Cazaza was a Spanish enclave on the western coast of

Cape Three Forks Cape Three Forks, Cape des Trois Fourches, or Cape Tres Forcas is a headland on the Mediterranean coast of northeastern Morocco. Geography The cape is a large mountainous promontory of North Africa into the Mediterranean Sea. For centuries, thi ...

, in what is today

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

, around 18 km from

Melilla Melilla ( , ; ; rif, Mřič ; ar, مليلية ) is an autonomous city of Spain located in north Africa. It lies on the eastern side of the Cape Three Forks, bordering Morocco and facing the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of . It was par ...

. It was here that the exiled

Boabdil Abu Abdallah Muhammad XII ( ar, أبو عبد الله محمد الثاني عشر, Abū ʿAbdi-llāh Muḥammad ath-thānī ʿashar) (c. 1460–1533), known in Europe as Boabdil (a Spanish rendering of the name ''Abu Abdallah''), was the ...

, last Emir of Granada, landed when he left the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

in 1492. In 1505 Spanish forces based in Melilla led by

Juan Alfonso Pérez de Guzmán, 3rd Duke of Medina Sidonia ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

took Cazaza from the

Wattasid The Wattasid dynasty ( ber, Iweṭṭasen; ar, الوطاسيون, ''al-waṭṭāsīyūn'') was a ruling dynasty of Morocco. Like the Marinid dynasty, its rulers were of Zenata Berber descent. The two families were related, and the Marinids ...

Kingdom of Fez Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

. King Ferdinand granted him the title 'Marquess of Cazaza', which survives to this day. Although the noble title has endured, the Spanish lost control of Cazaza in 1533 because of the treachery of five of its garrison who betrayed it. It was never rebuilt after the destruction when it was conquered. Its ruins are visible today.

References

__NOTOC__ Spanish Empire Enclaves and exclaves Reconquista {{OrientalMA-geo-stub

See also

References