History of Gibraltar

Tariq Ibn Zeyad landed at Gibraltar in 711AD and started the Muslim conquest of Iberia from here but there is no known surviving documentation of events in Gibraltar. It appears that Gibraltar was only the entry point into the Iberian Peninsula for Tariq and his men but was so significant that Tariq lent his name to it (Jebel Tariq - Hill of Tarik). It was not until 1160AD, 449 years later, that a permanent settlement was established on Gibraltar.

The Madinat al Fath, or City of Victory was constructed by Abd al-Mumin, the Caliph of a dynasty known as the Almohad. He ordered a city to be built at the base of Jebel Tariq, so that this city would be the residence of the imperial power. He intended to use the Rock as a secure base from which to supervise affairs in AI-Andalus while being able to return quickly to North Africa should the need arise.

It was during Almohad rule, in 1309AD. that Gibraltar was lost to the Castillians. Muslim rule was re-established in Gibraltar in 1333AD by a new dynasty from North Africa - the Merinids. It was during this time that the city was much improved and extended. They embarked on a building campaign aimed at showing that they were 'here to stay'. The most visible monument of this period today is the Tower of Homage which was improved and expanded during this time. A Mosque was built on the site of what is today the Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned and these baths were placed nearby.

The city and port of Gibraltar gained most importance after the fall of Algeciras in 1344AD. It became the gateway into Spain for the Merinids, being the only Muslim fortress left on the northern shores of the Strait. So the Merinid Emir, Abul Hassan, began to fortify the fortress of Gibraltar to the extent that it resisted Christian sieges and attacks, remaining under Merinid rule until 1374AD, the date when it was taken by the Nasrids - the dynasty that ruled from Granada. It remained under Nasrid control until 1462AD when it fell into the hands of the Castillian kings.

1702 saw the outbreak of the Spanish War of Succession, something that had been brewing in the latter part of the seventeenth century. The King of Spain, Charles II, was a man mentally and physically handicapped and when he died without an heir, two rivals laid claim to the Spanish throne. Louis XIV wanted to see his Grandson, Philip of Anjou, named as King, whilst the Austrians put forward the Hapsburg candidate, Archduke Charles supported England, Holland and the Vatican. As always with European affairs however the balance of power was a key issue. If the Bourbon Philip came to the Spanish throne then the threat of European domination by the French, and of course domination of Spanish colonies and markets, would be lethal to British interests. When Philip of Anjou became Philip V of Spain, war was inevitable and indeed did break out. The alliance system that William III of Orange had built up kicked in even after his death and by 1703 England under Queen Anne, the Dutch Provinces, Portugal, and Austria had aligned against the Bourbons.

As George Hills points out in his book, Rock of Contention, the idea that Gibraltar became 'British' in 1704 is an oversimplification. On the 4th August 1704, the English fleet, under Admiral Sir George Rooke, entered the Gibraltar Bay. At 3pm 1,800 English and Dutch marines were landed close to the Rock with the Dutch Prince Hesse at the head. After several days of fierce fighting the Spanish surrendered the Rock. One intention was to prevent Gibraltar being used to unify the French Atlantic and Mediterranean fleets. Overall command was vested in the Austrian Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt and the mission as a whole was being undertaken for 'Charles III' of Austria. It seems therefore that some further insight is needed into who was who, and what they were doing!

Now as we know it was the Treaty of Utrecht that gave Britain Gibraltar, but of course this treaty was concerned with the much wider issue of ending Britain's involvement in the war. The period of Gibraltar's history between 1704 and 1713 then is one of hazy distinction. When Admiral Rooke and Hesse-Darmstadt took Gibraltar they did so for the Austrian claimant to the Spanish throne. The garrison surrendered to Hesse-Darmstadt. There is also the argument that the British forces did not even want to stay at the Rock and that those in government were already wondering as to its usefulness. However, there is of course a much stronger line of British interest in the Rock. Throughout 1702-4, Rooke had orders that if his primary targets were unassailable he was to take Gibraltar. This was consistent with the Whig government's desire to improve trading roots with the colonies, and also Marlborough's desire to turn the Med' into an English pond. It seems that in the light of these considerations there can be little doubt that England did not take the Rock in a 'fit of absence of mind', but that indeed that it was policy. Indeed the first three governors of Gibraltar were Dutch and they were acting in the interests of Charles III, yet by 1708 England had prevailed a British governor upon the Rock and indeed by 1713 the Rock was ceded to Britain. More to the point the Dutch wanted the benefits of the Rock, but not the costs of garrisoning and supplying it, hence the accentuation of British interests there. That Britain was ceded Gibraltar shows a more long-term commitment by government. By 1713 the Tories were in power and they did not have the same commitment as the Whigs had to economic concerns, yet still the town and garrison of Gibraltar was desired.

Article X of Treaty of Utrecht, signed on July 13, 1713, confirms the yielding of the town, castle, port, fortifications and forts of Gibraltar from the King of Spain to the British Crown for ever - not that Spain gave up the attempt to recapture the Rock by both force of arms and negotiation. Unfortunately the Treaty did not provide a map defining exactly the area so described, thus giving both parties the opportunity to interpret the wording as it suited them, causing much controversy in later years.

Soon after its capture in 1704, the first of three Spanish attacks on Gibraltar was launched. The first only lasted six months and the second, in 1725, two years but, at the end of the century, the Great Siege began. The garrison held out for three years, seven months and twelve days, records stating that over 200,000 shot and shell were fired during the long defence of the Rock (September 13, 1779 - March 12, 1783). During this time the first tunnels and galleries were engineered to make perfect gun emplacements. The siege collapsed following an attempt to breach the King's Bastion with guns mounted on 'impregnable' batteries floated into Gibraltar Bay. The British defenders sank them by using shot preheated in furnaces. After each Spanish attempt to recapture Gibraltar failed, Great Britain's tenure was confirmed by further treaties: Seville (1721), Aix-Ia-Chapelle (1748) Paris (1763) and Versailles (1783).

The end of the Napoleonic Wars brought an end to the sieges and Gibraltar prospered becoming a British Crown Colony in 1830. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 increased Gibraltar's strategic value to the Royal Navy and the Admiralty dockyard, with its 440 acre harbour protected by three moles, was constructed on land reclaimed from the sea in 1895-1905.

On the landward side, following the treaty of Utrecht, a 1450 metre strip of the isthmus had been declared neutral ground, (what would now be called a demilitarised zone) between the British and Spanish lines based on the range of the cannon then in use. It was this piece of flat, sandy soil that had been the battleground during the eighteenth century battles.

In 1810, the Anglo-Spanish alliance against Napoleon gave the Governor of Gibraltar the opportunity of eliminating the Spanish forts of San Felipe and Santa Barbara on the northern boundary of the neutral ground. Announcing that there was a possibility that the forts might fall into French hands, General Campbell instructed Royal Engineers to cross the zone and blow them up, a task which was duly carried out on February 14 together with the demolition of other stone banquettes and guard houses of the Spanish Lines.

The beginnings of the present-day dispute with Spain over Gibraltar stem directly from the yellow-fever epidemic of 1815. The Spanish authorities agreed on April 20 of that year to allow the British forces to construct an isolation camp outside the fortress walls. Then in 1845, because of the problem of disposing of refuse from the town, the then-Governor, Sir Robett Wilson, had a rubbish dump marked out with four posts on the neutral zone justified in a letter from the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to the Spanish Minister in London on health grounds.

Another epidemic in 1854 led to more barrack huts being erected on the British end of the neutral zone, this time protected by a line of sentry boxes. When the epidemic was over, some huts were dismantled but the sentry boxes and military camp remained to which rifle ranges were added. When, in 1862, the Governor of Gibraltar authorised a corps of French troops to camp on the neutral ground without consulting the Spanish authorities, the latter lodged a strong complaint in London. Two months later, the British Secretary of State sent the official reply. It stated that the buildings and encampment were 600 yards from the Spanish line and that the neutral ground began beyond the line of British sentries.

By 1881, the extent of British occupation of the neutral zone extended 800 metres from the rock face and the authorisation of sunshades for the Spanish sentries (still on their original 1713 line) led the British authorities to erect permanent stone bases for the British sentry boxes.

On August 5, 1908, the British Ambassador in Madrid informed the Spanish Minister of State 'as an act of courtesy', of the British Government's intention 'to erect a fence along the British edge of the neutral territory at Gibraltar with the object, mainly, of reducing sentry duty in view of the heavy work now thrown on the garrison since its recent reduction in strength. 'The fence', the letter continued to explain, 'which will in no way partake of the nature of a military or defensive work, is to be constructed of steel, and of an unclimbable pattern, about seven feet high and topped with three strands of barbed-wire, thus bringing the total height up to nine feet. It is proposed to fix netting to the fence in order to prevent the passing of articles through the bars. A gap will be left across the main road leading to La Linea and gates provided across the Eastern Road and at the Western Beach, the former for cattle and the latter, which will be in full view of the guard room, for the passage of those persons in possession of Beach Passes.

As could be expected the proposed fence, which would permanently consolidate part of the neutral ground within the British base, was opposed vigorously by the Spanish Government and an exchange of correspondence continued at official level over the next twelve months. All this time however, construction of the fence, which was claimed by HM Government to be wholly on British territory, continued until the Spanish were presented with a fait accompli.

The Spanish Red Book, published in 1965 in answer to the British White Book, parallels the erection of the border fence to that constructed in Berlin by the Soviet/East German authorities. However, although the Gibraltar fence was improved during the Second World War and during the 1970s, the border always remained open at Four Corners, even throughout the Second World War, and upwards of 10,000 Spanish workers crossed daily into Gibraltar to work. Gibraltar switched to driving on the right in 1925 to avoid an awkward cross-over at the frontier. The Red Book, whilst detailing the period up to 1909 omits any mention of the events in the years up to 1954 when reference is made to the umbrage of the Spanish people to the proposed visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Gibraltar. The royal visit took place in 1954 and, thereafter, relations between Britain and Spain deteriorated, the Spanish Consul being withdrawn on April 19 and increasing border restrictions and delays leading to final closure of the Spanish gate in the land frontier on May 20, 1968. (It could be argued that this closure was legally justifiable in the context of the second paragraph of Article X of the Treaty of Utrecht.)

During the Second World War, Spain had constructed a line of dragons teeth along their side of the neutral zone but these were blown up in 1966 and a sports complex with a stadium has now been built on what was formerly barren ground. Nearby, a tall block of flats provided a convenient observation post for the Spanish authorities.

While the Spanish gates remain padlocked, the British gates, just twelve inches to the south remained symbolically open - the neutral ground having shrunk effectively to six inches.

In July 1976, the British authorities extended the fence 30-40 feet into the sea at the eastern end, to make it animal proof to stop rabies. A twenty-man frontier platoon constantly patrols the border which is floodlit at night. Two watch towers overlook either end; some of the dare-devils that occasionally swim past the wire are quietly returned by boat, others less fortunate get a week's jail in Algeciras, The locals are allowed to shout messages to their relatives and friends a hundred yards away on the far side, many of whom carry out their loud conversations while. looking through binoculars.

The closure of the border led to a twicedaily ceremony for the changing of the guard - on both sides of the fence - providing an additional tourist spectacle. The British parade was 'low-profile' with a small guard detail and bugler to 'sound off as the Union Jack was raised or lowered. By contrast, the Spanish ceremony was spectacular and noisy. A full band, with the musicians in combat fatigues, marched about a mile from the barracks in La Linea down the long road to the frontier. There both the band and the armed border guard stand to attention while the red and yellow flag was lowered to the strains of the Spanish National Anthem.

The Spanish authorities opened the frontier in 1985, this has allowed Gibraltar's trade and population to thrive. Its inhabitants live harmoniously in a peaceful and unique multi-cultural society. The daily activities of employment and business between Gibraltar and its Spanish neighbour La Linea grow with many Spaniards working in Gibraltar. Many Gibraltarians live in Spain and commute to their places of work in Gibraltar, occasionally hindered by the Spanish governments obsession to raise political issues on a regular basis.

Despite the earlier destruction, Gibraltar has retained relics of its heritage. The impressive Moorish Castle and Tower of Homage overlook the Bay of Gibraltar and the fascinating Gibraltar museum houses the Moorish baths. Spanish architecture can be seen at the Cathedral of St Mary the Crowned and the Franciscan Convent, which is now the official residence of Gibraltar's Governor. The Great Siege tunnels can be explored and Nelson's Anchorage and Trafalgar Cemetery may be visited.

Today Gibraltar is a surviving part of the British Empire and a Crown Colony. Its community drawn from British, Genoese, Portuguese, Spanish, Jewish and other origins is firmly consolidated - friendly, bilingual and in racial and religious harmony.