The enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla made headlines last week after thousands of migrants crossed into these Spanish territories located on Morocco’s Mediterranean coast. The influx brought renewed attention to the issue of border management and migration, some of the recurring flashpoints between Madrid and Rabat.Ceuta and Melilla are Spain’s only territories on the African mainland and the European Union’s only land borders with Africa. But why have the two enclaves been at the centre of a diplomatic standoff between Spain and Morocco? How does their status as enclaves help us understand this standoff? What exactly is an enclave? Enclaves and exclaves An enclave is a discontiguous part of the territory of a state surrounded by or enclosed within the territory of another state. From the perspective of the surrounding state, the discontiguous territory is called enclave, and from the perspective of the mainland state to which the discontiguous part belongs, it is called exclave. The term enclave is traced to the pre-Westphalian system during the late Middle Ages. The Treaty of Madrid, signed in 1526, is identified as probably the first diplomatic document to contain the word “enclave”. The word enclave comes from the Latin word inclavatus meaning “shut in, locked up” and clavis meaning a “key”, while the term exclave corresponds to the Latin word exclavo. Scholars underline the significance of understanding the decisive role played by discontiguity and sovereignty for defining enclave (exclave). International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (edited by David L Sills, 17 volumes, 1968) notes that enclaves (exclaves) should be distinguished from contiguous and neutral territories. Contiguous territories of states which for all regular commercial and administrative purposes can be reached only through the territory of other states are called pene-enclaves (pene-exclaves). In neutral territories, which are often separate from the mainland state, sovereignty is shared between two or more states.Also Read | Beyond Trending: What is Axis of Resistance?From feudal holdings to colonial borders History records the creation and continued existence of enclaves during the pre-Westphalian, colonial, and postcolonial periods. Economist Evgeny Vinokurov, in his book A Theory of Enclaves (2007), sums it up into four historical waves. Story continues below this adThe first wave is connected to the specifics of the pre-Westphalian period when hundreds of thousands of enclaves existed based on their possession by rulers, dynasties or feudal lords. Some of them continued to exist even after these territories were consolidated into the nation-states. The second wave of the creation of enclaves occurred with the building of European colonial empires, when Spain, Portugal, France, Britain, the Netherlands, and later Germany built up their empires overseas. The third and fourth waves are related to the collapse of the colonial empires when enclaves and exclaves emerged as the borders were drawn between the former colonies. The enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, geographically part of the continent of Africa, have been under Spanish sovereignty since the 15th century. Melilla has been under Spanish control since 1497, when Spanish nobleman Pedro de Estopiñán seized it. Ceuta, seized by Portugal in 1415, was formally transferred to Spain under the Treaty of Lisbon in 1668 after the end of the union between Spain and Portugal in 1640. But since gaining independence from France in 1956, Morocco has been maintaining that the territories of Ceuta and Melilla, which it calls “Sebtah and Melilah”, are part of its territory and has been demanding their return.Story continues below this adThus the history of Ceuta and Melilla helps explain how enclaves are not merely geographical curiosities. Their unusual territorial status can be a source of disputes over border management and migration, and can shape the relations between neighbouring states. Send your comments at ashiya.parveen@indianexpress.com.Click Here to read the UPSC Essentials magazine for June 2026. Subscribe to our UPSC newsletter and stay updated with the news cues from the past week.Stay updated with the latest UPSC articles by joining our Telegram channel – IndianExpress UPSC Hub, and follow us on Instagram and X.