View source for 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]]
[[File:Cape_Tres_Forcas_in_Morocco.png|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]].

==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 exclave of [[Melilla]] surrounds a smaller cape on the eastern side of the peninsula.

{{anchor|Etymology|Name|Toponymy}}

==Names==
[[File:Prima Affrice Tabula.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Claudius Ptolemy|Ptolemy]]'s 1st African map, showing Roman [[Mauretania Tingitana]]]]
In [[classical antiquity|antiquity]], the cape was known to the [[Phoenicia|Phoenicians]] and [[Punic people|Carthaginians]] as '''Rusadir''' ({{langx|xpu|𐤓{{popdf}}𐤔𐤀𐤃𐤓{{popdf}}}}, {{smallcaps|ršʾdr}}),{{sfnp|Head et al.|1911|p=889}} giving its name to [[Rusadir|a nearby port]] (now [[Melilla]]). The name meant "Powerful"{{sfnp|Mora Serrano|2011|p=25}} or "High [[Headland|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 Hammon|Baal]], [[Tanit]], and other important [[Canaanite religion|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>[[Claudius Ptolemy|Ptol]]., ''[[Ptolemy's Geography|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 language|Spanish]] as {{nowrap|''{{lang|es|Cabo de Tres Forcas}}''}}, in [[French language|French]] as {{nowrap|''{{lang|fr|Cap des Trois Fourches}}''}}, and in [[Arabic language|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, DC|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==
[[File:Faro del Cabo de Tres Forcas.jpg|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 [[Hermitage (religious retreat)|hermitage]]s, 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 Convention|Ramsar]] Sites Information Service|url=https://rsis.ramsar.org/ris/1473|accessdate=25 April 2018}}</ref>}}
Cape Three Forks is a [[Ramsar Convention|Ramsar]] designated site with no. 1473. It hosts different species, some of them [[threatened species|threatened]], such as the [[monk seal]], two species of [[limpet]]s (''[[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=[[:s:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Rusaddir|Rusaddir]] |title=[[:s:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)|Catholic Encyclopedia]] |volume=[[:s:Catholic Encyclopedia/Volume 13|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]

{{Authority control}}
{{Coord|35|26|18|N|02|58|28|W|source:frwiki|display=title}}

[[Category:Headlands of Morocco|Three Forks]]
[[Category:Geography of Oriental (Morocco)]]
[[Category:Ramsar sites in Morocco]]
[[Category:Baal]]
[[Category:Tanit]]

{{OrientalMA-geo-stub}}