Melilla

Melilla, Spanish enclave and port in north-west Africa, administered as part of Málaga Province, on the Mediterranean Sea. Bordered by Morocco, Melilla consists of an older, walled town on a peninsula with modern buildings to the south and west. The city is a rail terminus serving the mountainous Rif hinterland, and exports include iron, lead, zinc, fish, and fruit. The chief industries in the city are fish processing, boatbuilding, sawmilling, and flour milling. Founded by the Phoenicians as Rusaddir, it was ruled by the Carthaginians, the Romans, the Byzantine Empire, and various Berber dynasties before being conquered by Spain in 1497. A revolt by army officers in the Melilla garrison in 1936 was the prelude to the Spanish Civil War. Population 69,440 (2007).