The Pertús Pass crosses the current border between the Spanish and French states and constitutes a very important point on the north-southwest European road axis.

The original pass, at an altitude of 283.1 meters, hosts the meeting point of the departmental roads D900 (former N - 9) and state roads N-II, just east of the town of Pertús and north of the Límits de la Jonquera, but currently there is a second Coll del Pertús, on the highway, just above the state border, at 298 m. high.

BC when Hannibal and his army of elephants crossed the Perthus pass during the Second Punic War, after having negotiated a large toll at Illiberis.

The remains visible along the Domitian Way, on the neighboring Col de Panissars are probably those of the trophy erected by Pompey, mentioned several times by ancient texts after the conquest of Spain3 and which materializes this junction.

When the Visigoths seized Septimania in 412 following the fall of Rome, they organized their defense around the castle of Ultrère while developing the fortifications of Perthus.

While it is certain that the Arabs used the Col du Perthus to annex Narbonne between 711 and 719 before retreating 40 years later, the so-called “Moorish” castle is a Roman fortress modified by the Visigoths.

James II of Majorca began to fortify the western height of the pass in 1285 to defend himself from his powerful Aragonese brother.

The marriage of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon in 1479 made the Spanish pass, until the uprising of Catalonia in 1640, in the middle of the Thirty Years' War.

The alliance of the Catalan government with Louis XI II allowed French troops to cross the Col du Perthus.

After 19 years of conflict, the Treaty of the Pyrenees determines the border between France and Spain and the complex division of the Col du Perthus.

which hosts the high-speed rail line from Barcelona to Paris through the Serra de l'Albera to the east of the Coll del Pertús.