Spainâs enclaves on mainland North Africa, Ceuta and Melilla, came into European possession at the close of the Reconquista and at the onset of the Age of Discovery. In 1415 Portugal took control of Ceuta, a port city whose strategic location at the Mediterranean entrance of the Strait of Gibraltar gave it control over important shipping routes between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The siege was part of a broader attempt to break the stranglehold of Muslim powers on trade routes between Portugal and Asia. Spain took control of Melilla in 1497 to help secure its recently conquered territories in Granada (1491â92) and establish a foothold in Muslim-ruled North Africa, where the Muslim Nasrid dynasty of Granada had taken refuge. Spain then gained possession of Ceuta with the union of Portugal and Spain in 1580.
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