Mapping the World

Strait of Gibraltar, between Europe and Africa

With maps and reports to support this, a special issue of ARTE's magazine is dedicated to the Strait of Gibraltar, a key point of contact between the two shores of the Mediterranean. "At this precise point, only 14 kilometres separate the two continents." Aboard a Spanish sea rescue service launch, partly funded by the European Union, Émilie Aubry navigates the Strait of Gibraltar. This maritime corridor subject to strong winds connects the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, Africa to Europe. Although the number of illegal crossings has decreased since the peak in 2018, when 25,000 people had to be rescued, the coastguards still save a thousand would-be exiles each year, and always fear arriving too late... A geostrategic crossroads, the strait is a tangle of borders. On the Moroccan coast, Spain has two enclaves, Ceuta and Melilla, while on the other bank Great Britain owns the territory surrounding the Rock of Gibraltar.