View source for Chafarinas Islands

{{Infobox disputed islands
| plural = yes
| name             = Chafarinas Islands
| image name       = Chafarinas desde el cabo de Agua (2).jpg
| image caption    = Chafarinas Islands viewed from Morocco
| image size       = 
| locator map      = Chafarinas.jpg
| map_custom       = 
| native name      = 
| native name link = 
| other_names      = 
| location         = Mediterranean sea
| coordinates      = 
| archipelago      = 
| total islands    = 3
| major islands    = [[Isla del Congreso]]<br/>[[Isla Isabel II]]<br/>[[Isla del Rey (Chafarinas)|Isla del Rey]]
| area             = 52.5ha
| length           =
| width            =
| coastline        =
| highest mount    = 
| elevation        = 
| country claim  = Spain
| country claim divisions title   =
| country claim divisions         =
| country 1 claim    = Morocco
| country 1 claim divisions title   =
| country 1 claim divisions         =
| country                          = 
| country admin divisions title   =
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}}
[[File:Mapa del sur de España neutral.png|thumb|260px|[[Plazas de soberanía]]. The Islas Chafarinas are on the right.]]
The '''Chafarinas Islands''' ({{lang-es|Islas Chafarinas}} {{IPA-es|ˈizlas tʃafaˈɾinas|IPA}}, [[Berber language|Berber]]: ''Igumamen Iceffaren'' or ''Takfarinas'', [[Arabic]]: جزر الشفارين or الجزر الجعفرية), also spelled '''Zafarin''', '''Djaferin'''<ref name="britannica">{{cite web|url=  http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/104294/Chafarinas-Islands |title= Chafarinas Islands|year=2011|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica|accessdate=September 7, 2011}}</ref> or '''Zafarani''',<ref name="usps">{{cite web|url=  http://pe.usps.com/text/imm/immctry.htm |title= Index of Countries and Localities|year=2011|publisher=USPS|accessdate=September 7, 2011}}</ref> are a group of three small [[islet]]s located in the [[Alboran Sea]] off the coast of [[Morocco]] with an aggregate area of {{convert|0.525|km2|3|abbr=out}}, {{convert|45|km|1|abbr=on}} to the east of [[Nador]] and {{convert|3.3|km|1|abbr=on}} off the Moroccan town of [[Ras Kebdana]].

The Chafarinas Islands are one of the [[Spain|Spanish]] territories in North Africa off the Moroccan coast known as ''[[plazas de soberanía]]''.

==History==
These offshore islands were uninhabited and unclaimed at the time the French government decided in 1848 to occupy them in order to monitor the unruly tribes living in the border area between Morocco and French Algeria. A small expedition under the command of Colonel MacMahon (the future [[Patrice de MacMahon, Duke of Magenta|Marshal MacMahon]]) left Oran by sea and by land in January 1848 to take possession of the islands. Forewarned by its consul in Oran, Spain, which also coveted the Chafarinas, quickly dispatched a warship to the islands from Malaga. When the French arrived, the Spaniards had already taken possession of the islands in the name of Queen Isabel II.<ref>''L'Exploration'', Paris, vol. 18, 2nd semester 1884, p. 531.</ref>

==Geography==
The Chafarinas Islands are made up of three islands (from west to east, with areas in [[hectares]]):

* [[Isla del Congreso]] (25.6 ha)
* [[Isla Isabel II]] (15.3 ha) (with garrison)
* [[Isla del Rey (Chafarinas)|Isla del Rey]] (11.6 ha).

Under Spanish control since 1847, there is a 30-man<ref>http://www.lavanguardia.com/politica/20140415/54405035466/unos-30-militares-integran-guarnicion-militar-que-vigila-las-islas-chafarinas.html</ref> military garrison on Isla Isabel II, the only stable population on the small archipelago, down from 426 people in 1900 and 736 people in 1910.

The islands had a certain relevance in Spanish environmentalist circles during the 1980s and 1990s as the very last individual of [[Mediterranean monk seal]] in Spanish territory lived there, until it disappeared in the 1990s.<ref>[http://www.consumer.es/web/es/medio_ambiente/naturaleza/2006/05/29/152429.php Foca monje del Mediterráneo | CONSUMER.es EROSKI<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Nine out of eleven [[marine invertebrates]] considered [[endangered species]] and the second largest colony in the world of the endangered [[Audouin's gull]] inhabit the islands.<ref name = ElPais>Ceberia, Monica et al (17 September 2012) [http://elpais.com/elpais/2012/09/17/inenglish/1347895561_857013.html The last remains of the empire] El Pais in English, Retrieved 24 September 2012</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery perrow="5">
<!-- Deleted image removed: File:Plaza de soberania.gif|19th-century Spanish map showing the Chafarinas Islands -->
File:Chafarinas desde el cabo de Agua.jpg|Islas Chafarinas as seen from [[Cabo de Agua]]
File:Korallenmöve seitlich.jpg|[[Audouin's gull]], one of the numerous inhabitants on the islands
File:Isla de Isabel II desde el cabo de Agua.jpg|Island of Isabel II
File:Iglesia de la Purísima Concepción (Chafarinas) en 1893.jpg|Church of la Purísima Concepción on the island of Isabel II in 1893
File:Coat of Arms of the Chafarinas Islands.svg|Coat of arms of the Chafarinas Islands
File:Îles Zaffarines.JPG|Chafarinas Islands viewed from [[Ras Kebdana|Ras El Ma]], [[Morocco]]
</gallery>

== See also ==
{{Commons category|Islas Chafarinas}}
{{EB1911 poster|Chaffarinas}}
* [[Plazas de soberanía]]
* [[List of Spanish Colonial Wars in Morocco]]
* [[Spanish Protectorate of Morocco]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Administrative divisions of Spain}}
{{Outlying territories of European countries}}
{{Countries and territories of North Africa}}

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[[Category:Islands of Africa]]
[[Category:Archipelagoes of Spain]]
[[Category:Mediterranean islands]]
[[Category:Plazas de soberanía]]
[[Category:Territorial disputes of Spain]]
[[Category:Archipelagoes of Africa]]
[[Category:Natura 2000 in Spain]]
[[Category:Chafarinas Islands| ]]