Ancient Controlling access between the
Atlantic Ocean and the
Mediterranean Sea, the
Strait of Gibraltar is an important military and commercial
chokepoint. The
Phoenicians realized the extremely narrow isthmus joining the
Peninsula of Almina to the African mainland made Ceuta eminently defensible and established an outpost there early in the 1st millenniumBC. The
Greek geographers record it by variations of
Abyla, the ancient name of nearby
Jebel Musa. Beside
Calpe, the other
Pillar of Hercules now known as the
Rock of Gibraltar, the Phoenicians established
Kart at what is now
San Roque,
Spain. Other good anchorages nearby became
Phoenician and then
Carthaginian ports at what are now
Tangiers and
Cádiz. After
Carthage's
destruction in the
Punic Wars, most of
northwest Africa was left to the
Roman client states of
Numidia andaround Abyla
Mauretania.
Punic culture continued to thrive in what the Romans knew as "Septem". After the
Battle of Thapsus in 46 BC,
Caesar and his heirs began annexing North Africa directly as
Roman provinces but, as late as
Augustus, most of Septem's
Berber residents continued to speak and write in
Punic.
Caligula assassinated the Mauretanian king
Ptolemy in AD40 and seized his kingdom, which
Claudius organized in AD 42, placing Septem in the
province of
Tingitana and raising it to the level of a
colony. It subsequently was
Romanized and thrived into the late 3rd century, trading heavily with
Roman Spain and becoming well known for its
salted fish.
Roads connected it overland with
Tingis (Tangiers) and
Volubilis. Under in the late 4th century, Septem still had 10,000 inhabitants, nearly all
Christian citizens speaking
African Romance, a local dialect of Latin.
Medieval , built between the 11th and 13th centuries , built by order of
Abu Sa'id Uthman II in 1328
Vandals, probably invited by
Count Boniface as protection against the empress dowager
Galla Placidia, crossed the strait near Tingis around 425 and swiftly overran
Roman North Africa. Their king,
Gaiseric, focused his attention on the rich lands around
Carthage; although the Romans eventually accepted his conquests and he continued to raid them anyway, he soon lost control of Tingis and Septem in a series of Berber revolts. When
Justinian decided to
reconquer the Vandal lands, his victorious general
Belisarius continued along the coast, making Septem a westernmost outpost of the
Byzantine Empire around 533. Unlike the former ancient Roman administration, however, Eastern Rome did not push far into the
hinterland and made the more defensible Septem their regional capital in place of Tingis.
Epidemics, less capable successors, and overstretched supply lines forced a retrenchment and left Septem isolated. It is likely that its
count ('''') was obliged to pay homage to the
Visigoth Kingdom in Spain in the early 7th century. There are no reliable contemporary accounts of the end of the
Islamic conquest of the Maghreb around 710. Instead, the rapid
Muslim conquest of Spain produced
romances concerning
Count Julian of Septem and his betrayal of Christendom in revenge for the dishonor that befell his daughter at
King Roderick's court. Allegedly with Julian's encouragement and instructions, the Berber convert and freedman
Tariq ibn Ziyad took his garrison from Tangiers across the strait and overran the Spanish so swiftly that both he and his master
Musa bin Nusayr fell afoul of
a jealous caliph, who stripped them of their wealth and titles. After the death of Julian, sometimes also described as a king of the
Ghomara Berbers, Berber converts to Islam took direct control of what they called Sebta. It was then destroyed during
their great revolt against the
Umayyad Caliphate around 740. Sebta subsequently remained a small village of Muslims and Christians surrounded by ruins until its resettlement in the 9th century by Mâjakas, chief of the Majkasa Berber tribe, who started the short-lived
Banu Isam dynasty. His great-grandson briefly allied his tribe with the
Idrisids, but Banu Isam rule ended in 931, when he abdicated in favor of
Abd ar-Rahman III, the Umayyad emir of Córdoba who had self-proclaimed as a caliph in 929. Through the overseas conquests of Ceuta in 931 and Melilla in 927 that allowed to enforce direct political and military influence in the fragmented landscape of the north-African coast, crowned by the skillful political subversion resulting in the 944 revolt in eastern Berbery, the power exerted by the Umayyad Caliphate (engaged in struggle against the Fatimids) in the Western Mediterranean took hold. Chaos ensued with
the collapse of the Caliphate of Córdoba in the early 11th century. In the wake of this, the
Banū Hammūd established a petty kingdom (and nominal caliphate) centered in
Málaga and Ceuta—the so-called
Taifa of Málaga—with Málaga as a capital and Ceuta hosting the heir's residence. In 1056, the link with Málaga was severed as it was conquered by the
Banu Ziri, while Suqut al-Bargawati remained in power in Ceuta, styling as a caliph after 1061. Starting in 1084, the
Almoravid Berbers ruled the region until 1147, when the
Almohads conquered the land. Apart from
Ibn Hud's rebellion in 1232, they ruled until the Tunisian
Hafsids established control. The Hafsids' influence in the west rapidly waned, and Ceuta's inhabitants eventually expelled them in 1249. After this, a period of political instability persisted, under competing interests from the
Marinids and
Granada as well as autonomous rule under the native
Banu al-Azafi. Fez finally conquered the region in 1387, with assistance from
Aragon.
Portuguese during the
Conquest of Ceuta in
azulejos at the
São Bento railway station , built from 962 to the 18th century, and navigable moats On the morning of 21 August 1415, King
John I of Portugal led his sons and their assembled forces in a surprise assault that would come to be known as the
Conquest of Ceuta. The 45,000 Portuguese who traveled on 200 ships caught the defenders of Ceuta off guard and suffered only eight casualties. By nightfall the town was captured and on the morning of 22 August, Ceuta was in Portuguese hands.
Álvaro Vaz de Almada, 1st Count of Avranches was asked to hoist what was to become the
flag of Ceuta, which is identical to the
flag of Lisbon, but in which the coat of arms derived from that of the
Kingdom of Portugal was added to the center; the original Portuguese flag and
coat of arms of Ceuta remained unchanged, and the modern-day Ceuta flag features the configuration of the
Portuguese shield. John's son
Henry the Navigator distinguished himself in the battle, being wounded during the conquest. The looting of the city proved to be less profitable than expected for John I, so he decided to keep the city to pursue further enterprises in the area. From 1415 to 1437,
Pedro de Meneses became the first governor of Ceuta. The
Marinid Sultanate started the
1419 siege but was defeated by the first governor of Ceuta before reinforcements arrived in the form of
John, Constable of Portugal and his brother
Henry the Navigator, who were sent with troops to defend Ceuta. Under
King John I's son,
Duarte, the city of Ceuta rapidly became a drain on the Portuguese treasury.
Trans-Saharan trade journeyed instead to
Tangier. It was soon realized that without the city of Tangier, possession of Ceuta was worthless. In 1437,
Duarte's brothers Henry the Navigator and
Fernando, the Saint Prince persuaded him to launch an attack on the
Marinid sultanate. The resulting
Battle of Tangier (1437), led by Henry, was a debacle. In the resulting treaty, Henry promised to deliver Ceuta back to the Marinids in return for allowing the Portuguese army to depart unmolested, which he reneged on. Possession of Ceuta indirectly led to further
Portuguese expansion. The main area of Portuguese expansion, at this time, was the coast of the
Maghreb, where there was grain, cattle, sugar, and textiles, as well as fish, hides, wax, and honey. Ceuta had to endure alone for 43 years, until the position of the city was consolidated with the taking of
Ksar es-Seghir (1458),
Arzila and Tangier (1471) by the Portuguese. The city was recognized as a Portuguese possession by the
Treaty of Alcáçovas (1479) and by the
Treaty of Tordesillas (1494). In the 1540s the Portuguese began building the
Royal Walls of Ceuta as they are today including
bastions, a navigable moat and a drawbridge. Some of these bastions are still standing, like the bastions of Coraza Alta, Bandera and Mallorquines.
Luís de Camões lived in Ceuta between 1549 and 1551, losing his right eye in battle, which influenced his work of poetry
Os Lusíadas.
Union between Portugal and Spain In 1578 King
Sebastian of Portugal died at the
Battle of Alcácer Quibir (known as the Battle of Three Kings) in what is today northern Morocco, without descendants, triggering the
1580 Portuguese succession crisis. His grand-uncle, the elderly
Cardinal Henry, succeeded him as King, but also had no descendants, having taken
holy orders. When the cardinal-king died two years later, three grandchildren of King
Manuel I of Portugal claimed the throne: •
Infanta Catarina, Duchess of Braganza •
António, Prior of Crato •
Philip II of Spain, uncle of former King Sebastian of Portugal Philip prevailed and was crowned King
Philip I of Portugal in 1581,
uniting the two crowns and overseas empires. During the Union with Spain, 1580 to 1640, Ceuta attracted many residents of Spanish origin and became the only city of the
Portuguese Empire that sided with Spain when Portugal regained its independence in the
Portuguese Restoration War of 1640.
Spanish , built in 1905 On 1 January 1668, King
Afonso VI of Portugal recognised the formal allegiance of Ceuta to Spain and ceded Ceuta to King
Carlos II of Spain by the
Treaty of Lisbon. The city was attacked by Moroccan forces under
Moulay Ismail during the
Siege of Ceuta (1694–1727). During the longest siege in history, the city underwent changes leading to the loss of its Portuguese character. While most of the military operations took place around the
Royal Walls of Ceuta, there were also small-scale penetrations by Spanish forces at various points on the Moroccan coast, and seizure of shipping in the Strait of Gibraltar. During the
Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815), Spain allowed Britain to occupy Ceuta. Occupation began in 1810, with Ceuta being returned at the conclusion of the wars. Disagreements regarding the border of Ceuta resulted in the
Hispano-Moroccan War (1859–60), which ended at the
Battle of Tetuán. In July 1936, General
Francisco Franco took command of the
Spanish Army of Africa and rebelled against the Spanish republican government; his military uprising led to the
Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939. Franco transported troops to mainland Spain in an airlift using transport aircraft supplied by
Germany and
Italy. Ceuta became one of the first battlegrounds of the uprising: General Franco's rebel nationalist forces seized Ceuta, while at the same time the city came under fire from the air and sea forces of the official republican government. The
Llano Amarillo monument was erected to honor
Francisco Franco; it was inaugurated on 13 July 1940. The tall obelisk has since been abandoned, but the shield symbols of the
Falange and Imperial Eagle remain visible. Following the 1947
Partition of India, a substantial number of
Sindhi Hindus from current-day Pakistan settled in Ceuta, adding to a small Hindu community that had existed in Ceuta since 1893, connected to Gibraltar's. When Spain recognized the independence of
Spanish Morocco in 1956, Ceuta and the other remained under Spanish rule. Spain considered them integral parts of the Spanish state, but Morocco has disputed this point. Culturally, modern Ceuta is part of the Spanish region of
Andalusia. It was attached to the
province of Cádiz until 1995, the Spanish coast being only 20 km (12.5 miles) away. It is a cosmopolitan city, with a large ethnic
Arab-
Berber Muslim minority (although the Berber presence is much less outspoken in Ceuta than in
Melilla) as well as
Sephardic Jewish and
Hindu minorities. On 5 November 2007, King
Juan Carlos I and Queen
Sofía visited Ceuta and Melilla, sparking enthusiasm from the local population and protests from the Moroccan government, which led to a
brief diplomatic conflict. It was the first time a Spanish head of state had visited the two cities since 1927. Since 2010, Ceuta and Melilla have declared the
Muslim holiday of
Eid al-Adha, or Feast of the Sacrifice, an official public holiday. It is the first time a non-Christian
religious festival has been officially celebrated in Spanish ruled territory since the
Reconquista. ==Geography==