Benzú is a small settlement within the Spanish autonomous city of

Ceuta Ceuta (, , ; ) is an Autonomous communities of Spain#Autonomous cities, autonomous city of Spain on the North African coast. Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ceuta is one of th ...

. It has a population of 1,987 according to the 2011 census, divided into two units with Ceuta as its municipality.

Description

Benzú is in the northwest of the Spanish

exclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...

, with a northern coastline of the Mediterranean Sea. It lies close to the border with

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. The small town has about 1200 inhabitants in 2011 and the population has risen only slightly in the last decade. The town has the last beach before the border and the small community of Belyounech in the Moroccan region of Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima. From this area the nearby mountain of Jebel Musa, which is known locally as the "Dead Woman" as the profile of the mountain is of a similar shape to a woman lying down, can be seen.

History

It has rock shelters and caves which have evidence of occupation during the

palaeolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( years ago) ( ), also called the Old Stone Age (), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehist ...

and

neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

periods. Researchers have found seven levels of human occupation dating back to 250,000 years ago. The evidence they have found has led them to think of the Straits of Gibraltar not as a barrier but a bridge to early humans. The different levels within the cave show the development of stone tools. The tools are made from Flint, Sandstone and

Radiolarite Radiolarite is a Siliceous ooze, siliceous, comparatively hard, fine-grained, chert-like, and homogeneous sedimentary rock that is composed predominantly of the microscopic remains of radiolarians. This term is also used for Friability, indurat ...

with scrapers used for working both wood and hide. Comparison of the technology used during the Pleistocene and Holocene periods by early humans shows that there was a very similar civilisation in caves excavated in

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

, mainland Spain and around

Tangier Tangier ( ; , , ) is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The city is the capital city, capital of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, as well as the Tangier-Assilah Prefecture of Moroc ...

to caves around Benzu. The population was given as 1,127 in 2000 and it has risen to 1,170 in 2010. The N-354 and N-362 roads link Benzú to the city of Ceuta.

Demographics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benzu Geography of Ceuta