly as the material for these documents until the early years of the eleventh century. Popularly, the name is used for any Papal document that contains a metal seal, today, the bull is the only written communication in which the Pope will refer to himself as Episcopus Servus Servorum Dei. For example, when Pope Benedict XVI issued a decree in bull form, while Papal bulls always used to bear a metal seal, they now do so only on the most solemn occasions. A Papal bull is today the most formal type of public decree or letters patent issued by the Vatican Chancery in the name of the Pope, the body of the text had no specific conventions for its formatting, it was often very simple in layout. For the most solemn bulls, the Pope signed the document himself, following the signature in this case would be an elaborate monogram, the signatures of any witnesses, and then the seal. Nowadays, a member of the Roman Curia signs the document on behalf of the Pope, usually the Cardinal Secretary of State, and thus the monogram is omitted. The most distinctive characteristic of a bull was the seal, which was usually made of lead. On the obverse it depicted, originally somewhat crudely, the early Fathers of the Church of Rome, the Apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul, identified by the letters Sanctus PAulus and Sanctus PEtrus. Each head was surrounded by a circle of globetti, and the rim of the seal was surrounded by a ring of such beads. On the reverse was the name of the issuing Pope in the nominative Latin form, with the letters PP, for Pastor Pastorum
Papal bull
–
Papal bull of
Pope Urban VIII, 1637, sealed with a lead
bulla.
Papal bull
–
The Apostolic constitution Magni aestimamus issued as a Papal bull by
Pope Benedict XVI in 2011 which instituted the
Military Ordinariate of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Papal bull
–
Printed text of
Pope Leo X 's Bull against the errors of
Martin Luther, also known as
Exsurge Domine, issued in June 1520
Papal bull
–
Lead
bulla (
obverse and reverse) of
Urban V, Pope 1362 to 1370
14.
Canary Islands
–
The Canary Islands, also known as the Canaries, are an archipelago and autonomous community of Spain located on the Atlantic Ocean,100 kilometres west of Morocco. The Canaries are among the outermost regions of the European Union proper and it is also one of the eight regions with special consideration of historical nationality recognized as such by the Spanish Government. The main islands are Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera, the archipelago also includes a number of islands and islets, La Graciosa, Alegranza, Isla de Lobos, Montaña Clara, Roque del Oeste and Roque del Este. In ancient times, the chain was often referred to as the Fortunate Isles. The Canary Islands is the most southerly region of Spain and the largest and most populated archipelago of the Macaronesia region, the islands have a subtropical climate, with long hot summers and moderately warm winters. The precipitation levels and the level of maritime moderation varies depending on location and elevation, green areas as well as desert exist on the archipelago. Due to their location above the inversion layer, the high mountains of these islands are ideal for astronomical observation. For this reason, two professional observatories, Teide Observatory on the island of Tenerife and Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the island of La Palma, have built on the islands. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has been the largest city in the Canaries since 1768, between the 1833 territorial division of Spain and 1927 Santa Cruz de Tenerife was the sole capital of the Canary Islands. In 1927 a decree ordered that the capital of the Canary Islands be shared, the third largest city of the Canary Islands is San Cristóbal de La Laguna on Tenerife. This city is home to the Consejo Consultivo de Canarias. During the time of the Spanish Empire, the Canaries were the main stopover for Spanish galleons on their way to the Americas, who came south to catch the prevailing northeasterly trade winds. The name Islas Canarias is likely derived from the Latin name Canariae Insulae, meaning Islands of the Dogs, according to the historian Pliny the Elder, the Mauretanian king Juba II named the island Canaria because it contained vast multitudes of dogs of very large size. Another speculation is that the dogs were actually a species of monk seal, critically endangered. The dense population of seals may have been the characteristic that most struck the few ancient Romans who established contact with these islands by sea. Alternatively, it is said that the inhabitants of the island, Guanches, used to worship dogs, mummified them. The ancient Greeks also knew about a people, living far to the west, who are the dog-headed ones, who worshipped dogs on an island. Some hypothesize that the Canary Islands dog-worship and the ancient Egyptian cult of the god, Anubis are closely connected
Canary Islands
–
Mount
Teide on
Tenerife, the highest mountain in Spain, is also one of the most visited
National Parks in the world.
Canary Islands
–
Flag
Canary Islands
–
Hacha Grande, a mountain in the south of Lanzarote, viewed from the road to the Playa de Papagayo.
Canary Islands
–
Panoramic view of Gran Canaria, with
Roque Nublo at the left and Roque Bentayga at the center
15.
Villa Cisneros
–
Dakhla is a city in Western Sahara, a disputed territory currently administered by Morocco. It is the capital of the Moroccan administrative region Dakhla-Oued Ed-Dahab and it has a population of 106,277 and is built on a narrow peninsula of the Atlantic Coast about 550 km south of Laayoune. The area has been inhabited by Berbers since ancient times, oulad Dlim is an Arab tribe of Himyari from Yemen that settled in the Sahara in the twelfth century. Dakhla was expanded by Spanish settlers during the expansion of their empire and these fishing activities had a negative impact on wildlife, causing the disappearance or endangering of many species, particularly marine mammals and birds. The Spaniards established whaling stations with some cod fishing and trading, in 1881, a dock was anchored off the coast of the Río de Oro Peninsula to support the work of the Canarian fishing fleet. However, it was not until 1884 that Spain formally founded the place as Villa Cisneros. It was included in the enclaves conceded to the Spanish to the east of the Azores islands, in 1884, the settlement was promoted by the Spanish Society of Africanists and funded by the government of Canovas del Castillo. Bonelli got the native inhabitants of the peninsula de Río de Oro signed an agreement which placing them under the protection of Spain. During the colonial period, Spanish authorities made Dakhla the capital of the province of Río de Oro and they built a military fortress and a modern Catholic church. A prison camp existed at the fort during the Spanish Civil War. During the 1960s the Franco dictatorship also built Dakhla Airport, one of the three paved airports in Western Sahara, between 1975 and 1979, Dakhla was the provincial capital of the Mauritanian province of Tiris al-Gharbiyya, as Mauritania annexed the southern portion of Western Sahara. Dakhla Airport is used as an airport and by Royal Air Maroc. The 3 km. long runway can accommodate a Boeing 737 or smaller aircraft, the passenger terminal covers 670 m2 and is capable of handling up to 55,000 passenger/year. Dakhla was occupied by Spain from the late 19th century until 1975, there was a United Nations-sponsored ceasefire in 1991, but as recently as 2006, the majority of UN member states have refused to recognise Moroccan sovereignty in the area. The main economic activity of the city is fishing and tourism, in recent years the town has become a centre for aquatic sports, such as kitesurfing, windsurfing and surf casting and is known as a centre for watersports. Golfo de Cintra and the World Heritage of the Banc dArguin National Park are located in the south and it is believed that oil reserves lie off the coastline of Dakhla, which has been a key reason for the territorial disputes. US firm Kosmos Energy and its UK counterpart Cairn Energy began searching for oil in Western Sahara in early 2015 without the permission of the native population, oyster farming by hand is a traditional practice in Dakhla. Oysters are first sold to people and businesses in Dakhla, then to restaurants in cities like Marrakech or Casablanca, in April 2015, VICE reported that oysters had recently begun to be exported to high-end European restaurants
Villa Cisneros
–
Mosque in Dakhla.
Villa Cisneros
–
Dakhla الداخلة ⴻⴷⴷⴰⵅⵍⴰ Ed-Dakhla
Villa Cisneros
–
Rocky and sandy shores of Dakhla.
16.
Western Sahara
–
Its surface area amounts to 266,000 square kilometres. It is one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world, the population is estimated at just over 500,000, of which nearly 40% live in Laayoune, the largest city in Western Sahara. Occupied by Spain until the late 20th century, Western Sahara has been on the United Nations list of non-self-governing territories since 1963 after a Moroccan demand and it is the most populous territory on that list, and by far the largest in area. In 1965, the UN General Assembly adopted its first resolution on Western Sahara, one year later, a new resolution was passed by the General Assembly requesting that a referendum be held by Spain on self-determination. In 1975, Spain relinquished the control of the territory to a joint administration by Morocco. A war erupted between those countries and a Sahrawi nationalist movement, the Polisario Front, which proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic with a government in exile in Tindouf, Algeria. Mauritania withdrew its claims in 1979, and Morocco eventually secured de facto control of most of the territory, including all the major cities and natural resources. The United Nations considers the Polisario Front to be the representative of the Sahrawi people. As of 2017, no member state of the United Nations has ever recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. However, a number of countries have expressed their support for a recognition of the Moroccan annexation of the territory as an autonomous part of the Kingdom. Overall, the annexation has not garnered as much attention in the community as many other disputed annexations. Internationally, countries such as Russia have taken a generally ambiguous and neutral position on each sides claims, both Morocco and Polisario have sought to boost their claims by accumulating formal recognition, essentially from African, Asian, and Latin American states in the developing world. The Polisario Front has won recognition for SADR from 37 states. Morocco has won recognition or support for its position from several African governments and from most of the Muslim world, in both instances, recognitions have, over the past two decades, been extended and withdrawn according to changing international trends. Western Sahara is located in Northern Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean and it also borders Algeria to the northeast. The land is some of the most arid and inhospitable on the planet, the land along the coast is low, flat desert and rises, especially in the north, to small mountains reaching up to 600 metres on the eastern side. While the area can experience flash flooding in the spring, there are no permanent streams, at times a cool off-shore current can produce fog and heavy dew. The earliest known inhabitants of Western Sahara were the Gaetuli, depending on the century, Roman-era sources describe the area as inhabited by Gaetulian Autololes or the Gaetulian Daradae tribes
Western Sahara
–
Commemoration of the 30th independence day from
Spain in the
Liberated Territories (2005)
Western Sahara
–
Western Sahara الصحراء الغربية aṣ-Ṣaḥrā’ al-Gharbīyah Sahara Occidental Taneẓroft Tutrimt
Western Sahara
–
North Western Sahara landscape.
Western Sahara
–
Dakhla Bay, near
Dakhla.
17.
Mazalquivir
–
Mers El Kébir is a port on the Mediterranean Sea, near Oran in Oran Province, northwest Algeria. It is famous for the attack on the French fleet in 1940 and it was occupied variously by the Ottoman Turks, Portuguese and Spanish, with the Spanish capturing it in 1505 under Cardinal Cisneros. Mazalquivir was the used to capture neighbouring Oran in 1509. The Spanish held both cities until 1708, when they were out by Turkish Bey Mustapha Ben Youssef. The Spanish returned in 1732 when the armada of the Duke of Montemar was victorious in the Battle of Aïn-el-Turk and again took Oran, both cities were held until 1792, when they were sold by King Carlos IV to the Dey of Algiers. The French occupied it in 1830, and renamed it Saint André de Mers-el-Kébir, enhancing the port in 1868 with an eponymous lighthouse, following the German defeat of France in 1940, part of the French fleet holed up in the port. After World War II, France used its naval base at Mers-el-Kébir to assist in atomic tests, the Évian Accords of 18 March 1962, which recognized Algerian independence, allowed France to maintain its base for 15 years, however, France withdrew five years later in 1967
Mazalquivir
–
Old photograph of Cimetier street
Mazalquivir
–
Location of Mers El Kébir within Oran Province
18.
Algiers
–
Algiers is the capital and largest city of Algeria. In 2011, the population was estimated to be around 3,500,000. An estimate puts the population of the metropolitan city to be around 5,000,000. Algiers is located on the Mediterranean Sea and in the portion of Algeria. The casbah and the two form a triangle. A Phoenician commercial outpost called Ikosim which later developed into a small Roman town called Icosium existed on what is now the quarter of the city. The rue de la Marine follows the lines of what used to be a Roman street, Roman cemeteries existed near Bab-el-Oued and Bab Azoun. The city was given Latin rights by Emperor Vespasian, the bishops of Icosium are mentioned as late as the 5th century. The present-day city was founded in 944 by Bologhine ibn Ziri and he had earlier built his own house and a Sanhaja center at Ashir, just south of Algiers. Although his Zirid dynasty was overthrown by Roger II of Sicily in 1148, the city was wrested from the Hammadids by the Almohads in 1159, and in the 13th century came under the dominion of the Ziyanid sultans of Tlemcen. Nominally part of the sultanate of Tlemcen, Algiers had a measure of independence under amirs of its own due to Oran being the chief seaport of the Ziyanids. As early as 1302 the islet of Peñón in front of Algiers harbour had been occupied by Spaniards, thereafter, a considerable amount of trade began to flow between Algiers and Spain. However, Algiers continued to be of little importance until after the expulsion of the Moors from Spain. In 1510, following their occupation of Oran and other towns on the coast of Africa, in 1516, the amir of Algiers, Selim b. Teumi, invited the corsair brothers Aruj and Hayreddin Barbarossa to expel the Spaniards, Aruj came to Algiers, ordered the assassination of Selim, and seized the town and ousted the Spanish in the Capture of Algiers. Hayreddin, succeeding Aruj after the latter was killed in battle against the Spaniards in the Fall of Tlemcen, was the founder of the pashaluk, Algiers from this time became the chief seat of the Barbary pirates. Formally part of the Ottoman Empire but essentially free from Ottoman control, starting in the 16th century Algiers turned to piracy, repeated attempts were made by various nations to subdue the pirates that disturbed shipping in the western Mediterranean and engaged in slave raids as far north as Iceland. The United States fought two wars over Algiers attacks on shipping, among the notable people held for ransom was the future Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes, who was captive in Algiers almost five years, and who wrote two plays set in Algiers of the period
Algiers
–
Clockwise: Buildings along the
Mediterranean coast of Algiers,
Martyrs Memorial,
Notre Dame d'Afrique,
Ketchaoua Mosque,
Casbah, the Grand Post Office and the
Ministry of Finance of Algeria
Algiers
–
Old Algiers in the 16th century, with the Spanish-built Peñón of Algiers in the forefront.
Algiers
–
Abraham Duquesne delivering Christian captives in Algiers after the bombing in 1683.
Algiers
–
Historic map of Algiers by
Piri Reis
19.
Tripoli, Libya
–
Tripoli is the capital city and the largest city of Libya. Tripoli, with its area, has a population of about 1.1 million people. The city is located in the part of Libya on the edge of the desert, on a point of rocky land projecting into the Mediterranean. Tripoli includes the Port of Tripoli and the countrys largest commercial and it is also the site of the University of Tripoli. The vast Bab al-Azizia barracks, which includes the family estate of Muammar Gaddafi, is also located in the city. Colonel Gaddafi largely ruled the country from his residence in this barracks, Tripoli was founded in the 7th century BC by the Phoenicians, who named it Oea. Due to the long history, there are many sites of archaeological significance in Tripoli. Tripoli may also refer to the shabiyah, the Tripoli District, Tripoli is also known as Tripoli-of-the-West, to distinguish it from its Phoenician sister city Tripoli, Lebanon known in Arabic as Ṭarābulus al-Sham meaning Levantine Tripoli. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean, describing its turquoise waters, Tripoli English pronunciation, /ˈtrɪpəli/ is a Greek name that means Three Cities, introduced in Western European languages through the Italian Tripoli. In Arabic, طرابلس it is called Ṭarābulus, compare Sanskrit, tri meaning the number 3, and pura meaning a fortress, castle, city or town. Hence, in Sanskrit Tripura also means Three Cities, the city then passed into the hands of the rulers of Cyrenaica, although the Carthaginians later wrested it from the Greeks. By the later half of the 2nd century BC it belonged to the Romans, who included it in their province of Africa, and gave it the name of Regio Syrtica. Around the beginning of the 3rd century AD, it known as the Regio Tripolitana. It was probably raised to the rank of a province by Septimius Severus. In spite of centuries of Roman habitation, the only visible Roman remains, apart from scattered columns, the fact that Tripoli has been continuously inhabited, unlike e. g. Following the conquest, Tripoli was ruled by dynasties based in Cairo, Egypt, for some time it was a part of the Berber Almohad empire and of the Hafsids kingdom. It was part of the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 19th centuries, finding themselves in very hostile territory, the Knights enhanced the citys walls and other defenses. Though built on top of a number of buildings, much of the earliest defensive structures of the Tripoli castle are attributed to the Knights of St John
Tripoli, Libya
–
Top::
That El Emad Towers; Middle:
Martyrs' Square; Bottom left:
Marcus Aurelius Arch; Bottom right: Souq al-Mushir – Tripoli Medina
Tripoli, Libya
–
Roman Arch of
Marcus Aurelius
Tripoli, Libya
–
Historic map of Tripoli by
Piri Reis
Tripoli, Libya
–
Dutch ships off Tripoli by
Reinier Nooms, ±1650
20.
Islas Chafarinas
–
The Chafarinas Islands are one of the Spanish territories on North Africa off the Moroccan coast known as plazas de soberanía. A small expedition under the command of Colonel MacMahon left Oran by sea, forewarned by its consul in Oran, Spain, which also coveted the Chafarinas, quickly dispatched a warship to the islands from Malaga. When the French arrived, the Spaniards had already taken possession of the islands in the name of Queen Isabel II, nine out of eleven marine invertebrates considered endangered species and the second largest colony in the world of the endangered Audouins gull inhabit the islands. Plazas de soberanía List of Spanish Colonial Wars in Morocco Spanish Protectorate of Morocco
Islas Chafarinas
–
Chafarinas Islands
Islas Chafarinas
Islas Chafarinas
–
Audouin's gull, one of the numerous inhabitants on the islands
Islas Chafarinas
–
Island of Isabel II
21.
Scramble for Africa
–
The Scramble for Africa was the invasion, occupation, division, colonization and annexation of African territory by European powers during the period of New Imperialism, between 1881 and 1914. It is also called the Partition of Africa and the Conquest of Africa, in 1870, only 10 percent of Africa was under European control, by 1914 it had increased to 90 percent of the continent, with only Ethiopia, the Dervish state and Liberia still being independent. The Berlin Conference of 1884, which regulated European colonization and trade in Africa, is referred to as the starting point of the scramble for Africa. The latter years of the 19th century saw the transition from informal imperialism, by influence and economic dominance, to direct rule. But Europeans showed comparatively little interest in the interior for some two centuries thereafter, European exploration of the African interior began in earnest at the end of the 18th century. By 1835, Europeans had mapped most of northwestern Africa, in the middle decades of the 19th century, famous European explorers included David Livingstone and H. M. Stanley, each of whom mapped vast areas of Southern Africa and Central Africa. Arduous expeditions in the 1850s and 1860s by Richard Burton, John Speke and James Grant located the central lakes. By the end of the 19th century Europeans had charted the Nile from its source, traced the courses of the Niger, Congo and Zambezi Rivers, and realized the vast resources of Africa. Even as late as the 1870s, European states still controlled only ten percent of the African continent, the most important holdings were Angola and Mozambique, held by Portugal, the Cape Colony, held by the United Kingdom, and Algeria, held by France. By 1914, only Ethiopia and Liberia remained independent of European control, technological advances facilitated European expansion overseas. Industrialisation brought about rapid advancements in transportation and communication, especially in the forms of navigation, railways. Medical advances also played an important role, especially medicines for tropical diseases, the development of quinine, an effective treatment for malaria, made vast expanses of the tropics more accessible for Europeans. Sub-Saharan Africa, one of the last regions of the largely untouched by informal imperialism, was also attractive to Europes ruling elites for economic. In addition, surplus capital was more profitably invested overseas, where cheap materials, limited competition. Additionally, Britain wanted the southern and eastern coasts of Africa for stopover ports on the route to Asia and its empire in India. However, in Africa – excluding the area became the Union of South Africa in 1910 – the amount of capital investment by Europeans was relatively small. Consequently, the involved in tropical African commerce were relatively small. Rhodes had carved out Rhodesia for himself, Léopold II of Belgium later, John A. Hobson argued in Imperialism that this shrinking of continental markets was a key factor of the global New Imperialism period
Scramble for Africa
–
David Livingstone, early explorer of the interior of Africa and fighter against the
slave trade.
Scramble for Africa
–
Areas of Africa controlled by European colonial powers in 1913, shown along with current national boundaries.
Scramble for Africa
–
Contemporary illustration of Major
Marchand 's
trek across Africa in 1898
Scramble for Africa
–
Slaves captured from the Congo aboard an
Arab slave ship intercepted by the
Royal Navy (1869). One of the chief justifications for the colonization of Africa was the suppression of the slave trade.
22.
Protecting power
–
In diplomatic usage, protecting power refers to a relationship that is initiated when a sovereign state does not have diplomatic representation in another country. A country may, in lieu of sending its own representative to the receiving state. The third state is responsible for looking after the states diplomatic property. It is common for protecting powers to be appointed when two countries break off relations with each other. The institution of protecting power dates back to the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and was formalized in the Geneva Convention of 1929, Protecting powers are authorized in all four of the Geneva Conventions of 1949. In addition, the International Red Cross may itself be appointed a protecting power under Protocol I, the practice of selecting a protecting power in time of peace was formalized in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. The protecting power is appointed by the state and must also be acceptable to the host state. It must therefore maintain diplomatic relations with both states, in time of war, the Geneva Conventions also require that the protecting power be a neutral country. The specific responsibilities and arrangements are agreed between the power, the sending state, and the host country. In a comprehensive mandate, the protecting power carries out most diplomatic functions on behalf of the protected state and this is necessary when relations are so hostile that the sparring nations have no diplomatic or consular staff posted on each others territory. For example, Sweden carries out limited consular functions for the United States, Canada, in other cases, the two nations have broken diplomatic relations, but are willing to exchange personnel on an informal basis. The protecting power serves as the mechanism for facilitating this exchange, the original embassy remains staffed by nationals of the protected state but is formally termed an interests section of the protecting power. For example, the Cuban Interests Section was staffed by Cubans and occupied the old Cuban embassy in Washington, D. C. there is no requirement that the same protecting power be selected by both countries, although this is convenient for the purposes of communication. Each may appoint a different protecting power, provided that the choice is acceptable to the other state, there is also no requirement that a country select only one protecting power in the receiving country. During the Second World War, Japan appointed Spain, Sweden, the protecting power relationship originated in the Franco-Prussian War, when the belligerents expelled each others diplomats and placed restrictions on enemy aliens. This made it necessary for belligerents to appoint protecting powers to represent their interests in enemy countries, the energetic efforts of Elihu B. Washburne, the American Minister to France, set a precedent for the actions of protecting powers in war. The institution of protecting power became customary in international law but was not formalized until the Geneva Convention of 1929, the lack of formalization led to disputes over the rights and responsibilities of the protecting power
Protecting power
–
Between 1961 and 2015,
Switzerland was the protecting power of the United States in Cuba. The
United States Interests Section in Havana, although it was staffed by personnel of the
United States Foreign Service, was formally a section of the Embassy of Switzerland.
Protecting power
–
Between 1991 and 2015, the Swiss Embassy in Washington DC also officially represented
Cuba's interests in the United States.
23.
Spanish Morocco
–
The Spanish protectorate in Morocco was established on 27 November 1912 by a treaty between France and Spain that converted the Spanish sphere of influence in Morocco into a formal protectorate. The Spanish protectorate consisted of a strip on the Mediterranean and the Strait of Gibraltar. The northern zone was retroceded to an independent Morocco on 7 April 1956, Spain finally ceded her southern zone through the Treaty of Angra de Cintra around Cintra Bay on 1 April 1958, only after the short Ifni War. The city of Tangiers was excluded of the Spanish protectorate and received an special internationally controled status, since France already held a protectorate over the entire country and controlled Moroccos foreign affairs, it also held the power to delegate a zone to Spanish protection. The surface area of the zone was about 20,948 km2, in a convention dated 27 June 1900, France and Spain agreed to recognize separate zones of influence in Morocco, but did not specify their boundaries. In 1902, France offered Spain all of Morocco north of the Sebu River and south of the Sous River, in regard to these interests the French Government will come to an understanding with the Spanish Government. The agreement which may be come to on the subject between France and Spain shall be communicated to His Britannic Majestys Government. The British goal in negotiations with France was to ensure that a weaker power held the strategic coast opposite Gibraltar in return for Britain ceding all interest in Morocco. France began negotiating with Spain at once, but the offer of 1902 was no longer on the table, since France had given up her ambitions in Ottoman Libya in a convention with Italy in 1903, she felt entitled to a greater share of Morocco. On 3 October 1904, France and Spain concluded a treaty that defined their precise zones, Spain received a zone of influence consisting of a northern strip of territory and a southern strip. The northern strip did not reach to the border of French Algeria, nor did it include Tangier, the treaty also recognized the Spanish enclave of Ifni and delimited its borders. In March 1905, the German kaiser, Wilhelm II, visited Tangier, there he loudly touted Germanys economic interests in Morocco and assured the sultan of financial assistance in the event of a threat to Moroccan independence. At Wilhelms urging, Sultan Abd el Aziz called for an international conference, the final Spanish zone of influence consisted of a northern strip and a southern strip centred on Cape Juby. The consideration of the strip as part of the protectorate back in 1912 eventually gave Morocco a solid legal claim to the territory in the 1950s. The Protectorate system was established in 1912, the Islamic legal system of qadis was formally maintained. The Spanish lost more than 13,000 soldiers at Annual in July–August 1921, controversy in Spain over the early conduct in the war was a driving factor behind the military coup by General Miguel Primo de Rivera in 1923 which foreshadowed the Spanish Civil War of 1936–39. After the successful 1925 Alhucemas landing, the French–Spanish alliance ended up achieving victory, before 1934, the southern part of the protectorate was governed from Cape Juby since 1912, Cape Juby was also head of the Spanish West Africa. The Spanish Civil War started in 1936 with the partially successful coup against the Republican Government
Spanish Morocco
–
Civil ensign of Spanish Morocco (1937–56)
24.
Perejil Island
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Perejil Island is a small, uninhabited rocky islet located off the coast of Morocco, just 200 metres from the mainland coast. Its sovereignty is disputed between Spain and Morocco and it was the subject of an armed incident between the two countries in 2002. The name Isla de Perejil literally means Parsley Island in Spanish and its original Berber name is Tura, meaning empty. It is sometimes referred to in Arabic as Jazirat al-Madanus, which is a translation of Parsley Island, in Moroccan historical references it is only known as Tura. The island lies 250 metres off the coast of Morocco,8 kilometres from the Spanish city of Ceuta and 13.5 km from mainland Spain, the island is about 480 by 480 metres in size, with an area of 15 ha or 0.15 square kilometres. It has a height of 74 metres above sea level. In 1415, Portugal, along with the conquest of Ceuta, in 1580, Portugal came under the sovereignty of Philip I of Portugal, who was also King of Spain, creating an Iberian Union under one king, without unifying the countries. When the Union split in 1640, Ceuta remained under Spanish sovereignty, the islets sovereignty is disputed by Morocco and Spain. After protests from the Spanish government, led by José María Aznar, Morocco replaced the soldiers with cadets from the Moroccan navy and this further angered the Spanish government and both countries restated their claims to the islet. Almost all European Union member states fully supported Spains objections, with the exception of France and Portugal, moroccos claims had official support from the Arab League, except for Algeria, which restated its recognition of Spanish sovereignty over the exclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. On the morning of 18 July 2002 Spain launched Operation Romeo-Sierra, the operation was launched in conjunction with the Spanish Navy and Spanish Air Force. The Spanish transferred the captured Moroccans by helicopter to the headquarters of the Guardia Civil in Ceuta, Perejil Island has no permanent human population. Goats are pastured there, and the Moroccan government expressed worries that smugglers and terrorists, the island is well monitored from both sides in order to maintain the status quo that leaves it deserted and virtually a no mans land. Morocco had demanded the return of the Spanish cities Ceuta and Melilla along with small rocks. The crisis over Perejil Island was seen by the Spanish government as a way for Morocco to test the waters in regard to Spains will to defend Ceuta, in June 2014, Spain requested that the Moroccan forces enter the Island to expel sub-Saharan migrants. The international incident is recounted in a 2015 film La Isla which is based on the facts of the dispute. List of Spanish Colonial Wars in Morocco Spanish Morocco Isla Perejil in Google Maps Speech King Mohammed VI
Perejil Island
–
Perejil Island
25.
Spanish Armed Forces
–
The Spanish Armed Forces are the military forces of the Kingdom of Spain. The Spanish Armed Forces are a military force charged with defending the Kingdoms integrity and sovereignty. They consist of the Army, Navy and Air Force, the King is the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, with the title Capitán General de las Fuerzas Armadas. The current Chief of the Defence Staff is General Fernando Alejandre Martínez, the Spanish Armed Forces are active members of NATO, the Eurocorps, the European Union Battlegroups, and also provide peace keeping troops to the United Nations. During the 15th and 16th century, Spain evolved into Europes foremost power with the voyages of Christopher Columbus leading to Spain acquiring vast lands in the Americas. During the reign of Charles V and Philip II, Spain reached the peak of its power with the Spanish Empire spanning 19.4 million square km of the earths surface, a total of 13%. By the mid 17th century this power had weakened by the Thirty Years War along with financial problems. Thanks to these reforms, Spain performed well in the French Revolutionary Wars, the war of Jenkins Ear, the war of Austrian Succession and several other engagements. Following the war, the Spanish military was in condition and political instability resulted in the loss of most of Spains former colonies, except Cuba, Puerto Rico. These too would be lost later in the Spanish–American War, the Spanish armed forces are a professional force with a strength in 2012 of 123,300 active personnel and 16,400 reserve personnel. The country also has the 80,000 strong Civil Guard which comes under the control of the Ministry of Defence in times of a national emergency, the Spanish defence budget is 5.71 billion euros a 1% increase for 2015. The increase comes because of security concerns in the country, the Spanish army consists of 15 active brigades and 6 military regions. Modern infantry have diverse capabilities and this is reflected in the roles assigned to them. There are four operational roles that infantry battalions can fulfil, air assault, armoured infantry, mechanised infantry, the Spanish army has the latest technology at its disposal to preserve the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Spain. The current flagship of the Spanish Navy is the assault ship Juan Carlos 1 which is also used as an aircraft carrier. In addition, the fleet consists of,2 amphibious transport docks,11 frigates,3 submarines,6 mine countermeasure vessels,23 patrol vessels, the total displacement of the Spanish Navy is approximately 220,000 tonnes. As of 2012, the Armada has a strength of 20,800 personnel, the Infanteria de Marina are the marine infantry of the Spanish Navy, the oldest in the world. It has a strength of 5,000 troops divided into base defense forces, one of the three base defense battalions is stationed with each of the Navy headquarters
Spanish Armed Forces
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Tri-service badge
26.
Operation Romeo-Sierra
–
The Perejil Island crisis was a bloodless armed conflict between Spain and Morocco that occurred on July 18,2002. The incident took place over the small, uninhabited Perejil Island.5 kilometres from mainland Spain, the island itself is unpopulated, only seldom visited by Moroccan shepherds. Tensions rose on July 11,2002, when a dozen Moroccan soldiers landed on the island, equipped with arms, a radio. The soldiers raised their nations flag and set up camp, the officers decided to disembark to investigate the issue. When they landed on the island, they were confronted by the Moroccan soldiers, Morocco claimed that the occupation was carried out in order to monitor illegal immigration, and to fight drug dealers and smugglers who use the island as a logistic platform. Prime minister José María Aznar warned Morocco that Spain will not accept a policy of fait accompli, on the morning of July 18,2002, conflict broke out when Spain retook the island by force, code-named Operation Romeo-Sierra. The attack was carried out by Spanish commandos of Grupo de Operaciones Especiales, the commandos landed from four Eurocopter Cougar helicopters that took off from Cádiz. The entire operation was coordinated by the Spanish Navy from the amphibious ship Castilla, the Spanish Air Force deployed F-18 and Mirage F-1 fighters to provide air cover. The Spanish patrol boats Izaro and Laya came alongside the gunboat El Lahiq, at anchor off the island, the Moroccan Auxiliary Forces members inland did not offer any resistance. Within a matter of minutes, all of the Moroccan servicemen were taken prisoner, the prisoners were transported by helicopter to the headquarters of Civil Guard in Ceuta, from where they were transported to the Moroccan border. Over the course of the day, the Spanish commandos on the island were replaced by soldiers of the Spanish Legion. The Spanish Legion troops on the island remained there after the operation was complete, the United States mediated the situation, that eventually returned to the status quo ante bellum. All Spanish troops were withdrawn, and the island remains unoccupied but claimed by both sides, BBC News interviewed Spanish citizens across Madrid after the conflict, and most people supported this incursion. Opposition politician Gaspar Llamazares of the United Left party said that Spain should not fall into the provocation trap, Ceuta Melilla Morocco-Spain relations The Independent |404. BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Small island, big problem
Operation Romeo-Sierra
–
Family and education
Operation Romeo-Sierra
–
Perejil Island at far left, near
Ceuta
27.
Spanish Navy
–
The Spanish Navy, is the maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces and one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. Reform under the Bourbon dynasty improved its logistical and military capacity in the 18th century, currently, the Spanish Armada is the third largest navy in Europe, after the British Royal Navy and the French Navy, and the sixth in the world ranking. The main bases of the Spanish Navy are located in Rota, Ferrol, San Fernando, the roots of the modern Spanish navy date back to before the unification of Spain. By the late Middle Ages, the two kingdoms that would later combine to form Spain, Aragon and Castile, had developed powerful fleets. Aragon possessed the third largest navy in the late medieval Mediterranean, although its capabilities were exceeded by those of Venice, in 1402, a Castilian expedition led by Juan de Bethencourt conquered the Canary Islands for Henry III of Castile. In the 15th century, Castile entered into a race of exploration with Portugal, in 1492, two caravels and a carrack, commanded by Christopher Columbus, arrived in America, on an expedition that sought a westward oceanic passage across the Atlantic, to the Far East. This began the era of trade routes, pioneered by the Spanish in the seas to the west of Europe. The navy also carried explorers to the North American mainland, including Juan Ponce de León and Álvarez de Pineda, in 1519, Spain sent out the first expedition of world circumnavigation in history, which was put in the charge of the Portuguese Commander Ferdinand Magellan. Following the death of Magellan in the Philippines, the expedition was completed under the command of Juan Sebastián Elcano in 1522, for two and a half centuries, the Manila galleons operated across the Pacific linking Manila and Acapulco. Until the early 17th century, the Pacific Ocean, aside from the Marianas and Caroline Islands, several naval expeditions also discovered the Tuvalu archipelago, the Marquesas, the Solomon Islands and New Guinea in the South Pacific. In the quest for Terra Australis, Spanish explorers in the 17th century also discovered the Pitcairn, most significantly, from 1565 Spanish fleets explored and colonised the Philippine archipelago, the Spanish East Indies. This arrangement continued until superseded by the decline of galley warfare during the 17th century, most notable of these attacks was the Battle of Gibraltar in 1607, in which a Dutch squadron destroyed a fleet of galleons at anchor in the confines of the bay. This naval war took on a dimension with actions in the Caribbean. In the 1580s, the conflict in the Netherlands drew England into war with Spain, the effort to neutralise this threat led to a disastrous attempt to invade England in 1588. This defeat led to a reform of fleet operations, the navy at this time was not a single operation but consisted of various fleets, made up mainly of armed merchantmen with escorts of royal ships. The Armada fiasco marked a point in naval warfare, where gunnery was now more important than ramming and boarding. During the 1590s, the expansion of these allowed a great increase in the overseas trade and massive increase in the importation of luxuries. Port defences at Cadiz were upgraded and all attempts to repeat the attack in the following centuries would fail, meanwhile, Spanish ships were able to step up operations in the English Channel, the North Sea and towards Ireland
Spanish Navy
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Battle of La Rochelle, 1372.
Spanish Navy
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Emblem of the Spanish Navy
Spanish Navy
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Battle of Lepanto, 1571.
Spanish Navy
28.
Spanish Air Force
–
The Spanish Air Force is the aerial branch of the Spanish Armed Forces. Hot air balloons had been used with military purposes in Spain as far back as 1896, the new airship was completed successfully and, named España, made numerous test and exhibition flights. One year later a Royal decree established the National Aviation School, Escuela Nacional de Aviación in Getafe, near Madrid, under the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, captain Alfredo Kindelán was named Chief of Aviation, Jefe de Aviación. During the years followed, most of the military activity of the Spanish Air Force would take place in Northern Morocco. In 1915 Spains first seaplane base was opened at Los Alcazares on the Mar Menor in the Murcia region and Alfredo Kindelán was named Military Aeronautics Director, the Catalan Flying School was established in Can Tunis, Barcelona the following year and Getafe Aerodrome became a full-fledged military air base. In 1919 General Francisco Echagüe replaced Kindelán as leader of the Aeronáutica Española, in 1920 two Nieuport 80 and one Caudron G.3 were first painted with squadron identification numbers and the Spanish Air Force roundel. In 1921, following the Spanish defeat at Annual, known as Desastre de Annual in Spain, Lieutenant Colonel Kindelán was named Jefe Superior de Aeronáutica, becoming chief-commander of the air force in 1926, at the time when Spanish Morocco was retaken and the Rif War ended. That same year, pilots González Gallarza, Joaquín Loriga Taboada, the expedition was flown with two Breguet 19 and known as the Escuadrilla Elcano or Elcano Squadron. In 1930 the Aeronaval Base in San Javier was established and in the year a pro-Republican revolt in the Cuatro Vientos military aerodrome near Madrid was quashed. Captain Cipriano Rodríguez Díaz and Lieutenant Carlos de Haya González flew non-stop to Equatorial Guinea, under Capitan Warlela cadastral surveys of Spain were carried out using modern methods of aerial photography in 1933. The following year Spanish engineer Juan de la Cierva took off, in 1934 Commander Eduardo Sáenz de Buruaga became new chief-commander of the air force. Accordingly, the Spanish Navy-based Escuadra model was replaced by Región Militar divisions which are still operative today. In July 1936, right after the coup, the first German Junkers Ju-52 and Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 arrived to help the rebels, in August Heinkel He 51 fighters were also deployed. These planes helped the army in revolt to gain control of the air, as did the German and Italian expeditionary forces, the Condor Legion. In September 1936 the Navy and Air Ministry, Ministerio de Marina y Aire, the first serious air combat took place over Madrid when Italian bombers attacked the city in a massive bombing operation. Nazi help to the Nationalist Air Force was part of Hitlers German re-armament strategy and he called his strategy Blumenkrieg, as evidenced in a January 1937 speech. The international outcry over Guernica, however, would not bring about any increase in the help provided to the beleaguered Spanish Republic. The pilots of the Spanish Republican Air Force, often young and poorly trained were unable to check the Nazi German and Fascist Italian modern-warfare attacks
Spanish Air Force
–
The
Plus Ultra at
Palos de la Frontera.
Spanish Air Force
–
The
Loring R-3 built for Aeronáutica Militar.
Spanish Air Force
–
Italian
Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 of the
Aviación Nacional Air Force bombing Spanish cities.
FIAT CR.32 in the background.
Spanish Air Force
–
Location of Air Bases in Spain
29.
Isla de Tierra
–
The Alhucemas Islands is a group of islands and one of the Spanish plazas de soberanía just off the Moroccan coast in the Alboran Sea. Peñón de Alhucemas, together with the islets of Isla de Mar and Isla de Tierra slightly to the west and they are located 300 metres off the Moroccan town of Al Hoceima, or Alhucemas,146 km east of Ceuta and 84 km west of Melilla. The aggregate land area of the group of three islands is 4.6 ha or 0.046 square kilometres. Peñón de Alhucemas is a rock island, measuring 220 m east-west and up to 84 m north-south, with an area 1.5 ha or 0.015 km2. The rock is occupied by a fort, several houses. It is one of several peñones, or rock-fortresses, on the coast of Northern Africa. Isla de Tierra is a steep,11 m high platform,114 m north of the Moroccan beach,192 m long northeast-southwest. Isla de Mar is a flat,4 m high islet, with its western end 93 m north of Isla de Tierra,245 m long east-west, up to 70 m wide, yielding an area of 1.4 ha or 0.014 km2. Spanish rule dates back to 1559, when Saadi dynasty ceded several territories to Spain in exchange for Spanish help against Ottoman armies, in 1673, Spain sent a garrison to the island of Peñón de Alhucemas, and has permanently occupied it since then. The islands are located near the landing place the Spanish. Morocco has contested Spanish sovereignty over the islets since Morocco received its independence in 1956, on 29 August 2012,19 sub-Saharan immigrants traversed the short expanse of water between Morocco and the Isla de Tierra. These individuals camped on the island, hoping to gain access into the Spanish mainland. They were shortly joined by an additional 68 immigrants on September 2,2012, refugees and illegal immigration from sub-Saharan nations has been a problem that Spain, and the European Union as a whole, has been trying to solve. Moroccan forces promptly deported the individuals across the Algerian border, the Spanish Army has since stationed a small camp on the Isla de Tierra to discourage new attempts to illegally cross into Spanish territory. The handling and deportation of individuals have been criticized by the Ombudsman of the Spanish Parliament, the Defensor del Pueblo. Plazas de soberanía List of Spanish colonial wars in Morocco Spanish Protectorate of Morocco
Isla de Tierra
–
Map of the Ahucemas Islands
Isla de Tierra
–
The Ahucemas Islands
Isla de Tierra
–
Peñón de Alhucemas, viewed from the Moroccan coast
Isla de Tierra
–
Spanish family on a street of the peñón c. 1915
.svg)
