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CEUTA (Arabic Sebta)

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 777 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CEUTA (Arabic Sebta)  , a
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Spanish military and convict station and seaport on the north coast of
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Morocco, in 35° 54' N., 5 18' W . Pop. about 13,000 . It is situated on a promontory connected with the mainland by a narrow isthmus . This promontory marks the south-eastern end of the straits of
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Gibraltar, which between Ceuta and Gibraltar have a width of 14 M . The promontory terminates in a bold headland, the Montagne
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des Singes, with seven distinct peaks . Of these the highest is the
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Monte del Hacko, the ancient Abyla, one of the " Pillars of Hercules," which faces Gibraltar and rises 636 ft. above the sea . On the westernmost point—Almina, 476 ft. high—is a lighthouse with a
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light visible for 23 M . Ceuta consists of two quarters, the old
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town, covering the low ground of the isthmus, and the
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modern town, built on the hills forming the north and west faces of the peninsula . Between the old and new quarters and on the north side of the isthmus lies the
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port . The public buildings in the town, thoroughly Spanish in its character, are not striking: they include the
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cathedral (formerly a mosque), the governor's palace, the town hall, barracks, and the convict prison in the old convent of
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San Francisco . Ceuta has been fortified seaward, the
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works being furnished with modern artillery intended to command the entrance to the Mediterranean . Landward are three lines of defence, the inner
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line stretching completely across the isthmus .

These fortifications, which date from the

time of the Portuguese occupation, have been partly modernized . The citadel, El Hacho, built on the neck of the isthmus,
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dates from the 15th century . The garrison consists of between 3000 and 4000 men, inclusive of a disciplinary corps of military convicts . Of the rest of the population about 2000 are civilian convicts; and there are colonies of Jews, negroes and Moors, the last including descendants of Moors transferred to Ceuta from Oran when Spain abandoned that city in 1796 . Ceuta occupies in
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part the site of a Carthaginian colony, which was succeeded by a
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Roman colony said to have been called Ad Septem Fratres and also Exilissa or Lissa Civitas . From the Romans the town passed to the Vandals and afterwards to
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Byzantium, the emperor Justinian restoring its fortifications in 535 . In 618 the town, then known as Septon, fell into the hands of the Visigoths . It was the last stronghold in North Africa which held out against the
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Arabs . At that date (A.D . 711) the governor of the town was the Count Julian who, inrevenge for the betrayal of his daughter by King
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Roderick of Toledo, invited the Arabs to
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cross the straits under Tarik and conquer Spain for
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Islam . By the Arabs the town was called Cibta or Sebta, hence the Spanish form Ceuta . From the date of its occupation by the Arabs the town had a stormy
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history, being repeatedly captured by
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rival
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Berber and Spanish-Moorish dynasties .

It became nevertheless an important commercial and

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industrial city, being noted for its brass
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ware, its trade in ivory, gold and slaves . It is said to have been the first place in the West where a paper manufactory was established . In 1415 the town was captured by the Portuguese under John I., among those taking part in the attack being Prince Henry " the Navigator " and two of his brothers, who were knighted on the day following in the mosque (hastily dedicated as a Christian church) . Ceuta passed to Spain in 158o on the subjugation of
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Portugal by Philip II., and was definitely assigned to the Spanish
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crown by the treaty of Lisbon in 1688 . The town has been several times unsuccessfully besieged by the Moors—one siege, under Mulai Ismail, lasting twenty-six years (1694-1720) . In 181o, with the consent of Spain, it was occupied by
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British troops under General
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Sir J . F . Fraser . The town was restored to Spain by the British at the close of the
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Napoleonic
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Wars . As the result of the war between Spain and Morocco in 186o the
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area of Spanish territory around the town was increased . The military governor of the town also commands the troops in the other Spanish stations on the coast of Morocco . For
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civil purposes Ceuta is attached to the province of Cadiz .

It is a

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free port, but does little trade . See de Prado, Recuerdos de Africa; historia de la plaza de Ceuta (
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Madrid, 1859--186o); Budgett Meakin, The
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Land of the Moors (
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London, 1901),
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chap. xix., where many works dealing with Spanish Morocco are cited .

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