Cape Spartel (Arabic: رأس سبارطيل) is a promontory in Morocco about 1,000 feet (300 m) above sea level at the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, 12 km West of Tangier. It is frequently but incorrectly referred as the northernmost point of Africa, which is instead Ras ben Sakka, Tunisia.
Near Cape Spartel is Spartel Bank, a sunken island hypothesized by some as the location of the legendary island of Atlantis.[1][2]
Cape Spartel is accessible from the National Road S701.
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In December 1911, the British P&O liner, SS Delhi, ran aground near to Cape Spartel. All passengers were rescued by British and French warships, but three French rescuers were lost.[3]
In Chapter 1 of the book Morocco (A. and C. Black, 1904) by Samuel Levy Bensusan, the author references the Cape when talking about the most northern part of Morocco (Page 3).
F. Tamburini, Il faro di Capo Spartel (1865–1958), un esempio di cooperazione internazionale in Africa attraverso i secoli XIX e XX, in “Africana, Rivista di studi extraeuropei”, n. IX, 2003 S.L. Bensusan, Morocco, A. and C. Black, 1904