History of Gibraltar (detailed)
940BC
 The Phoenicians founded the city of Carteia at the head of the Bay of Gibraltar. The Rock becomes a place of worship where sailors sacrifice to the gods before entering the Atlantic.

Gibraltar based historian William Serfaty has written a fascinating thesis exploring a possible historical origin for the legend of the Pillars of Hercules at the gateway to the Mediterranean, William also explores links between Gibraltar and the ancient city of Carteia. Click here to read the thesis
711AD
 Following the death of the prophet Mohammed a wave of Islamic conquest overran North Africa from Arabia. By 710 AD it had reached the shores of the Strait and Europe was poised for the Islamic conquest. There are various versions of the events but one thing is clear - the Visgoths who had deposed the Romans and ruled Spain were weak and divided. The Visgothic Count Julian who ruled over Ceuta in North Africa was surrounded and he had a score to settle with his compatriots on the other side of the Strait. So, to divert the Muslims, he offered to assist them in the conquest of Spain.

On April 27, 711, a Berber chief, Tarik-ibn-Ziyad, the Governor of Tangier sailed across the Strait by night, from Ceuta not Tangier so as not to arouse suspicion and used Visgothic ships. His first attempt on Algeciras failed but he was successful in landing undetected on Gibraltar. Once his forces were assembled he defeated the Gothic King Roderick, and entered into the conquest of Spain. Within a few months, the Moslem invasion of Christian Spain was complete and, in order to secure his line of communication across the 15-mile strait at the entrance to the Mediterranean sea, Tariq constructed a castle overlooking the isthmus on the north-western slope of the massive rock. This rock was named Tariq's mountain 'Gibel Tariq' later to be corrupted to Gibraltar.
1068
 By the 11th Century AD Gibraltar is part of the Arab kingdom of Seville except for a short period when it comes under Berber rule from Malaga. The mounting threat of invasion by North Africa sects forces the Arab Governor of Algeciras to order in 1068 the building of a fort in Gibraltar.
1160
 Spain is eventually overrun by another North African sect, the Almohads, and it was their leader, Abd-ad-Mummin, who commanded the building of the first city in Gibraltar - the Medinat al-Fath, the City of Victory. It was by all accounts, an impressive city and its foundations were laid on the 19th May 1160 AD. On completion of the works Al-Mummin personally crossed the Strait to inspect the works and stayed in Gibraltar for two months, inviting all his subordinate kings to see his works. It is said that Al-Mummin was especially impressed by a large windmill which had been built on top of the hill (Windmill Hill).
1309
 Skirmishing and fighting continued between 1160 and 1300, among Muslims or between Muslims and Christians. 1252 left only two Islamic kingdoms in Spain, in Murcia and Granada. By the year 1309, King Ferdinand IV had laid siege on Algeciras and, learning of Arab weaknesses on the Rock sent Alonso Perez de Guzman to capture it. Thus Gibraltar endured its first siege. The Spaniards took the Upper Rock from where they bombarded the town using cannons. The garrison surrendered after one month. Gibraltar then had 1500 inhabitants and they were allowed to leave for North Africa.

The Spaniards set to repair the fortifications and shipyard but few people wanted to settle in Gibraltar, which was considered to be a high risk town. This forced Ferdinand to offer freedom from justice to anyone who lived in Gibraltar for one year and one day.
1333
 In 1333 Gibraltar fell back into Muslim hands as Abdul Malik, son of the King of Morocco, laid siege. The Spanish garrison surrendered after four and a half months of siege.
1374
 Gibraltar becomes part of the Muslim Kingdom of Granada.
1462
 Gibraltar is recaptured by Castille and became part of the estates of the Duke of Medina Sidonia. Gibraltar was enlarged and fortified until it was regarded as impregnable.
1492
 The Catholic King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella conquer Granada, the last vestige of the Muslim domination of Spain. The Jews are expelled from Spain and many pass through Gibraltar on their way into exile in North Africa.
1501
 It was Queen Isabella who, tired of the petty squabbling among her nobility, issued a decree on the 2nd December 1501 AD, making Gibraltar, Spanish crown property.
1502
 Queen Isabella grants Gibraltar a coat of arms consisting of a castle, which symbolises its importance as a fortress, and a key which highlights its reputation as the key to Spain, which it has held since the time of Moslem conquest.
1540
 By the middle of the sixteenth century a new kind of conflict had arisen as Corsairs from the coast of Barbary, under their infamous leader Barbarossa, hounded the zone. In the summer of 1540 a large fleet of pirates assembled and raided the poorly defended Gibraltar. Years later, after mounting pressure from the inhabitants of Gibraltar, the Emperor Charles V ordered the Italian engineer Calvi to build a protective wall. This wall was extended to reach the top of the Rock in the reign of Philip II some years later.
1606
 The Moriscos (the descendants of the Moslem inhabitants in Spain) are expelled and many pass through Gibraltar on their way into exile in North Africa.
1700
 King Charles II of Spain died without leaving an heir and the succession was disputed by two rival claimants: Prince Philip V of Bourbon, a grandson of Louis XIV backed by France and Spain, and an Austrian Hapsburg, Archduke Charles, supported by Austria, England, Holland and the Holy Roman Empire. The resulting 'War of the Spanish Succession' was to impact on Gibraltar's history in 1704
1704
 On the 17th July 1704, a council of war was held aboard the English warship Royal Catherine off the North African town of Tetuan. Four days later the English fleet, under Admiral Sir George Rooke, entered the Gibraltar Bay. At 3pm 1,800 English and Dutch marines were landed on the isthmus with the Dutch Prince Hesse at the head. Gibraltar was cut off but the Governor of Gibraltar refused to surrender. The days that followed saw a massive bombardment of the town by the English fleet on the morning of the 23rd, 1,500 shots were fired in 5-6 hours against the town. Landings took place in the south and in the morning of the 24th, the Governor capitulated.

So in this way a joint Anglo-Dutch force captured Gibraltar, on behalf of Charles of Austria who was pretender to the throne of Spain. Things took a while to settle down. Shortly after the capture a Spanish goatherd, Simon Susarte, led 500 Spanish troops to Europa Advance on the south-eastern side of the Rock and then killed the guard. They moved to the Upper Rock and spent the night in St Michael's Cave. The next morning they attacked the Signal Station but the alarm was raised and the English counter-attacked. 160 prisoners were taken including a colonel and thirty other officers; the rest were killed trying to escape.
1705
 Gibraltar is declared a 'free port', which leads to its development as an important international trading centre.
1707
 The first British Governor is appointed and takes up residence in the Convent of the Franciscan Friars.
1713
 The Treaty of Utrecht, signed on July 13, 1713, brought an end to the war, Article Ten of the agreement confirming 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.

On the landward side, following the treaty of Utrecht, a 1,450-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.
1721
 After each Spanish attempt to recapture Gibraltar failed, Great Britain's tenure was confirmed by further treaties: Seville (1721), Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) and Paris (1763)
1727
 Skirmishes and attacks continued for a while. By 1726 trading between Gibraltar and Spain had resumed. Then, early in 1727 the Spaniards laid the 13th siege on the Rock but after several unsuccessful and costly attempts gave up in June of the same year.
1779
 The final military siege on Gibraltar commences 1779. The third siege for the British (14th in the Rocks history) became known as The Great Siege. 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). On this occasion the Spaniards and French combined forces and launched a massive onslaught, which would test the ingenuity and will to survive of the garrison. Accounts of the siege are full of vivid stories of survival and daring. On the 21st November, 1781, the defenders of the garrison took the offensive and caught the enemy batteries on the isthmus by surprise, destroying them and setting back their progress: this event is commemorated as the Sortie. The galleries were dug during 1782, as Sergeant Major Ince attempted to drill a tunnel to place a gun in a vantage point on the Rock. On tunnelling sideways to make ventilations he realised that these exits would make perfect gun positions. Later, a Lieutenant Koehler designed a carriage, which allowed guns on the cliffs to be directly pointed down at the enemy.

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.

1784
 The war with Spain ends after the Treaty of Versailles is signed.
1793
 The French revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars lead to a big increase in the trade, prosperity and population of Gibraltar. The town, which had been destroyed in the Great Siege, is rebuilt.
1805
 The great yellow fever epidemic, over a third of the civilian population die.

During the 19th Century Gibraltar grew in peace although it was here Admiral Nelson based his fleet and fought the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 at the western end of the Strait. And sadly it was to Gibraltar that Nelson's body was brought. The Trafalgar Cemetery can still be seen today in Gibraltar.

1810
 Britain and Spain become allies in the War against Napoleon. Free access across the frontier is established.

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.
1815
 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.
1830
 The end of the Napoleonic Wars brought an end to the sieges and Gibraltar prospered becoming a British Crown Colony in 1830.

The Royal Gibraltar Police is established.
1845
 Because of the problem of disposing of refuse from the town, the then-Governor, Sir Robert 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.
1848
 The first skull of an "apeman" to be found anywhere in the world was discovered in Gibraltar in 1848, at Forbes Quarry, at the western end of North Front. It was first mentioned in the minutes of the Gibraltar Scientific Society for March, 3, 1848. Unfortunately it's importance was not recognized until 1864 and the type of human represented is now known from a discovery made in the Valley of the Neander (Neanderthal) near Dusseldorf in Germany, in 1856.
1854
 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.
1862
 The Governor of Gibraltar authorises 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.
1881
 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 lines led the British authorities to erect permanent stone bases for the British sentry boxes.
1869
 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.
1908
 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 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.
1922
 The City Council is established and the first elections are held in Gibraltar.
1940
 As a consequence of the Second World War, which broke out in 1939, the civilian population is evacuated to Britain, Jamaica and Madeira, in order for Gibraltar to be fortified against the possibility of a German attack. By 1942 there are over 30,000 British soldiers, sailors and airmen on the Rock. The repatriation of the civilians started in 1944 and proceeded for some six years although the majority had returned by 1946
1950
 Gibraltar's first Legislative Council is opened.
1967
 A referendum is held and the Gibraltarians overwhelmingly vote for continuing their association with Britain.
1969
 Franco closes the Frontier in pursuit of his claim for Gibraltar.
1982
 In 1982, ships were refitted for the Falklands campaign and Gibraltar became a stopover for ships and troops.
1983
 Spain reopens the frontier for pedestrians only.
1985
 The frontier with Spain is opened fully. Gibraltar's trade and population 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.
1991
 As in 1982, Gibraltar served a similar function during the Gulf War.
2000
 Millennium celebrations usher in a period of backroom discussions between a British Labour Government and Spain much to the horror of the Gibraltarians who feel total let down by Britain.
2002
 In a referendum organised by the Gibraltar government and which both Britain and Spain refused - shamefully - to officially recognise, 98 per cent of voters rejected a proposal for joint sovereignty on an 88 per cent turnout from the 30,000 inhabitants. This echoed the 1967 referendum, in which 12,138 voted against becoming part of Spain, and 44 voted in favour. Britain said it would not force a solution that Gibraltarians oppose, leaving Spain powerless to do much about Gibraltar. Talks with Spain grind to a halt.
2004
 On 4th August the 300th anniversary of the colony causes the Spanish media to stir up political issues but a remarkable feat by 12,000 Gibraltarians linking hands around the Rock is such an emotive act that press statements from the Spanish Government show a more softened attitude than ever before.

The Royal Navy are granted Gibraltar's highest honour, the Freedom of the City, in a ceremony held at Grand Parade Ground.