Isla de Alborán

 island, military

The Isla de Alborán is a small island in the Alborán Sea, part of the western Mediterranean, about 50 kilometres north of the Moroccan coast and 90 kilometres south of the province of Almería, Spain. A Spanish possession since 1540, it was taken from the Tunisian pirate Al Borani in the Battle of Alborán. It is home today to a small Spanish Navy garrison and an automated lighthouse. It is claimed by Morocco along with other territories on or along the coast of the Alboran sea including Islas Chafarinas, Melilla, Peñón de Alhucemas, Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera and Ceuta, as part of Greater Morocco. Today, the Island administratively belongs to the city council (ayuntamiento in Spanish) of Almería and is part of the Almería Pescadería (fish market) district.

Owing to its strategic value, in about 1960 a few supposed fishing vessels from the Soviet Union tried to install a stable base on the island. For this reason the Spanish army established a settlement on Alborán for its control and protection.