The shortest border in the world separates Spain and Morocco

Thousands of kilometers of mountain ranges, rivers, or lines drawn by rulers that define the borders between two countries in the world separate the countries from each other. Natural boundaries may reveal themselves from space. Thousands of kilometers. The shortest limit is not even a kilometer, but 80 metres. It’s even visible in the photo. Between Spain and Morocco.

The shortest border in the world is the small strip of sandy land that separates Spain and Morocco. Pinon de Velez. Not only is this border the shortest in the world, it is also relatively new. Pinon de Vélez was once an island surrounded by water on all four sides. This island has been under strict Spanish control since the seventeenth century.

While Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera has been an island for centuries (perhaps even millennia), it is no longer an island. The natural event that shaped the region in 1930 (storms, rain, etc. and possibly an earthquake) created a completely new border between the two countries. Tons of sand, silt and clay are drawn into the small channel that separates the island from the mainland, thus merging the island with Moroccan territory. It was an island, and it became a peninsula. Nature literally creates land frontiers that never existed before, and that doesn’t happen very often. You wake up one morning and the country’s borders have changed.

A small Spanish military unit is stationed on the island (peninsula). Sometimes Moroccans cross the border (!), take pictures in front of the military unit, go out for a walk and make nice gestures saying “this island is ours, get out of here.” One time, 4 Moroccans surprised the Spaniards, and the Spaniards chased the Moroccans dressed in pajamas or something.

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