The history of Gibraltar, a small peninsula on the southern Iberian coast near the entrance of the Mediterranean Sea, spans over 2,900 years. The peninsula was a place of reverence in ancient times, and it later became "one of the most densely fortified and fought-over places in Europe".Rose, p. 95. Gibraltar's location has given it an outsized role in the history of Europe. Its fortified town, established in the Middle Ages, has hosted garrisons that have fought in numerous sieges and battles over the centuries. The Rock of Gibraltar is a limestone monolith and fortress in Gibraltar that has held historical and military significance and has become a tourist attraction.
Gibraltar was first inhabited over 50,000 years ago by Neanderthals. Gibraltar's recorded history began around 950 BC, with the Phoenicians among the first to recognise and worship the genius loci of the place. There is also evidence that shrines to Hercules were built on the Rock of Gibraltar. The Romans named the jutting protrusion of limestone Mons Calpe (the "Hollow Mountain"); they regarded it as one of the twin Pillars of Hercules. Gibraltar became part of the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania following the collapse of the Roman Empire and came under Muslim Moorish rule in 711 AD. It was permanently settled for the first time by the Moors and was renamed Jebel Tariq (meaning "the Mount of Tariq"). This phrase was later corrupted into Gibraltar. The Christian Crown of Castile annexed Gibraltar in 1309, but lost it to the Moors in 1333. Gibraltar was retaken by the Castilians in 1462. It later became part of the unified Kingdom of Spain, and it remained under Spanish rule until 1704. Gibraltar was captured during the War of the Spanish Succession by an Anglo-Dutch fleet in the name of Charles VI of Austria, the Habsburg contender to the Spanish throne. At the war's end, Spain ceded the territory to Britain under the terms of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. While Spain attempted on multiple occasions to retake Gibraltar, its attempts were unsuccessful. By the late 18th century, Gibraltar had faced fourteen sieges over a period of 500 years.
The colony grew rapidly during the 19th and early 20th centuries, becoming a stopping point for vessels en route to India via the Suez Canal. A large British naval base was constructed there at the end of the 19th century, and that naval base became the backbone of Gibraltar's economy. British control of Gibraltar enabled the Allies to control the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea during the Second World War; during the war, Gibraltar was attacked on several occasions by German, Italian and Vichy French forces, but those attacks caused little damage. After the war, Spanish dictator General Francisco Franco revived Spain's claim to the territory. As the territorial dispute intensified, Spain closed its border with Gibraltar between 1969 and 1985 and communications links were severed. Spain's position was supported by Latin American countries, but was rejected by Britain and by the Gibraltarians themselves, who vigorously asserted their right to self-determination.
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory and city. Since 1985, Gibraltar has undergone major changes as a result of reductions in Britain's overseas defence commitments. Most British forces left the territory, and its economy is based on tourism, financial services, shipping and Internet gambling. Gibraltar is largely self-governed and has its own parliament, although the UK maintains responsibility for its defence and foreign policy. It has become one of the wealthiest areas of the European Union.
Geographical background
The history of Gibraltar has been driven by its strategic position near the entrance of the Mediterranean Sea. It is a narrow peninsula at the eastern side of the Bay of Gibraltar, from the city of Algeciras. Gibraltar is on the far south coast of Spain at one of the narrowest points in the Mediterranean, only from the coast of Morocco in North Africa. Its position on the bay makes it an advantageous natural anchorage for ships. As one writer has put it, "whoever controls Gibraltar also controls the movement of ships into and out of the Mediterranean. In terms of military and naval power, few places have a more strategic location than Gibraltar."Krieger, p. 8.
The territory's area measures only . Most of the land area is occupied by the steeply sloping Rock of Gibraltar, which reaches a height of . The town of Gibraltar lies at the base of the Rock on the west side of the peninsula. A narrow, low-lying isthmus connects the peninsula to the Spanish mainland. The North Face of the Rock is a nearly vertical cliff high overlooking the isthmus; the only land access to the town is via a coastal strip about wide, which was considerably narrower before the reclamation of land from the sea during the 20th century.Dennis, pp. 7–8.
Gibraltar's geography has thus given it considerable natural defensive advantages. It is virtually impossible to scale the eastern or northern sides of the Rock, which are either vertical or nearly so. To the south, the relatively flat area around Europa Point is surrounded by cliffs that are up to high. The western side is the only practicable area for a landing, but even here the steep slopes on which the town is built work to the advantage of a defender. These factors have given it an enormous military significance over the centuries.
Prehistory and ancient history
Gibraltar's appearance in prehistory was very different. Whereas today it is surrounded by sea, the water level was much lower in prehistoric times, when the polar ice caps were larger. The current peninsula was surrounded by a fertile coastal plain, with marshes and sand dunes supporting an abundant variety of animals and plants.
Neanderthals are known to have lived in caves around the Rock of Gibraltar; in 1848 the first known adult Neanderthal skull, and only the second Neanderthal fossil ever found, was excavated at Forbes' Quarry on the north face of the Rock.Dunsworth, p. 8. Had the skull been recognised for what it was, the species might have been named Gibraltarians rather than Neanderthals.Walter. The date of the skull is unclear but it has been attributed to around the start of the last glacial period about 50,000 years ago.Bruner & Manzi, p. 31.
More Neanderthal remains have been found elsewhere on the Rock at Devil's Tower and in Ibex, Vanguard and Gorham's Caves on the east side of Gibraltar. Excavations in Gorham's Cave have found evidence of Neanderthal occupation dated as recently as 28,000–24,000 years ago, well after they were believed to have died out elsewhere in Europe. The caves of Gibraltar continued to be used by Homo sapiens after the final extinction of the Neanderthals. Stone tools, ancient hearths and animal bones dating from around 40,000 years ago to about 5,000 years ago have been found in deposits left in Gorham's Cave.Stringer, p. 48. Numerous potsherds dating from the Neolithic period have been found in Gibraltar's caves, mostly of types typical of the Almerian culture found elsewhere in Andalusia, especially around the town of Almería, from which it takes its name.Devenish, p. 49. There is little evidence of habitation in the Bronze Age, when people had largely abandoned the tradition of living in caves.Devenish, p. 55.
During ancient times, Gibraltar was regarded by the peoples of the Mediterranean as a place of religious and symbolic importance. The Phoenicians were present for several centuries, apparently using Gorham's Cave as a shrine to the genius loci of the place,Padró i Parcerisa, p. 128. as did the Carthaginians and Romans after them. Excavations in the cave have shown that pottery, jewellery and Egyptian scarabs were left as offerings to the gods, probably in the hope of securing safe passage through the dangerous waters of the Strait of Gibraltar.
The Rock was revered by the Greeks and Romans as one of the two Pillars of Hercules, created by the demigod during his tenth labour when he smashed through a mountain separating the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.Jackson, p. 20. According to a Phocaean Greek traveller who visited in the sixth century BC, there were temples and altars to Hercules on the Rock where passing travellers made sacrifices.Hills, p. 14. The Spanish later symbolised the importance of the Pillars of Hercules with a heraldic device consisting of a pair of columns with a scroll wrapped around them – a symbol that became the $ sign and the related Portuguese cifrão ().
To the Ancient Romans, Gibraltar was known as Mons Calpe, a name perhaps derived from the Phoenician word kalph, "hollowed out", presumably in reference to the many limestone caves in the Rock.Hills, p. 13. It was well known to ancient geographers,Hills, p. 15. but there is no known archaeological evidence of permanent settlements from the ancient period.Hills, p. 19. According to the Roman writer Avienius, the ancient Greek traveller Euctemon recorded that
There were more mundane reasons not to settle, as Gibraltar had many disadvantages that were to hinder later settlers. It lacked easily accessible fresh water, fertile soil or a safe natural anchorage on the shoreline. Avienus cited the "shallow draft and dense mud of the shore" as reasons not to land there. Its geographical location, which later became its key strategic asset, was not a significant factor during the Classical period as the entrance to the Mediterranean was not contested by the states of the day.Jackson, p. 22.
For these reasons the ancients instead settled at the head of the bay in what is today known as the Campo (hinterland) of Gibraltar. The town of Carteia, near the location of the modern Spanish town of San Roque, was founded by the Phoenicians around 950 BC on the site of an early settlement of the native Turdetani people.Shields, p. ix. The Carthaginians took control of the town by 228 BC and it was captured by the Romans in 206 BC.Collins, p. 106. It subsequently became Pompey's western base in his campaign of 67 BC against the pirates that menaced the Mediterranean Sea at the time.Truver, p. 161. Carteia appears to have been abandoned after the Vandals sacked it in 409 AD during their march through Roman Hispania to Africa.Hills, p. 18. The region subsequently fell under the rule of the Christianised Visigoths.Alexander, p. 14.
Moorish rule (711–1309, 1333–1462)
By 681 the armies of the Umayyad Caliphate had expanded from their original homeland of Arabia to conquer North Africa, the Middle East and large parts of West Asia, bringing Islam in their wake and converting local peoples to the new religion. The Berbers of North Africa, called Moors by the Christians, thereby became Muslims. The Strait of Gibraltar became the frontier between Muslim North Africa and Christian Hispania and thus gained a new strategic significance. Hispania descended into civil war in the 8th century as rival Visigothic factions fought for control of the throne. This gave the Moors the opportunity to invade Hispania and pursue a course of dividing-and-conquering the Christian factions.Hills, p. 30.Jackson, pp. 21–25.
Following a raid in 710, a predominately Berber army under the command of Tariq ibn Ziyad crossed from North Africa in April 711 and landed somewhere in the vicinity of Gibraltar (though most likely not in the bay or at the Rock itself). Although Tariq's expedition was an outstanding success and led to the Islamic conquest of most of the Iberian peninsula, he ended his career in disgrace after falling out with the Arab general Musa bin Nusayr.Jackson, p. 28. His conquest nonetheless left a long-lasting legacy for Gibraltar: Mons Calpe was renamed Jebel Tariq, the Mount of Tariq, subsequently corrupted into Gibraltar.