Melilla (Berber: Mritch) is a Spanish city on the Mediterranean Rif coast of North Africa. It was regarded as a part of Andalusia, and was linked to the Málaga province prior to March 14, 1995, when the city's Statute of Autonomy was passed.

Melilla was a free port before Spain joined the European Union. As of 1994 it had a population of 63,670. Its population consists of Christians, Muslims (chiefly Berber), Jews and a small minority of Hindus. Both Spanish and Tamazight are spoken. Spanish is the official language

Melilla was a Phoenician and later Punic establishment under the name of Rusadir. Later it became a part of the Roman province of Mauretania Tingitana. As centuries passed, it went through Vandal, Byzantine and Hispano-Visigothic hands. Melilla was part of the Kingdom of Fez when Juan Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, known as Guzmán el Bueno, the 3rd Duke of Medina Sidonia conquered it in 1497, a few years before (1492) Castile had taken control of the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, the last remain of Al-Andalus.

The current limits of the Spanish territory around the fortress were fixed by treaties with Morocco in 1859, 1860, 1861 and 1894. In the late 19th century, as Spanish influence expanded, Melilla became the only authorized centre of trade on the Rif coast between Tetuan and the Algerian frontier. The value of trade increased, goat skins, eggs and beeswax being the principal exports, and cotton goods, tea, sugar and candles being the chief imports.

The Spaniards had had much trouble with the neighboring tribes—the turbulent Rif, independent Berbers (Amazighs) hardly subject to the sultan of Morocco.

In 1893 the Rif berbers besieged Melilla, and 25,000 men had to be dispatched against them. In 1908 two companies, under the protection of El Roghi, a chieftain then ruling the Rif region, started mining lead and iron some 20 kilometers from Melilla. A railway to the mines was begun. In October of that year the Roghi's vassals revolted against him and raided the mines, which remained closed until June 1909. By July the workmen were again attacked and several of them killed. Severe fighting between the Spaniards and the tribesmen followed. In 1910, the Rif having submitted, saw the Spaniards restarting the mines and undertaking harbour works at Mar Chica. But hostilities broke out again in 1911 and the Abd el Krim forces inflicted a grave defeat on the Spanish (see Battle of Annual), and were not pacified until 1927, when the Spanish Protectorate finally managed to control the area again.

General Francisco Franco used the city as one of his staging grounds for his rebellion in 1936, and a statue of him is still prominently featured.

On November 6, 2007, King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia visited the city, which caused a previously unknown jubilee in the city, expressed by a massive support demonstration while, on the other side, also sparked protests from the Moroccan government^[1]. It was the first time a Spanish monarch had visited Melilla in 80 years.