HistoryDiff

Aerial view of Gibraltar (2011). This strategic stronghold at the entrance to the Mediterranean has been under British control since 1704. Known since antiquity as one of the Pillars of Hercules, it has long commanded the gateway between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

The border fence between Ceuta (Spain) and Morocco. The boundary between this Spanish enclave in North Africa and Morocco is fortified with sophisticated security fencing designed to prevent unauthorized entry into the EU. Each year, large numbers of migrants attempt to cross this border, making it one of the most symbolic flashpoints of the European migration debate.

Location map of the Canary Islands. Situated in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 1,000 km from mainland Spain and around 100 km from the African continent. An autonomous community of Spain comprising seven main islands including Gran Canaria and Tenerife, and one of the EU's Outermost Regions (ORs). Spanish since the fifteenth-century conquest, the islands' geographic position has occasionally made them a subject of decolonization debates.