Cape Three Forks

{{Short description|Cape in northern Morocco}} [[File:Vista de Melilla desde el Kol-La, con el cabo Tres Forcas al fondo.jpg|thumb|250px|Cape Three Forks as seen from the highlands over Melilla to its south]] thumb|250px|Location in Morocco. '''Cape Three Forks''', '''Cape des Trois Fourches''', or '''Cape Tres Forcas''' is a headland on the Mediterranean coast of northeastern Morocco and the Spanish city of Melilla.

==Geography== The cape is a large mountainous promontory of North Africa into the Mediterranean Sea. For centuries, this cape has provided both a nautical landmark and a maritime hazard for ships in the Alboran Sea. The Spanish city of Melilla surrounds a smaller cape on the eastern side of the peninsula.

==Names== [[File:Prima Affrice Tabula.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Ptolemy's 1st African map, showing Roman Mauretania Tingitana]] In antiquity, the cape was known to the Phoenicians and Carthaginians as '''Rusadir''' ({{langx|xpu|𐤓{{popdf}}𐤔𐤀𐤃𐤓{{popdf}}}}, {{smallcaps|ršʾdr}}),{{sfnp|Head et al.|1911|p=889}} giving its name to a nearby port (now Melilla). The name meant "Powerful"{{sfnp|Mora Serrano|2011|p=25}} or "High Cape",<ref name=CE>{{harvp|''Cath. Enc.''|1913|loc=s.v. "Rusaddir"}}.</ref> but can also be understood as "Cape of the Powerful One", in reference to Baal, Tanit, and other important Punic deities.<ref>{{citation |last=Juárez |first=Roberto |contribution-url=https://melilladesconocida.blogspot.com/2016/09/significado-de-rusaddir.html |contribution=Significado de Rusaddir |title=Melilla: Ciudad Desconocida |date=3 September 2016 }}. {{in lang|es}}</ref>{{sfnp|López Pardo|2005|pp=137–8}} It was known to the Romans as {{nowrap|'''Cape Metagonites'''}} ({{langx|la|Metagonites Promontorium}}).<ref>Ptol., ''Geogr.'', Bk.{{nbsp}}IV, Ch.{{nbsp}}i, §12.</ref><ref name=DGRBM>{{harvp|''Dict. Gr. & Rom. Bio. & Myth.''|1870|loc=s.v. "Rusadir"}}.</ref>

Cape Three Forks is known in Spanish as {{nowrap|''{{lang|es|Cabo de Tres Forcas}}''}}, in French as {{nowrap|''{{lang|fr|Cap des Trois Fourches}}''}}, and in Arabic as ''Raʾs ith-Thalāth ash-Shawkāt'' or {{nowrap|''Raʾs Thalātha Madari''}}, all meaning "Cape of the Three Forks".

It was also known in Arabic as "''Raʾs Uarc''".<ref>{{citation |contribution=Melilla |contribution-url=http://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/north_africa/txu-oclc-6949452-ni30-3.jpg |publisher=U.S. Army Map Service |location=Washington |series=P502, NI 30-3 |date=1953 |url=http://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/north_africa/ |title=North Africa }}.</ref>

==History== On 26 August 1923 the {{ship|Spanish battleship|España||2|up=yes}} ran aground and eventually wrecked on the cape.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yate |first=Asamblea de Capitanes de |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K_gEAAAAMAAJ&q=Espa%C3%B1a+Cabo+de+Tres+Forcas+1923 |title=La Armada española |date=1978 |publisher=Editorial San Martín |isbn=978-84-7140-172-4 |language=es}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Alvarez |first=José E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wMuqTrint-UC&dq=Espa%C3%B1a+Cabo+de+Tres+Forcas+1923&pg=PA108 |title=The Betrothed of Death: The Spanish Foreign Legion During the Rif Rebellion, 1920-1927: The Spanish Foreign Legion During the Rif Rebellion, 1920-1927 |date=2001-01-30 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-07341-0 |language=en}}</ref>

==Lighthouse== thumb|250px|Cape Three Forks Lighthouse. A lighthouse is located in the north end of the cape. It is a gray tower on white two-story dwelling.

== Maraboutism == 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.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.melilla.es/melillaportal/RecursosWeb/DOCUMENTOS/1/0_13111_1.pdf|title=Morabitismo en la Guelaya. Los santuarios del Cabo Tres Forcas|first=Sonia|last=Gámez Gómez|pages=19–27|journal=Akros|issue=10|date=2011|issn=1579-0959}}</ref>

==Ecology== {{Designation list | designation1 = Ramsar | designation1_offname = Cap des Trois Fourches | designation1_date = 15 January 2005 | designation1_number = 1473<ref>{{Cite web|title=Cap des Trois Fourches|website=Ramsar Sites Information Service|url=https://rsis.ramsar.org/ris/1473|accessdate=25 April 2018}}</ref>}} Cape Three Forks is a Ramsar designated site with no. 1473. It hosts different species, some of them threatened, such as the Mediterranean monk seal, two species of limpets (''Patella ferruginea'' and ''Patella nigra''), the loggerhead turtle, the fin whale and two species of dolphin (''Tursiops truncatus'' and ''Delphinus delphis''). The main activities taking place in the area are fishing and tourism.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ramsar.org/cda/en/ramsar-pubs-notes-anno-morocco/main/ramsar/1-30-168%5E16506_4000_0__ |title=The Annotated Ramsar List: Morocco |date=2005-06-28 |author=Ramsar Convention |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130107022256/http://www.ramsar.org/cda/en/ramsar-pubs-notes-anno-morocco/main/ramsar/1-30-168%5E16506_4000_0__ |archivedate=2013-01-07 }}</ref>

== References == ===Citations=== {{Reflist|30em}}

===Bibliography=== * {{citation |last=Head |first=Barclay |editor=Ed Snible |author2=G.F. Hill |author3=George MacDonald |author4=W. Wroth |display-authors=1 |display-editors=0 |url=http://snible.org/coins/hn/index.html |title=Historia Numorum |contribution=Mauretania |contribution-url=http://snible.org/coins/hn/numidia.html |pages=887–890 |date=1911 |edition=2nd |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |ref={{harvid|Head et al.|1911}} }}. * {{citation |last=James |first=Edward Boucher |editor=William Smith |display-editors=0 |title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology |location=Boston |publisher=Little, Brown, & Co |date=1870 |volume={{nbsp}}III |contribution=Rusadir |contribution-url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064:entry=rusadir-geo&highlight=russader |ref={{harvid|''Dict. Gr. & Rom. Bio. & Myth.''|1870}} }}. * {{citation |last=López Pardo |first=Fernando |contribution-url=https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/GERI/article/viewFile/49055/45753 |contribution=La Fundación de ''Rusaddir'' y la Época Púnica |title=Historia de Melilla |series=''Colección Historia de Melilla'', No.{{nbsp}}17 |location=Melilla |date=2005 |pages=167–189 |editor=A. Bravo Nieto |editor2=P. Fernández Uriel |display-editors=0 }}. {{in lang|es}} * {{citation |last=Mora Serrano |first=Bartolomé |contribution=Coins, Cities, and Territories: The Imaginary Far West and South Iberian and North African Punic Coins |contribution-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236027112_The_Imaginary_Far_West_and_South_Iberian_and_North_African_Punic_Coins |title=Money, Trade, and Trade Routes in Pre-Islamic North Africa |editor=Amelia Dowler |editor2=Elizabeth R. Galvin |date=2011 |location=London |publisher=British Museum |display-editors=0 |pages=21–32 }}. * {{citation |last=Petrides |first=Sophron |contribution=Rusaddir |title=Catholic Encyclopedia |volume=Vol.{{nbsp}}XIII |date=1913 |location=New York |publisher=Encyclopedia Press |editor=Charles G. Herbermann |editor2=Edward A. Pace |editor3=Thomas J. Shahan |editor4=John J. Wynne |editor5=Conde B. Pallen |display-editors=0 |ref={{harvid|''Cath. Enc.''|1913}} }}.

==External links== {{Commons category}} *[http://wikimapia.org/1855520/ Cape Tres Forcas on Wikimapia]

Three Forks Three Forks Category:Geography of Oriental (Morocco) Category:Geography of Melilla Category:Ramsar sites in Morocco Category:Ramsar sites in Spain Category:Baal Category:Tanit