Introduction To Gibraltar

Introduction to Gibraltar

Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, serving as a gateway between Europe and Africa. It has a total area of 6.7 km², making it one of the smallest territories in the world. With a population of approximately 34,000, Gibraltar is a densely populated region with a culturally diverse community comprising British, Spanish, and North African individuals. It is known for its strategic location and imposing Rock of Gibraltar, a limestone massif rising 426 meters above sea level. Gibraltar's unique position has played an important role in its history, with evidence of human habitation dating back to the Neanderthal era. The British seized control of the territory in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession and has occupied it ever since, despite numerous attempts by Spain to reclaim the territory. Today, Gibraltar is an important center for tourism, finance, and shipping commerce. It has a vibrant economy and maintains strong cultural ties to its neighboring Spanish cities of Algeciras and La Linea.

Gibraltar

The story of Gibraltar is one of siege, starvation, plague, and battles interspersed with periods of peace. The colony's civilian population is made up of a rich and complex racial mix of exiled Jews, French royalists, Maltese merchants, emigrants from India and Genoese fishermen who fled Napoleon. Marc Alexander's book is the first full history of the rock for many years, providing the background to a unique community and a chronicle of a remarkable chapter in British military history. Even now, at the beginning of the new millennium, the future of teh 6.5 square km territory is still uncertain. An important RAF base, it is a fragment of Britain's imperial past set uneasily in the territory of a fellow member of the European Union apparently eager to reclaim it. Gibraltar's dramatic history is far from over.

British and Foreign State Papers