Abstract

The Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset was puzzled about how the community of Melilla remained a Spanish enclave on the coast of North Africa, isolated from the surrounding countryside. He had become aware of the city's existence as a youth during the first war of Melilla. By 1927, Spain had solidified its hold on northern Morocco and Ortega was a prominent philosopher in his mid-forties.1 Several books on the history and culture of North Africa were published about this time; in one of these Ortega encountered the name of Ibn Khaldūn.2 For several months, Ortega read Ibn Khaldūn's3 voluminous foreword to his major work in its French translation.4 He determined that Ibn...