Melilla (Spanish Enclave)

Melilla is a Spanish enclave on the coast of Morocco.

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Melilla was founded by the Phoenicians, under the name of Rusadir. Later, after the Punic Wars and the defeat of the Phoenicians / Carthaginians, it became a part of the Roman province of Mauretania. As the centuries passed it belonged to the successive rulers of Spain - to the Vandals, the Byzantines, the Visigoths, and then to the Arab Moors. It was captured from the Moors by the Christian "reconquistadors" in 1497 (five years after the completion of the reconquest of Spain).

Until the 20th century the settlement consisted only of a large citadel guarded by a number of smaller forts, of which eight survive. Shots fired from these forts kept back the native Rif tribesmen and also determined the position of the modern day border.
Melilla prides itself on being a jewel of Modernisme (a Spanish style of art and architecture related to Art Nouveau). However, it is a rather tawdry jewel, for whilst it is true that the streets overflow with buildings decorated with a frippery of plaster icing, many of them are in a sorry state of neglect.
The population consists mostly of Spaniards, who are nominally Roman Catholic, and of Muslim Moroccans, but there are also quite a number of Jews and a few Hindus. Illegal immigration is a huge problem, with the poorer people from the neighbouring country constantly seeking to nip across into Spain - and into the EU. The frontier is guarded by a massive double fence, six metres high, but since anyone who really wants to can swim across the harbour and land on the beach, this fence seems to be largely decorative / political.
A disproportionately large number of the Spanish people of Melilla are employed in an official capacity, as members of the Guardia Civil or the National Police, or of other bodies intended to protect the community. The place has the feel and community spirit of an island - but sometimes it feels rather like Alcatraz Island.


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