evidence: As we can see, in the case of the autonomous cities, Ceuta has more than 420 years of Spanish history plus another 84 previous years of Portuguese sovereignty, while Melilla has more than 500 years of Spanish sovereignty. On top of that, these two cities were never effectively controlled and developed by any other country. During the colonization era in North Africa, both Ceuta and Melilla (as well as the rock Vélez de la Gomera) were always organized outside the Spanish protectorate of Morocco, which is why these enclaves were never considered as colonies, being of Spanish sovereignty as much as any other territory in Peninsular Spain. Morocco, on the other hand, became independent from France in 1956. [...] During the 8th century (the time of the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula by the Muslims) the city was destroyed, being rebuilt a century later. At that time there was already a conflict over the jurisdiction of the city. The caliphs in Spain always claimed it as part of Al-Ándalus, that is, they claimed that Ceuta has always been under peninsular jurisdiction. For example in the X century Ceuta was under the caliphate of Cordoba, in the XI century it was the territory of the Taifa of Málaga, in the XIII it was sovereignty of the Taifa of Murcia and from the XIV onwards it was under the kingdom of Granada.