Ceuta is a free port and an important Spanish military base. Here are stationed among other contingents of the Spanish Legion. It is a hub of transport between Africa and Europe. The economy is marked by medium-sized businesses, especially in fishing, food industry (fish processing) and the textile industry. Furthermore, there are shipyards. Trade relations extend only to Spain, the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands and Melilla. Ceuta was part of the Spanish province of Cadiz to 1995, and is today an Autonomous City within Spain.
The area of Ceuta is a residual area of the former Spanish colony of Spanish Morocco, which existed from 1912 to 1956 as a Spanish protectorate in northern Morocco, and was given up except the Plazas de Soberanía (Presidios). The Presidios had been from the early modern period Spanish possession, then deportation places for convicts on the north coast of Morocco. The Presidios are still until today the following possessions:
• Ceuta (84.777 inh.), • Melilla (86.487 inh.), • Perejil (uninhabited), • Peñon de Velez de la Gomera, • Alhucemas-Inseln, • Chafarinas-Inseln (the last three alltogether ca. 300 inhabitants)
Sometimes the Plazas de Soberanía are even called as Spanish North Africa. Morocco claims the Plazas de Soberanía and in this way Ceuta too.
On 10th of July in 2002 Morocco occupied the to Spanish North Africa belonging, and near Ceuta situated, uninhabited Perejil Island (= Parsley Island), to underline his claims to the territories. On 17th of October Spain drove as part of a military operation the on Perejil Island stationed Moroccan soldiers and took over the island again ("parsley war"). As a result of diplomatic wrangling, an agreement was reached briefly, to nominate the island as "neutral territory". However, the annexation by Morocco was an attack on a NATO country and on the European Union, and before treaty obligations have been activated, the restore of the state before the 10th of July in 2002 was agreed.
Ceuta was conquered by the Portugese in the year 1415, and came to Spain not until the year 1580. The flag of Ceuta goes from there back to Portugal. The flag of Ceuta is the flag of the Spanish City of Ceuta, consisting of a black and white gyronny with the city's coat of arms in the middle. It is an image of the flag of St. Vincent (the city saint of Lisbon) or the city of Lisbon itself and these are the colours of the Dominican Order. This flag was even used as the flag of Portugal for some time. The official flag for offices and authorities even shows the Portuguese national coat of arms in the middle, but the golden castles of Castile are arranged a little differently. The shield is crowned by a margrave crown.
The first mention of the settlement is the Phoenician city "Abyle". The ancient Greeks called the place later "Hepta Adelphia", what means "Seven Brothers", because the city is built on seven hills. The Romans adopted the Greek name and the translated word for word "Septem Frates" (Seven Brothers), in the short form the city was called "Septa". The Arabs called it "Sibta" and the Portuguese gave it the name "Ceuta", which it has kept to this day.
