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Gibraltar |
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Gibraltar) Locator map for the British dependency of Gibraltar. It is situated on a narrow rocky peninsula at the southern tip of Spain, northeast of the Strait of Gibraltar. ) The Rock of Gibraltar is a lump of limestone, geologically very different from the surrounding landscape. It marks the position of the Strait of Gibraltar, the narrow neck that separates Europe from Africa and provides the only link between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Gibraltar's most famous residents are the Barbary apes, the only wild primates in all of Europe. ) The three towers are the arms of Gibraltar and represent the island's key position in the Mediterranean. The arms were granted by Spain in 1502 and are the flag badge on both the red and blue ensigns. British dependency, situated on a narrow rocky promontory at the southern tip of Spain; the Rock of Gibraltar formed one of the Pillars of Hercules with Mount Acho, near Ceuta, across the Strait of Gibraltar on the north African coast; area 6.5 sq km/2.5 sq mi; population (2003 est) 29,000. Gibraltar is mainly a trading centre for the import and re-export of goods. The climate is mild and pleasant, and tourism is an important industry. Since the colony is a fortress, most of the area is taken up by military installations and the population is kept small. HistoryThe fortress was taken by the Moorish leader Tarik in 711. The Spanish took the peninsula in 1309 and held it until 1333, but did not definitively recover it from the Moors until 1462. Captured from Spain in 1704 by English admiral George Rooke (1650-1709), it was ceded to Britain under the Treaty of Utrecht (1713). A UN-supervised referendum in 1967 confirmed the wish of the people to remain in association with the UK, but Spain continues to claim sovereignty and closed the border from 1969 to 1985. In 1989, the UK government announced it would reduce the military garrison by half. Ground troops were withdrawn in 1991, but navy and airforce units remained.
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| A day or two will be spent here, enjoying the fruit and wild scenery of these islands, and the voyage continued, and Gibraltar reached in three or four days. I have crossed the Atlantic four times, and have been once to the East Indies, and back again, and only once; besides being in different places about home: Cork, and Lisbon, and Gibraltar. Such an enterprise would seem almost as hopeful as for Lavater to have scrutinized the wrinkles on the Rock of Gibraltar, or for Gall to have mounted a ladder and manipulated the Dome of the Pantheon. |
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Gibraltar
