HISTORICAL DICTIONARY A–Z - Spain and Portugal: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present - page 291

coveries of new iron deposits in the inner
desert suggested an economic benefit in the
colony's retention. By 1975, in the course
of the political and financial reassessment
that followed the demise of F RANCISCO
F RANCO , the decision was made to surren-
der Spanish Sahara to Morocco, and an area
of over 100,000 sparsely inhabited square
miles was given up—the last significant
remnant of Spain's empire. Only Ceuta and
Melilla, the tiny coastal enclaves now
administered as part of Spain remain to
preserve a shadow of the past and to keep
alive a low level of friction between Spain
and Morocco.

Mozambique and made the colony an “over-
seas province” in 1951. A nationalist upris-
ing in 1964 came to an end 10 years later
when the new democratic government in
L ISBON called a halt to the fighting. Mozam-
bique was granted independence in 1975.

Murcia
A region of southeastern Spain including
the provinces of Murcia and Albacete, this
area extends from the Mediterranean coast
inland to encompass arid terrain and a zone
of irrigated cropland where citrus fruits,
grains, and cotton are grown. The first foot-
hold of the Carthaginian Empire in Spain
(the city of Cartagena traces its origins to
that period), Murcia subsequently became
a vassal state of the Moorish caliphate in
the eighth century. After passing through
various political relationships among the
Muslim lords during the R ECONQUISTA ,
Murcia existed as an independent kingdom
for a time, eventually absorbed by C ASTILE
in the late 13th century. The acquisition of
Murcia was important to Castile's rising
domination in Spain, for it cut off the pros-
pect of Aragonese expansion to the south
along the Mediterranean coast. In modern
times Murcia was long regarded as a bar-
ren, lawless region. From its negative repu-
tation arose the proverbial saying “Kill the
king and flee to Murcia,” signifying that
even the most outrageous crimes would go
unpunished in Murcia.

Mozambique (Moçambique)
A settlement named Mozambique (Moçam-
bique) was established on the coast of East
Africa in the early 1500s and became the
nucleus of a Portuguese presence in the
region that grew slowly over subsequent
centuries as Portugal multiplied its activities
in the area around the Indian Ocean. A for-
mal colonial structure did not develop until
about 1875 and was achieved by negotia-
tion with the governments of other colonial
powers in East Africa. Much of the work of
trying to bring in Portuguese settlers and
establish plantations was carried on by the
Mozambique Company (chartered in 1891).
The Mozambique colony was not formally
established until 1907 and was divided
into two jurisdictions, that of the Portu-
guese government in the north and the
Mozambique Company in the south. This
arrangement ended in 1942 when the
company's lease expired, and its land was
joined with the remainder of the colony.
As in A NGOLA the Salazar regime attempted
to strengthen the Portuguese presence in

Murillo, Bartolomé Esteban
(1618-1682)
Spanish painter
Born in S EVILLE , at the time the center of
Spanish religious enthusiasm and artistic