Ceuta or Sebta? Why one city has two names and a disputed status

What the report says

Spain’s King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia are scheduled to visit Ceuta on October 13 and Melilla the next day, in Felipe’s first trip to either city as king since taking the throne in 2014. Al Jazeera says the visits are drawing fresh attention to a long-running sovereignty dispute with Morocco, which claims both North African enclaves as its own territory while Spain treats them as part of the Spanish state.

The report explains that Ceuta is known in Spanish as Ceuta and in Arabic as Sabta, or Sebta in Latin script, reflecting older historical forms of the same place name. Al Jazeera traces the city’s rule through a series of earlier powers in the Maghreb and al-Andalus, then to Portuguese capture in 1415 and its eventual transfer to Spanish sovereignty after Portugal regained independence and the 1668 Treaty of Lisbon left Ceuta under Spanish control.

Morocco’s claim is rooted in Ceuta’s location on the North African coast and its history before modern borders were drawn. Spain, by contrast, cites centuries of Portuguese and Spanish rule and Ceuta’s current status as an autonomous city within Spain. The article notes that the dispute is about sovereignty rather than day-to-day administration, which remains Spanish.

The issue continues to matter because Ceuta sits outside the EU customs territory and on the Schengen area’s external border with Morocco, making it a recurring flashpoint in migration and border policy. Al Jazeera also links the renewed attention to a reported surge of migrants into Ceuta in July, according to Reuters.