Chafarinas Islands

The Chafarinas Islands are a Spanish archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea, located 1.9 nautical miles (3.52 kilometers) off the coast of Morocco, and are made up of three Islands: Isla del Congreso, Isla de Isabel II and Isla del Rey Francisco. They are protected under the form of National Hunting Refuge. Only the Spanish military stationed there have access to the islands, along with guards and scientists from the Biological Station.

Toponymy

The name Chafarinas comes from the Berber language translation of the word Al Y'far, which means "thief".

The Chafarinas islands are indicated in the Latin geographical itineraries as "Tres Insulae", and in different charts with other various names such as Yezirat Meluia, Yezirat Quebdan, Shaffarin, Yasfárin, Zafarin, Quebdana, Farines, Chiafarina, Aljafarinas or Maluia Islands.

History

Church of the Pure Conception, Isabel II Island, in 1893.

There is evidence of a cardial type Neolithic site on the island of Congreso dated to the second half of the 5th millennium BC. C.

The Chafarinas Islands have belonged to Spain since January 6, 1848, the day they were occupied by the expedition sent under the command of General Serrano, under the reign of Isabel II, with various warships from Malaga. Until then they had been considered as terra nullius.

Chance played an important role in this episode, since it was a Spanish officer from the Corps of Engineers who, accompanying the French army in Algiers, found out about the intention of the Gauls to occupy this territory. Thus, the Spanish government decides to go ahead and sends a flotilla that takes possession of the islands a few hours before the arrival of the French, who were looking for a strategic position in front of the Muluya valley, and not far from Morocco. For its part, for Spain it meant support for communication between Melilla and the peninsula. A small expedition under the command of Marshal MacMahon left Oran by sea and by land in January 1848 to take possession of the islands. When the French arrived, the Spanish had already taken over the islands in the name of Queen Elizabeth II.

After the African War, Morocco recognized Spanish sovereignty over the archipelago by signing the Wad-Ras Treaty. In 1884, several 24-centimetre, 1881-model iron Elorza cannons were installed on the island of Isabel II, transferred to Melilla in 2017.

Throughout its history it served as a prison. In it, the Cuban independence fighter Emilio Bacardí Moreau paid homage, among others.

Geography

The Chafarinas archipelago (Ya`fariyya, in Arabic and Takfarinas in Berber) is located to the south of the Iberian Peninsula in the southern part of the Sea of Alborán (35° 11' N 2° 26' W), about 27 nautical miles east of Melilla and 1.9 nautical miles north of Cabo del Agua, on the Moroccan coast.

The islands are separated from the African coast by a relatively uniform and shallow continental platform (10-15 meters), which receives the sedimentary influence of the Muluya River, whose mouth is close to the border with Algeria.

Of volcanic origin, it consists of three islands called:

• Congress. It is the westernmost island, the largest (22.5 ha) and the highest; its peak reaches 137 meters above sea level.
• Isabel II (15.9 ha; 35 m s. n. m.) is between the other two, separated 1 km from the previous and about 175 m from King Francis. She's the only one in three.
• King Francis. It is the most eastern, small island (12.7 ha) and of lesser height (31 m n. m.) of the three.

Basic data

Geographic coordinates: Latitude 35° 11' North, Longitude 2° 26' West

Land area: 52.5 ha

• Congress Island: 25.6 ha (maximum altitude: 137 m. n. m. in Congress Island)
• Island of Isabel II: 15.3 ha
• Island of the King: 11,6 ha

Marine area protected as a National Hunting Refuge: 261.9 ha (maximum depth: 60 m)

• 

  Shield of the Chafarin Islands
  Average annual temperature: 19.5 °C
• Maximum temperature: 41.1 °C (average 23.3 °C)
• Minimum temperature: 5.2 °C (average 16.5 °C)
• Average annual relative humidity: 76.9%
• Average annual atmospheric pressure: 1.017.8 hPa.
• Rainfall: 297,2 mm/year.

Terrestrial environment: More than 180 plant species (15 North African or Ibero-African endemic species). Animal species: 12 species of reptiles (1 endemic), 90 species of birds (10 breeding), 153 species of invertebrates (11 gastropods or "snails", 12 isopods or "mealybugs", 74 arachnids and 56 coleoptera or "beetles"... Marine environment: 64 species of algae, 26 of echinoderms, 150 annelids, 60 species of fish, etc.

Extension: 0.747 km²

Maximum altitude: Cerro Nido de las Águilas on the island of Congreso with 137 m above sea level.

Population

View of the island of Congress, in Spain, from Cape Agua, in Morocco.

The Chafarinas Islands lack a stable population. On Isabel II Island there is a small military garrison currently belonging to the Tercio Gran Capitán n°1 of the Legion, made up of about 30 people under the command of a lieutenant, as well as Transmissions personnel, the Sea Company and a Nursing Officer from the Military Health Corps, adding to the 30 soldiers, a team of civilians on behalf of the National Parks Autonomous Organization (formerly ICONA) of the Spanish Ministry of the Environment.

Natural values

9 of the 11 marine invertebrates classified as endangered in Spain are present in Chafarinas. Among them, the ferruginous limpet (Patella ferruginea), the first invertebrate species with a "National Conservation Strategy" in Spain, for which the Chafarinas are classified as an authentic sanctuary, with an estimated population of 42,300 adult specimens. It is home to the world's second largest colony of Audouin's Gull (Ichthyaetus audouinii) with more than 2000 breeding pairs, and the second largest contingent of Cinderella Shearwater in Spain.

The islands and the marine rectangle that inscribes them were designated as a National Hunting Refuge in 1982 (Royal Decree 111582, and later declared as ZEPA (Special Protection Area for Birds) in 1989 due to the presence of bird species such as the previously mentioned Cinderella shearwater and Audouin's gull and also the osprey, a bird of prey that inhabits both fresh and salt water, present in most of the Spanish islands.

Since July 2006, it has been a Site of Community Importance (SCI) of the Natura2000 Network

Audouin seagull.

Other species that stand out are: the barracuda, amberjack, octopus (Octopus vulgaris), Elisella paraplexauroides, the plant Posidonia oceanica, Charonia, Dendrophylia ramea, the pelagia jellyfish, and fish of the genus Diplodus (bream, imperial bream, crappie, raspallón, etc.)

However, the Chafarinas Islands also supported the last Spanish population of critically endangered monk seals (Monachus monachus).

Among the reptiles of these islands, mention should be made of the Chafarinas skink (Chalcides parallelus). On the seabed there are a large number of echinoderms, such as the sea cucumber, brittle star, the spiny starfish or sea urchins.

Las Chafarinas were the object of study of the first doctoral thesis read on the African natural environment. Luis Bescansa Casares, a military pharmacist assigned to the Chafarinas Hospital between September 1900 and 1901, herbalized the necessary material to defend at the Central University on June 21, 1902 his doctoral thesis "Phanerogamic Herborizations on the Chafarinas Islands and their vicinity of Campo Moor".

By Royal Decree 190/2018, of April 6, the level of protection and territory extension of the Special Protection Area for birds LIC ES6300001 of the Mediterranean biogeographic region of the Natura 2000 Network was increased.

Archaeological values and heritage

On the island of Isabel II some interesting buildings are preserved:

• The church of the Purest Conception, built in the middle of the centuryXIX in classic style. Contains altarpiece and maintains just a plug after the last maintenance of the mid-centuryXX..
• The tower of the Conquest, a watchman of the same time.
• The lighthouse, early in the centuryXX..
• On the island of Congress lies El Zafrín, a neolithic village of the V millennium B.C., of a cardial type, which has produced a lot of archaeological material, especially ceramic. It has been excavated since 2000 by members of the Institute of Mediterranean Culture.
• The remains of the port dam that unites the Isabel II and Rey Francisco islands, designed by the engineer Manuel Becerra, are also highlighted, and which destroyed the time of March 13, 1914.

The Chafarinas Islands in popular culture

In 1990, the Spanish writer Fernando Lalana published an intriguing youth novel entitled Morirás en Chafarinas, whose action took place partly on the Island of Isabel II, and which five years later had a film adaptation by director Pedro Olea. The novel obtained in 1991 the National Prize for Children's and Youth Literature. Nine years later, in 1999, the author published a sequel titled Chafarinas Conspiracy.