Strait of Gibraltar

The Strait of Gibraltar is the strait which separates the Atlantic Ocean from the Mediterranean Sea. On the northern side is Spain and Gibraltar, on the southern side Morocco and Ceuta. Its boundaries were known to antiquity as the Pillars of Hercules. There are some small islands, like the disputed Isla Perejil, that is claimed by Spain and Morocco.

The Strait of Gibraltar has a very strategic location. Ships that travel from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean and vice versa, pass this strait. Also, very many people who travel from Europe to Africa and vice versa, travel through this strait.

For a number of years the Spanish and Moroccan governments have been jointly investigating the feasibility of a tunnel underneath the strait, similar to the Channel tunnel between England and France. See UN document E/2001/19 for more information.

Space view of the Strait of Gibraltar. Spain is on the left, Morocco on the right.