Cape Three Forks

For centuries, this cape has provided both a nautical landmark and a maritime hazard for ships in the Alboran Sea.

The Spanish exclave of Melilla surrounds a smaller cape on the eastern side of the peninsula.

In antiquity, the cape was known to the Phoenicians and Carthaginians as Rusadir (Punic: 𐤓‬𐤔𐤀𐤃𐤓‬, ršʾdr),[1] giving its name to a nearby port (now Melilla).

[6][7] Cape Three Forks is known in Spanish as Cabo de Tres Forcas, in French as Cap des Trois Fourches, and in Arabic as Raʾs ith-Thalāth ash-Shawkāt or Raʾs Thalātha Madari, all meaning "Cape of the Three Forks".

At least 11 locations in the Cape Three Forks have been identified as places of pious reflection, either small hermitages, bushes or trees, five of them featuring the tomb of the marabout.