Ceuta
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a fortified port belonging to Spain, on the coast of Morocco, opposite Gibraltar. The town occupies the site of the Roman colony of Ad Septem Fratres, so called from the seven hills rising here in a group, of which the most prominent are Montes Almina and Hacho; on the latter, the ancient Abyla (one of the Pillars of Hercules), is a strong fort, and on the former, among beautiful gardens, lies the New Town. Ceuta contains a cathedral, a hospital, and convents, but is chiefly of importance as a military and convict station. The harbor is small, and exposed to the N., but has a lighthouse and some small trade. The mixed population number about 25,000. The place was a flourishing mart under the Arabs, who corrupted its Roman name to Sebtah; there the first paper manufactory in the W. world is said to have been established by an Arab who had brought the industry from China. In 1415 it was captured by the Portuguese, and annexed to Portugal; it fell to Spain in 1580. CÉVENNES (sev-en', ancient Cebenna), the chief mountain range in the S. of France. With its continuations and it forms the watershed between offsets, the river systems of the Rhône and the Loire and Garonne. Its general direction is from N. E. to S. W., beginning at the S. extremity of the Lyonnais mountains, and extending under different local names as far as the Canal du Midi, which divides it from the N. slopes of the Pyrenees. The Cévennes extend for over 150 miles, through or into nine departments, the central mass lying in Lozère and Ardèche, where Mount Lozère attains 5,584 feet, and Mount Mézenc (the culminating point of the chain) 5,754 feet. The average height is from 3,000 to 4,000 feet. The mountains consist chiefly of primary rocks, covered with tertiary formations, which in many places are interrupted by volcanic rocks.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Collier's wrote in 1921 Ceuta was a Spanish garrison and convict station of about 25,000 people on the coast of a Morocco that was itself divided between French and Spanish protectorates. Morocco became independent in 1956, but Spain kept Ceuta, which since 1995 has been a Spanish autonomous city with its own assembly, and it entered the European Community with Spain in 1986. Its population is now roughly 85,000, its economy rests on the port, duty-free trade and the public payroll rather than on convicts, and its land boundary is fenced and closely policed as one of the EU's only borders with Africa, the scene of repeated mass attempts to cross, notably in May 2021. Morocco continues to claim sovereignty over the city, which Spain rejects, so the fort on Monte Hacho that Collier's described still guards a live political dispute.
Written for this edition, 2026.