Editing Ceuta (section)

===Ancient===
[[File:Catedral de la Asunción de Ceuta (11).jpg|thumb|left|250px|Phoenician archeological site, dated to the 7th century{{nbsp}}BC, next to the [[Cathedral of Ceuta]]]]
Controlling access between the [[Atlantic Ocean]] and the [[Mediterranean Sea]], the [[Strait of Gibraltar]] is an important military and commercial [[chokepoint]]. The [[Phoenicians]] realized the extremely narrow isthmus joining the [[Peninsula of Almina]] to the African mainland made Ceuta eminently defensible and established an outpost there early in the 1st millennium{{nbsp}}BC. The [[ancient Greek geography|Greek geographers]] record it by variations of ''Abyla'', the ancient name of nearby [[Jebel Musa (Morocco)|Jebel Musa]]. Beside [[Calpe]], the other [[Pillars of Hercules|Pillar of Hercules]] now known as the [[Rock of Gibraltar]], the Phoenicians established [[Carteia|Kart]] at what is now [[San Roque, Cádiz|San Roque]], [[Spain]]. Other good anchorages nearby became [[Phoenician colonies|Phoenician]] and then [[Carthaginian Empire|Carthaginian]] ports at what are now [[Tangiers]] and [[Cádiz]].

After [[Ancient Carthage|Carthage]]'s [[Battle of Carthage (c. 149 BC)|destruction]] in the [[Punic Wars]], most of [[northwest Africa]] was left to the [[Roman Republic|Roman]] [[client state]]s of [[Numidia]] and{{mdash}}around Abyla{{mdash}}[[Mauretania]]. [[Punics|Punic culture]] continued to thrive in what the Romans knew as "Septem". After the [[Battle of Thapsus]] in 46&nbsp;BC, [[Julius Caesar|Caesar]] and his heirs began annexing North Africa directly as [[Roman province]]s but, as late as [[Augustus]], most of Septem's [[Berbers|Berber]] residents continued to speak and write in [[Punic language|Punic]].

[[Caligula]] assassinated the Mauretanian king [[Ptolemy of Mauretania|Ptolemy]] in AD{{nbsp}}40 and seized his kingdom, which [[Claudius]] organized in AD&nbsp;42, placing Septem in the [[Roman province|province]] of [[Tingitana]] and raising it to the level of a [[Roman colonia|colony]]. It subsequently was [[Romanization (cultural)|Romanized]] and thrived into the late 3rd century, trading heavily with [[Hispania|Roman Spain]] and becoming well known for its [[salted fish]]. [[Roman road|Roads]] connected it overland with [[Tingis]] (Tangiers) and [[Volubilis]]. Under {{nowrap|[[Theodosius I]]}} in the late 4th century, Septem still had 10,000 inhabitants, nearly all [[Early Christianity|Christian]] [[Roman citizenship|citizens]] speaking [[African Romance]], a local dialect of Latin.<ref>{{citation |first=Theodore |last=Mommsen |title=The Provinces of the Roman Empire |at=s.v. "Africa" }}.</ref>