Gibraltar

• 1. Introduction

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  Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory of just 6.8 square kilometres, perched at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula. Around 34,000 people live there. At its airport, the runway cuts straight across Winston Churchill Avenue, which was once the main road into Spain. Whenever an aircraft lands or departs, movable barricades close the road and traffic stops. Behind that curious scene lies a set of larger puzzles. Why have so many powers wanted a single rock? What do the people who live there want for their future? And how do they earn a living and build a culture in so little space?

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• 2. Caves, Names and Castles

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  Gorham's Cave preserves evidence that Neanderthals lived on the Rock around 50,000 years ago. Homo sapiens kept using the caves after the Neanderthals died out. Stone tools, ancient hearths and animal bones left in Gorham's Cave date from around 40,000 years ago to about 5,000 years ago. Neolithic potsherds turned up in the caves too, mostly of a type typical of the Almerian culture, which takes its name from the Andalusian town of Almería. By the Bronze Age people had largely stopped living in caves, and evidence of habitation is scarce.

  From around 950 BC the Phoenicians were present for several centuries, apparently using Gorham's Cave as a shrine to the genius loci, the guardian spirit of a place. Carthaginians and Romans did the same after them. The Greeks and Romans knew the Rock as Mons Calpe, a name perhaps of Phoenician origin. They counted it among the Pillars of Hercules, from the Greek legend that Heracles created the Strait of Gibraltar. No known archaeological evidence shows permanent settlement on the Rock in ancient times. People settled instead at the head of the bay, in the Campo, the hinterland of Gibraltar. There the Phoenicians founded Carteia, near the modern Spanish town of San Roque, around 950 BC, on the site of an early settlement of the native Turdetani.

  The Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania counted the area as its own for almost 300 years, from 418 until 720 AD. In April 711 a predominantly Berber army under Tariq ibn Ziyad crossed from North Africa, following a raid in 710. It landed somewhere near Gibraltar, though most likely not in the bay or at the Rock itself. Tariq's expedition led to the Islamic conquest of most of the Iberian peninsula. Mons Calpe was renamed Jabal Tariq, "the Mount of Tariq", which was later corrupted into Gibraltar.

  In 1160 the Almohad Sultan Abd al-Mu'min ordered a permanent settlement, including a castle, to be built on the Rock. It was named Medinat al-Fath, the City of the Victory. The Tower of Homage of the Moorish Castle still stands. Through the Late Middle Ages the town passed between the Nasrids of Granada, the Marinids of Fez and the kings of Castile, with captures in 1274, 1309-1333 and 1374. Around 1375 the Nasrids destroyed and abandoned nearby Algeciras. They also took Gibraltar from the Marinids in 1375. They then favoured Gibraltar as a military and urban outpost, because its defences were better, even though its natural harbour was worse than Algeciras. Even so, the town never reached a large population in this period.

  In 1462 Juan Alonso de Guzmán, 1st Duke of Medina Sidonia, captured Gibraltar from the Emirate of Granada. Henry IV of Castile then added the title King of Gibraltar to his own. Six years later the town was restored to the duke, who sold it in 1474 to a group of 4,350 conversos, Christian converts from Judaism, from Cordova and Seville. In exchange they kept up the town's garrison for two years, after which they were expelled. They returned to their home towns or moved on to other parts of Spain. In 1501 Gibraltar passed back to the Spanish Crown, and Isabella I of Castile issued a Royal Warrant granting the coat of arms that the territory still uses. In 1540 the Ottoman admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa captured and ransacked the small town. The raid eliminated nearly an entire generation of Gibraltarians. The town that lost that generation still carried Isabella's coat of arms when its next conquerors arrived.

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• 3. Siege and Rebuilding

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  When an Anglo-Dutch fleet captured Gibraltar in 1704, only about 70 people stayed behind, mostly neutral Genoese traders. The town had held approximately 4,000 to 5,000 Spanish inhabitants, and many of those who left settled nearby. The fleet represented the Grand Alliance and acted on behalf of the Archduke Charles of Austria, who was campaigning to become King of Spain. Sir George Rooke captured the Rock for the Archduke. The Royal Navy's shore establishment at Gibraltar, HMS Rooke, is named after him.

  As the Alliance's campaign faltered, the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713 ceded Gibraltar to Great Britain in perpetuity. The cession was a way to secure Britain's withdrawal from the war. Spanish monarchs made unsuccessful attempts to regain the Rock. The first was the siege of 1727. The second was the Great Siege of Gibraltar, which ran from 1779 to 1783 during the American War of Independence. In 1782 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed a fragment for voice and piano to celebrate the Great Siege, titled Bardengesang auf Gibraltar: O Calpe! Dir donnert's am Fusse.

  After the destructive Great Siege, the town was almost entirely rebuilt. Giovanni Maria Boschetti arrived in 1784 as a 25-year-old from Milan, where he is thought to have been a stonemason or engineer. He built the Victualling Yard, completed in 1812, and many other buildings. Boschetti is regarded as the man who set the old town's style. Claire Montado, chief executive of the Gibraltar Heritage Trust, describes it as "military-ordnance-style arched doorways, Italianate stucco relief, Genoese shutters, English Regency ironwork balconies, Spanish stained glass and Georgian sash and casement windows."

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• 4. Fortress of Empire

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  On the 21st of October 1805 the Battle of Trafalgar was fought, and Gibraltar had played an important role in the lead-up to it. During the Napoleonic Wars the Rock became a key base for the Royal Navy. It was designated one of four Imperial fortresses, alongside Bermuda, Halifax in Nova Scotia, and Malta. Its location again made it a key base during the Crimean War of 1854-1856. In the 18th century the peacetime garrison fluctuated between a minimum of 1,100 and a maximum of 5,000.

  By 1860 the population had passed 17,000. People from Britain and all around the Mediterranean had taken up residence in the town, including Italians, Portuguese, Maltese, Jews and French. The opening of the Suez Canal raised the Rock's strategic value, because it lay on the sea route between the UK and the British Empire east of Suez. In the later 19th century, major investments improved the fortifications and the port.

  During the Second World War most of Gibraltar's civilians were evacuated, mainly to London, but also to parts of Morocco, to Madeira and to Gibraltar Camp in Jamaica. The Rock was strengthened as a fortress. On the 18th of July 1940 the Vichy French air force attacked Gibraltar in retaliation for the British bombing of the Vichy navy. The naval base and its ships played a key role in supplying the island of Malta during its long siege. Frequent short runs, known as Club Runs, flew off aircraft reinforcements towards Malta. The aircraft were Hurricanes at first and later Spitfires, notably from the American aircraft carrier Wasp. In August 1942 the critical Operation Pedestal convoy sailed from Gibraltar and resupplied Malta in the face of concentrated German and Italian air attacks.

  Spanish dictator Francisco Franco's reluctance to allow the German Army onto Spanish soil frustrated a German plan to capture the Rock, codenamed Operation Felix. Decades later, during the Falklands War, an Argentine plan to attack British shipping in the harbour using frogmen was foiled. It was called Operation Algeciras. The naval base also supported the task force that Britain sent to recover the Falklands. British and US nuclear submarines still visit Gibraltar's Z berths, which allow nuclear submarines to call for operational or recreational purposes and for non-nuclear repairs. The Rock also serves as a vital part of the United Kingdom's communications gathering and monitoring network in the Mediterranean and North Africa.

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• 5. A Closed Border

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  In the 1950s Francisco Franco renewed Spain's claim to sovereignty over Gibraltar and restricted movement between the territory and Spain. Gibraltarians then voted overwhelmingly to remain under British sovereignty in the 1967 sovereignty referendum. The vote led to the passing of the Gibraltar Constitution Order in 1969. Spain responded by completely closing the border and severing all communication links. Franco's restrictions also prohibited any air or ferry connections. The ferry between Gibraltar and Algeciras stopped in 1969 and did not reopen until the 16th of December 2009, served by the Spanish company Transcoma. The border partially reopened in 1982 and fully reopened in 1985, before Spain's accession to the European Community.

  In the early 2000s Britain and Spain negotiated over a potential agreement to share sovereignty over Gibraltar. The Gibraltar government organised a referendum on the plan, and 99% of the population voted to reject it. In 2008 the British government committed to respecting the wishes of Gibraltarians. A new Constitution Order had already been approved in a referendum in 2006. That year also began tripartite negotiations between Spain, Gibraltar and the UK. They ended some restrictions and dealt with disputes in specific areas such as air movements, customs procedures, telecommunications, pensions and cultural exchange.

  An agreement signed in Córdoba on the 18th of September 2006 had Spain relax border controls that had plagued locals for decades. In return, Britain paid increased pensions to Spanish workers who lost their jobs when Franco closed the border. Air links with Spain were restored in December 2006, and telecommunication restrictions were lifted in February 2007. Crossing the border can still bring very long delays. Spain has occasionally closed it during disputes, such as the Aurora cruise ship incident, and when fishermen from the Spanish fishing vessel Piraña were arrested for illegal fishing in Gibraltar waters.

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• 6. Self-Rule and Brexit

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  On the 18th of October 2018 Spain's prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said of Gibraltar: "Gibraltar will no longer be a problem in arriving at a Brexit deal." The remark came after years in which Gibraltar had been unusual among British territories. It joined the European Union through the European Communities Act 1972, as a dependent territory of the United Kingdom. It was exempt from some areas, including the Customs Union, the Common Agricultural Policy and the Schengen Area. It is the only British Overseas Territory that was ever part of the EU. After a 10-year campaign for the right to vote in European elections, its people took part in them from 2004 to 2019, as part of the South West England constituency.

  On the 23rd of June 2016 Gibraltar voted along with the United Kingdom in the EU referendum. In Gibraltar 96% voted to remain, on an 84% turnout, but the overall UK result gave a 51.9% majority to leave. Spain renewed calls for joint Spanish-British control, which Gibraltar's Chief Minister strongly rebuffed. On the 31st of January 2020 the UK left the European Union, and Gibraltar did the same. Its relationship with the EU stayed unchanged until the end of 2020, when the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement replaced it.

  On the 31st of December 2020 the UK and Spain agreed in principle on a framework for Gibraltar to take part in the Schengen Area and avoid a hard border. Talks then stalled for several years. Spain insisted that its Policía Nacional control entry into the Schengen area, while the UK demanded that the European Union agency Frontex perform that role. On the 11th of June 2025 a deal was signed that established an open border and joint passport controls at Gibraltar International Airport. Under the agreement the Policía Nacional conducts Schengen passport controls at the port and airport alongside Gibraltar authorities. The land border is to be fully open for people and goods. A draft treaty would also let the territory take part in the EU customs union, and it remains to be ratified. The UK reaffirmed that Gibraltar remains British sovereign territory.

  Under its constitution Gibraltar has almost complete internal self-governance. A parliament is elected for a term of up to four years and has 17 elected members, plus a Speaker appointed by resolution of the parliament. The government has 10 elected members and is led by the Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo. The head of state is the British monarch, represented by the Governor of Gibraltar. The Governor is responsible to the British government for defence, foreign policy, internal security and general good governance. All local political parties oppose any transfer of sovereignty to Spain and support self-determination. British government policy is not to engage in talks about sovereignty without the consent of the people of Gibraltar.

  The United Kingdom nominated Gibraltar for the United Nations list of non-self-governing territories when the list was created in 1946. In 2008 the British government declared its continued presence on the list an anachronism. On the 21st of May 2002 the British Overseas Territories Act made Gibraltarians British citizens. In 2022 Gibraltar bid for city status as part of the Platinum Jubilee Civic Honours, and the bid was refused. Then researchers searching the National Archives found that Queen Victoria had already recognised it as a city in 1842. The status came into force on the 29th of August 2022.

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• 7. Apes and Water

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  Around 230 Barbary macaques live in the nature reserve that covers most of the Rock's upper area. They are the famous apes of Gibraltar, although they are actually monkeys. They are the only wild apes or monkeys found in Europe. The species, Macaca sylvanus, is listed as endangered by the IUCN Red List and is declining. Three-quarters of the world population live in the Middle Atlas mountains of Morocco. Recent genetic studies and historical documents point to their presence on the Rock before British control, possibly introduced during the Islamic period.

  A superstition, similar to the one about the ravens at the Tower of London, says that if the apes ever leave, so will the British. In 1944 Prime Minister Winston Churchill was so concerned about the dwindling population of apes that he sent a message to the Colonial Secretary requesting that something be done about the situation.

  Over 500 different species of flowering plants grow on the Rock. Gibraltar is the only place in Europe where Gibraltar candytuft, Iberis gibraltarica, grows wild, and the plant is otherwise native to North Africa. It is the symbol of the Upper Rock nature reserve. Olive and pine trees are among the most common growing around the Rock. Rabbits, foxes and bats live there, and dolphins and whales are frequently seen in the bay. Gibraltar is home to the only Barbary partridges found on the European continent. In 1991 Graham Watson, Gibraltar's MEP, highlighted conservationists' fears that urban development, tourism and invasive plant species were threatening native plants, birds and bats.

  There are no rivers, streams or large bodies of water on the peninsula. Water was once gathered by an aqueduct, wells, and the use of cisterns, barrels and earthenware pots to capture rainwater. That became increasingly inadequate as the population grew in the 18th and 19th centuries and lethal diseases such as cholera and yellow fever began to spread. In the late 19th century a Sanitary Commission instigated major improvements, including large-scale desalination and giant water catchments covering over 2.5 million square feet. Today the drinking water comes entirely from desalination, with a separate supply of saltwater for sanitary purposes. Both supplies are delivered from huge underground reservoirs excavated under the Rock. One of the desalination plants is a reverse osmosis plant built inside a tunnel in the rock. The Rock itself is Jurassic limestone rising 426 metres, and it holds many tunnelled roads, most of which are still operated by the military and closed to the general public.

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• 8. Work and Llanito

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  In 1984 the British military accounted for over 60 per cent of Gibraltar's economy, with the naval dockyard providing the bulk of activity. Today it is estimated at only seven per cent. Four sectors now dominate: financial services, online gambling, maritime services such as ship repairs and fuel supply, and tourism, which includes duty-free retail sales to visitors. The labour market employs around thirty thousand workers, 80% in the private sector and 20% in the public sector. Unemployment is extremely low, at around one per cent.

  More than half of the labour force, 53 per cent, are resident in Spain or are non-Gibraltarians. Around 45 per cent of all employee jobs are held by frontier workers, who normally live in Spain but work in Gibraltar. During Brexit negotiations Chief Minister Fabian Picardo argued that a frontier lacking the fluidity to let people reach their workplaces would put nearly half of the territory's jobs at risk. In the early 2000s many bookmakers and online gaming operators moved to Gibraltar for a regulated jurisdiction with a favourable corporate tax regime. That regime for non-resident controlled companies was phased out by January 2011 and replaced by a fixed corporate tax rate of ten per cent.

  The Gibraltar pound is issued by the Government of Gibraltar under the 1934 Currency Notes Act, and its notes are legal tender alongside Bank of England banknotes. Most retail outlets unofficially accept the euro, though the Royal Gibraltar Post Office and all other government offices do not. Space is scarce, so reclaimed land makes up about one-tenth of the territory's area but houses over 40% of its population, according to the 2012 census. That census counted 25,444 people, or 79.0%, as eligible for Gibraltarian status.

  The ethnic origins of most Gibraltarians include Genoese, Maltese, Portuguese, Catalan, Sephardic Jewish, Sicilian, Moroccan and Indian. Their cooking reflects the mix, as in calentita, a baked, bread-like dish made with chickpea flour, water, olive oil, salt and pepper. Gibraltar National Day, on the 10th of September, celebrates the first sovereignty referendum. It is a public holiday, and most Gibraltarians dress in the national colours of red and white. Until 2016 the tradition was to release 30,000 balloons in the same colours, one for each of the people of Gibraltar. That ended because of the threat the balloons posed to wildlife, particularly marine wildlife. On Tercentenary Day, the 4th of August 2004, the Royal Navy was given the Freedom of the City, and a human chain of Gibraltarians in red, white and blue linked hands to encircle the Rock.

  The official language is English, used by the government and in schools, and most locals also speak Spanish. Gibraltarians often converse in Llanito, a vernacular unique to Gibraltar. It is based on Andalusian Spanish with a strong mixture of British English and elements of Maltese, Portuguese, Genoese Italian and Haketia, a Judaeo-Spanish dialect. Speakers often switch between English and Spanish within a conversation, and Gibraltarians sometimes call themselves Llanitos. English is becoming increasingly dominant, and the younger generation speaks little or no Llanito despite learning Spanish in school.

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