Plaza de soberanía

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Spanish areas between Africa and Europe
Spanish territory off the coast of Morocco
Spanish sovereign places in North Africa ("Spanish North Africa")

A Plaza de soberanía [ ˈplaθa de soβeɾanˈia ] (translated sovereign place or independent place ) is a small area belonging to Spain on Morocco's Mediterranean coast, which is not assigned to an autonomous region and is therefore directly subordinate to the Spanish state. The official German and also summarizing name of these areas is: the Spanish sovereign places in North Africa .

administration

The Kingdom of Spain originally administered five plazas de soberanía (sovereign places), which are located near the coast of Morocco in the Mediterranean. These areas, also known as Spanish North Africa , were:

Ceuta and Melilla, which are the only areas with a permanent resident population, were considered plazas mayores (large sovereign places ), the other areas as plazas menores (small sovereign places ). Ceuta and Melilla have been ciudades autónomas (independent cities) since 1995, now civil , and no longer as plazas de soberanía . In contrast, the three other small sovereign places are exclusively inhabited and administered by the military.

Politically , the Isla de Alborán belongs not to the Plazas de soberanía , but to Andalusia , but geographically also to Africa .

The parsley island , which is disputed between Spain and Morocco, is also not one of the plazas de soberanía .

history

The Chafarinas archipelago east of Melilla consists of three small islands ( Isla del Congreso , Isla de Isabel II , Isla del Rey ) and was conquered by Spain in 1848 in a race against the French Navy . The Alhucemas archipelago ( Islas Alhucemas , Alhukemas Islands) consists of three small islands ( Peñón de Alhucemas , Isla de Mar and Isla de Tierra ) and was ceded to the King of Spain by the Moroccan sultan in 1560 during the wars against the Turkish naval forces . Vélez de la Gomera was conquered in 1508 by a Spanish military expedition against the Rif pirates . It was fought over again and again until the Spanish Rif War and was temporarily occupied by Moroccan armed forces. The rock fortresses of Alhucemas and Vélez de la Gomera temporarily served as a state prison .

When the colonial powers France and Spain granted Morocco independence in 1956, the islands and land areas concerned were not included in the return of territory. Spain justified this with the fact that the areas had been Spanish since the 16th century. Morocco is still calling for the areas to be handed over.

The Plazas de soberanía belong to the European Union and the Eurozone .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Foreign Office, country directory for official use in Germany, April 30, 2019, page 102: the Places under Spanish Sovereignty in North Africa (en), les places de souveraineté espagnole en Afrique-du-Nord (fr), las Plazas de soberanía españolas del Norte de África (es).

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