2.Spain and Morocco
Border: Melilla and Ceuta Border Fences
Area: 18.5 km*
Est. Gross Domestic Product: $147.34 billion (Morocco) / $1.968 trillion (Spain)*
Situated between Morocco and Spain, Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera’s border is among the world’s smallest, measuring just 80 metres. This strange border developed as a result of several 16th-century treaties and battles.
Morocco and Spain ©Mario Sánchez Bueno/Flickr
Despite Morocco’s close proximity and later independence, it has remained under Spanish dominion ever since it was first taken by Spain in 1508 as a countermeasure against piracy. It was once an island, but a powerful earthquake in 1930 turned it into a peninsula by creating the isthmus that connected it to the mainland. It now represents contemporary geopolitical subtleties and historical entanglements.
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