Spain’s King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia are scheduled to travel to Ceuta on October 13, with Melilla planned for the following day. It will be Felipe’s first trip to either city since he became king in 2014.
The visit comes after a significant crisis linked to migration on the Ceuta frontier in July. The decades-old disagreement between Madrid and Rabat over the two North African cities is still unsettled. Spain regards both as its territory, while Morocco considers them, along with several smaller Spanish-held areas in North Africa, to be part of its own land.
Sabta, Ceuta and the city’s two names
The city is called Ceuta in Spanish, while in Arabic it is Sabta, often written Sebta in Latin script. The name predates both modern Spain and Morocco. Spain’s Ministry of Culture links Sabta with present-day Ceuta and charts the city’s past through the Idrisid, Umayyad, Taifa, Almoravid, Almohad and Marinid periods.
The Spanish form grew out of earlier versions of the name, and the two forms are simply different linguistic renderings of the same place. In Morocco, Sebta is the Arabic name in use, while Ceuta is the established Spanish label. Because of the dispute, the choice of name can carry political weight, yet using Sebta is not automatically a political statement.
From Muslim rule to Portuguese and then Spanish control
Under the Idrisid dynasty, the Banu Isam held the city until the Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Rahman III seized it in 931, drawing it into the political orbit of al-Andalus. In the 11th century Ceuta was tied to the Taifa of Malaga, and it later passed to the Almoravids and Almohads. From the start of the 14th century it belonged to the Marinid sphere, with spells under other local dynasties, and by the early 15th century it remained under Muslim rule.
On August 21, 1415, Portuguese forces led by King John I captured the city. Ceuta’s heritage authority dates Muslim rule from 709 until that conquest, which ended more than seven centuries of such rule. Portugal then held Ceuta for over two centuries.
Between 1580 and 1640, Portugal and Spain shared a single monarchy. When Portugal regained its independence in 1640, Ceuta stayed with the Spanish crown instead of going back to Portugal. The 1668 Treaty of Lisbon, which formally recognised Portuguese independence, left the city in Spanish hands, and that is how Spanish sovereignty over Ceuta was established.
Why Morocco and Spain disagree over sovereignty
Morocco’s case rests on Ceuta’s long place within Muslim political systems in the Maghreb and on its location along the North African coast, with Morocco lying around it on the landward side. Rabat’s claim to both Ceuta and Melilla dates to 1956, the year Morocco became independent, and it describes the two cities as occupied Moroccan territory.
Spain takes the opposite view. Spanish legislation classes Ceuta as an autonomous city. The regional charter, known as its Statute of Autonomy, presents the city as a fully fledged component of the Spanish nation and provides it with self-government. The dispute is therefore not about who runs Ceuta, since Spain does, but about sovereignty itself.
Morocco says the city should belong to its territory, while Spain says its sovereignty is settled and Ceuta is part of Spain. Neither side has accepted the other’s position, largely because they read the same history differently. Morocco emphasises earlier Muslim rule, whereas Spain points to centuries of Portuguese and Spanish control and to Ceuta’s current constitutional status.
The historical record does not offer a simple answer to a modern sovereignty question. The political systems that governed Ceuta before 1415 were not nation-states with today’s borders, and the city’s present status rests on later Portuguese and Spanish rule. Morocco’s claim goes back to 1956, but Spain has kept exercising sovereignty throughout.
Melilla’s separate path and Ceuta’s border status
Melilla’s history differs from Ceuta’s. Spanish forces took control of it in 1497, when it was incorporated into the Crown of Castile. Today both cities are Spanish autonomous cities, and Morocco claims sovereignty over both.
Ceuta is considered part of Spain but falls outside the European Union customs territory. Its border with Morocco is also an external border of the Schengen area. That combination has made the city a focal point for migration and border policy, as well as a recurring source of tension between Madrid and Rabat.
The issue returned sharply to the headlines on July 30, when the news agency said more than 72,000 migrants had entered Ceuta from Morocco. Felipe’s planned visits to Ceuta and Melilla are now drawing attention back to the two disputed cities.
