Chapter 1
Introduction: Thinking the Future
from Now
José Carlos Báez, Juan Antonio Camiñas, Juan-Tomás Vázquez,
and Mohammed Malouli Idrissi
1.1 Why a Book on the Alboran Sea?
The Alboran Sea is a region that connects the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean
Sea, and is a natural border between Europe and Africa. But it is also a historical
compendium of different cultures that extend their influence to the present. Thus, the
name “Alboran” seems to come from the Tunisian pirate Al-Borany (QuirosaCheyrouze 2007), who used the island of Alboran as a base for his pirate fleet
(Gutiérrez-Castillo 2003). Moreover, this region have a remarkable mythological
burden that is due to having been considered in historical times as the limit of the
known world, and find in it the mythical and legendary columns of Hercules that
closed the knowledge Mediterranean during Phoenician, Greek, and Roman periods
and called Fretum Herculem and Fretum Gaditanum by the Roman, meaning the
Strait of Hercules and Strait of Cadiz. The Arabic literature from ancient times
named Bab al-Zakak, the door of the alley. Today, all ancient significant names have
been replaced by a geographical one, the Strait of Gibraltar. The two columns of
Hercules could correspond with two elevations, one in the north, the Gibraltar rock,
and one in the south, probably the Hacho mount in Ceuta. The two columns of
Hercules remain in the official coat of arms of Spain.
J. C. Báez (*) · J.-T. Vázquez
Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de Málaga, Fuengirola (Málaga),
Spain
e-mail: josecarlos.baez@ieo.es; juantomas.vazquez@ieo.es
J. A. Camiñas
Asociación Herpetológica Española, Madrid, Spain
e-mail: juan.caminas@herpetologica.org
M. Malouli Idrissi
Institut National de Recherche Halieutique, Casablanca, Morocco
e-mail: malouli@inrh.ma
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
J. C. Báez et al. (eds.), Alboran Sea - Ecosystems and Marine Resources,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65516-7_1
1
Introduction: Thinking the Future
from Now
José Carlos Báez, Juan Antonio Camiñas, Juan-Tomás Vázquez,
and Mohammed Malouli Idrissi
1.1 Why a Book on the Alboran Sea?
The Alboran Sea is a region that connects the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean
Sea, and is a natural border between Europe and Africa. But it is also a historical
compendium of different cultures that extend their influence to the present. Thus, the
name “Alboran” seems to come from the Tunisian pirate Al-Borany (QuirosaCheyrouze 2007), who used the island of Alboran as a base for his pirate fleet
(Gutiérrez-Castillo 2003). Moreover, this region have a remarkable mythological
burden that is due to having been considered in historical times as the limit of the
known world, and find in it the mythical and legendary columns of Hercules that
closed the knowledge Mediterranean during Phoenician, Greek, and Roman periods
and called Fretum Herculem and Fretum Gaditanum by the Roman, meaning the
Strait of Hercules and Strait of Cadiz. The Arabic literature from ancient times
named Bab al-Zakak, the door of the alley. Today, all ancient significant names have
been replaced by a geographical one, the Strait of Gibraltar. The two columns of
Hercules could correspond with two elevations, one in the north, the Gibraltar rock,
and one in the south, probably the Hacho mount in Ceuta. The two columns of
Hercules remain in the official coat of arms of Spain.
J. C. Báez (*) · J.-T. Vázquez
Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de Málaga, Fuengirola (Málaga),
Spain
e-mail: josecarlos.baez@ieo.es; juantomas.vazquez@ieo.es
J. A. Camiñas
Asociación Herpetológica Española, Madrid, Spain
e-mail: juan.caminas@herpetologica.org
M. Malouli Idrissi
Institut National de Recherche Halieutique, Casablanca, Morocco
e-mail: malouli@inrh.ma
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
J. C. Báez et al. (eds.), Alboran Sea - Ecosystems and Marine Resources,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65516-7_1
1