Isla de Isabel II

Isla de Isabel II seen from Morocco.

The Isla de Isabel II is an island located in the Chafarinas Islands archipelago, in the Mediterranean Sea. The island belongs to Spain, even though it is only 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) away from the Moroccan shore. Its area is 0.153 km² (15.3 ha), and there is a military base and a church. The name of the island comes from the Spanish queen Isabel II.

The island is the only inhabited island of the three. Although it once had a population of close to a thousand people, currently it is only a military garrison with personnel from the Ministry of Environment of Spain, as the islands are a National Refuge protected because of the wealth of their natural species. During the summer months, a group of archaeologists who excavate the Neolithic site discovered on the Island of Congress, called El Zafrín, from the 5th millennium BC, headed by the Institute of Mediterranean Culture, also live on the island. The site is an open-air town from which several thousand ceramic fragments of cardial type have been obtained.

See also

• Chafarinas Islands
• Spanish Protectorate of Morocco