Gibraltar

History and Overview

Gibraltar is an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom. It is located on the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula at the Strait of Gibraltar that links the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea and placing it between Europe and Africa. The territory shares a land border with Spain, to the north. Gibraltar has historically been an important base for the British Armed Forces, and is the site of a large naval base.

The name of the rock comes from the Arabic name of Jebel al Tariq meaning rock of Tariq. It refers to the Ummayad general Tariq ibn-Ziyad who led the Muslim conquest of Spain in 711. Earlier it was known as Calpe, one of the Pillars of Hercules. Today, Gibraltar is also known colloquially as "Gib" or "the Rock".

The sovereignty of Gibraltar is a major issue of contention in Anglo-Spanish relations. Spain requests the return of sovereignty, ceded in perpetuity in 1713. Any transfer has been consistently and totally rejected by the people of Gibraltar.

Human settlement in Gibraltar can be traced back to the Phoenicians around 950 BC, although there is earlier evidence of habitation by the Neanderthals, a prehistoric subspecies of man. Semi-permanent settlements were later established by the Carthaginians and Romans. Gibraltar was named at that time as one of the Pillars of Hercules, after the legend of the creation of the Straits of Gibraltar.

On 30 April 711, the Umayyad general Tariq ibn Ziyad, leading a Berber-dominated army, sailed across the Strait from Ceuta. He first attempted to land on Algeciras but failed. Upon his failure, he landed undetected at the southern point of the Rock from present-day Morocco in his quest for Spain. Little was built during the first four centuries of Moorish control.

The first permanent settlement was built by the Almohad Sultan Abd al-Mu'min. Gibraltar then passed to a successive line of empires, becoming a part of Castile and then Spain. Admiral Sir George Rooke, commander of the confederate fleet captured the territory in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession.

In the Treaty of Utrecht which ended the war, Spain ceded Gibraltar and Minorca to the United Kingdom, which has retained sovereignty over the former ever since, despite early attempts by Spain to recapture the territory.

Gibraltar then became an important naval base for the Royal Navy, playing an important part in the Battle of Trafalgar. Its strategic value increased with the opening of the Suez Canal, as it controlled the important sea route between the UK and its colonies in India and Australia. During World War II, the civilian residents of Gibraltar were evacuated, and the Rock was turned into a fortress. An airfield was built over the civilian racecourse. Plans by Nazi Germany to capture the Rock, codenamed Operation Felix, were frustrated by Spain's reluctance to allow the German Army onto Spanish soil.

Battle for Gibraltar

In the 1950s, Spain – then under "Generalísimo" Francisco Franco – renewed its claim to sovereignty over Gibraltar, sparked in part by the visit of Queen Elizabeth II in 1954 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Rock's capture. For the next thirty years, Spain restricted movement between Gibraltar and Spain. A referendum was held on 10 September 1967 in which Gibraltar's voters were asked whether they wished to either pass under Spanish sovereignty, or remain under British sovereignty, with institutions of self-government. The vote was overwhelmingly in favour of continuance of British sovereignty, with 12,138 to 44 voting to reject Spanish sovereignty. In response Spain completely closed the border with Gibraltar and severed all communication links.

In 1981 it was announced that The Prince and Princess of Wales would fly to Gibraltar to board the Britannia as part of their honeymoon. In response the Spanish King, Juan Carlos I refused to attend their wedding in London.

In 1988, SAS troops foiled an attempted terrorist attack on the British Army Garrison by members of the IRA.

The border with Spain was partially reopened in 1982, and fully reopened in 1985 after Spain's accession into the European Community. Joint talks on the future of the Rock held between Spain and the United Kingdom have occurred since the late 1980s, with various proposals for joint sovereignty discussed. However, another referendum organised in Gibraltar rejected the idea of joint sovereignty by 17,900 votes to 187. The question of Gibraltar continues to dominate Anglo-Spanish relations.

The territory covers 2.53 square miles (6.543 km²). It shares a three-quarter of a mile (1.2 km) land border with Spain and has 7½ mile (12 km) of shoreline. There are two coasts (sides) of Gibraltar – the East Side which contains the settlements of Sandy Bay and Catalan Bay, and the West Side where the vast majority of the population lives.

The climate is Mediterranean with mild winters and warm summers. Its terrain is a narrow coastal lowland bordering the 1,396 foot (426 m) high Rock of Gibraltar.

It has negligible natural resources and limited natural freshwater resources, until recently using large concrete or natural rock water catchments to collect rain water. It now has a desalination plant using reverse osmosis which is built into the rock itself.

Gibraltar is one of the most densely populated territories in the world, with approximately 11,154 people per square mile (4,290/km²). The growing demand for space is being increasingly met by land reclamation, which comprises approximately one tenth of the territory's total area.

The Rock itself is made of limestone and is 1,396 feet (426 m) high. It contains many miles of roads, most of which are closed to the public. Most of its area is covered by a nature reserve, which is home to around 250 Barbary Apes, the only wild monkeys in Europe. Superstition holds that if ever the Apes leave, so will the British; so they are well looked after by the government.

History and Overview courtesy of www.wikipedia.org.