In recent days, developments in tiny Ceuta, which helped launch the Portuguese empire and the so-called Age of Exploration, have led the news again. Decades later, after Portugal waged a successful war to restore its own royal line, independent of Spain, the spit of Moroccan land known as Ceuta was ceded to the Spanish. Spain rejects Morocco’s historic and geographic arguments to rightful ownership of Ceuta, but it makes very similar claims to Gibraltar. A glance at the map quickly makes clear why Madrid and Rabat believe that they should control Gibraltar and Ceuta, respectively. In fact, policing Ceuta against the next upsurge in immigrants incurs large, ongoing fiscal costs and intra-European tensions.