Editing Melilla (section)

=== Antiquity and Middle Ages ===
{{main|Rusadir}}
Melilla was a [[Phoenicia]]n and later [[Punic]] trade establishment under variations of the name '''[[Rusadir]]''' ({{langx|xpu|𐤓‬𐤔𐤀𐤃𐤓‬}}, {{smallcaps|ršʾdr}}),{{sfnp|Head & al.|1911|p=889}} taken from the [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]] name of the nearby [[Cape Three Forks]].{{Sfn|López Pardo|2015|pp=137}} After [[Carthaginian Empire|Carthage]]'s defeat in the [[Punic Wars]], the city fell under the control of the [[Roman Republic|Roman]] [[client state]] [[Mauretania]]. After its annexation under [[Caligula]], [[Claudius]] organized it as part of the [[Roman province|province]] of [[Mauretania Tingitana]]. [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] mentions it as a [[oppidum|native hillfort]] and port ({{langx|la|oppidum et portus}}).<ref>[[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Nat. Hist.]]'', Book V, Ch. 18.</ref> It was made a [[Roman colony]] in {{nowrap|AD 46}}, after which it was sometimes referenced as '''Flavia'''. Rusaddir was said to have once been the seat of a bishop, but there is no record of any bishop of the purported see<ref name=CE>[[s:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Rusaddir|Sophrone Pétridès, "Rusaddir" in ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (New York 1912)]]</ref> and it is not included in the [[Catholic Church]]'s list of modern [[titular see]]s.<ref>''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2013, {{ISBN|978-88-209-9070-1}}), p. 960</ref>

The political history is similar to that of towns in the region of the Moroccan [[Rif]] and southern Spain. Melilla was progressively ruled by the [[Vandal Kingdom|Vandals]], [[Byzantine North Africa|Byzantines]], and the [[Visigothic Kingdom|Visigoths]]. In the early 6th century, it was the main port of the [[Mauro-Roman Kingdom]]. After the [[Islamic conquest of North Africa]], it fell under the [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyad]]s, [[Emirate of Córdoba|Cordoba]]ns, [[Idrisid]]s, [[Almoravid]]s, [[Almohad]]s, [[Marinid]]s, and [[Wattasid]]s.