Timeline of the history of Gibraltar

See Talk:Disputed status of Gibraltar.

Prehistoric

Evidence of hominid inhabitation of the Rock dates back to the Neanderthals. A Neanderthal skull was discovered in Forbes' Quarry in 1848, indeed prior to the "original" discovery in the Neander Valley. In 1926, the skull of a Neanderthal child was found in Devil's Tower.

Ancient

The Phoenicians are known to have visited the Rock circa 950 BC and named the Rock Calpe. The Carthaginians also visited, however neither group appears to have settled permanently. Plato refers to Gibraltar as one of the Pillars of Hercules along with Jebel Musa or Monte Hacho on the other side of the Strait.

Gibraltar was next visited by the Romans. Again, no permanent settlement was established. Following the fall of the Roman Empire, Gibraltar was visited by the Vandals and later the Goths. The Vandals' stay was temporary; however, the Visigoths were to remain on the Iberian peninsula from 414 to 711.

Muslim

• 711 April 30: The Umayyad general Tariq ibn Ziyad, leading a Berber-dominated army, sailed across the Strait from Ceuta. He first attempted to land on Algeciras but failed. Upon his failure, he landed undetected at the southern point of the Rock from present-day Morocco in his quest for Spain. Little was built during the first four centuries of Moorish control. (See Reconquista.)
• 1160: the Almohad sultan Abd al-Mu'min ordered that a permanent settlement, including a castle, be built. It received the name of Medinat al-Fath (City of the Victory). On completion of the works in the town, the Sultan crossed the Strait to inspect the works and stayed in Gibraltar for two months. The main tower of this castle remains standing today.
• 1231: after the collapse of the Almohad empire, Gibraltar was taken by Ibn Hud, Taifa emir of Murcia.
• 1237: after the death of Ibn Hud, his domains were handed over to Muhammed ibn Nasr, the founder of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada. Therefore, Gibraltar changed hands again.
• 1274: the second Nasrid king, Muhammed II al-Faqih, gave Gibraltar over to the Marinids, as payment for their help against the Christians.
• 1309: While the King Ferdinand IV of Castile laid siege on Algeciras, Alonso Pérez de Guzmán (known to the Spanish records as Guzmán el Bueno) was sent to capture the town. This was the First Siege of Gibraltar. The town was eventually surrendered and taken on behalf of the King of Castile.
• 1310 31 January: the first Charter of Gibraltar was granted by the king Ferdinand IV of Castile. Being considered a high risk town, the charter included incentives to settle there such as the offering of freedom from justice to anyone who lived in Gibraltar for one year and one day.

This fact marked the establishment of the Gibraltar council.

• 1316: Gibraltar was unsuccessfully besieged by the Nasrid caid Yahya (Second Siege of Gibraltar).
• 1333 June: A Marinids army, lead by Abd al-Malik, the son of Abul Hassan, the Marinid sultan, recovered Gibraltar, after a five-month siege (Third Siege of Gibraltar).

King Alfonso XI of Castile attempted to retake Gibraltar aided by the fleet of the Castilian Admiral Alonso Jofre Tenorio. Even a ditch was dug across the isthmus. While laying the siege, the king was attacked by a Nasrid army from Granada. Therefore, the siege ended in a truce, allowing the Marinids to keep Gibraltar (Fourth Siege of Gibraltar)

• 1344 March : After a two-year siege Algeciras was taken over by the Castillian forces. Therefore, Gibraltar became the main Marinid port in the Iberian Peninsula. During the siege, Gibraltar played a key role as the supply base of the sieged.
• 1349: Gibraltar was unsuccessfully sieged by the Castilian forces led by the king Alfonso XI.
• 1350: the siege was resumed by Alfonso XI. The siege was again unsuccessful, mainly due to the arrival of the Black Death, which decimated the besiegers, causing the death of the king (Fifth Siege of Gibraltar).
• 1369: Algeciras was taken over by the Nasrids, destroyed and its harbour made unusable. This fact increased again the importance of Gibraltar in the strait trade.
• 1374: Gibraltar was recovered by the Nasrids (Sixth Siege of Gibraltar).
• 1436: Enrique de Guzmán, Count of Niebla, with large estates in South Andalusia assaulted Gibraltar. His attack was repelled causing heavy losses to the Castilian forces (Seventh Siege of Gibraltar).

Castilian / Spanish

• 1462 August 20: Castilian forces captured Gibraltar (Eighth Siege of Gibraltar). (See Reconquista). An immediate dispute broke out between the House of Medina Sidonia (the Guzmán family) and the House of Arcos (the Ponce de León family) about the possesion of the town. Finally, the initiative of Juan Alonso de Guzmán, 1st Duke of Medina Sidonia succeeded and he took possesion of the town as personal property. However, the King of Castille, Henry IV declared Gibraltar to be Crown property and not the personal property of the Guzman family. Henry IV restored the charter granted to Gibraltar in 1310 and took two additional measures: the lands previously belonging to Algeciras (destroyed in 1369) were granted to Gibraltar; and the status of collegiate church was solicited from the pope Pius II and granted to the Santa María Church (the old Moorish Mosque). St. Bernard, whose feast falls on the 20 August, became the Patron Saint of Gibraltar.
• 1463: in a tour through Andalusia, Henry IV was the first Christian monarch to visit Gibraltar.
• 1467 July: in the middle of a nobility revolt against the King, the forces of the Duke of Medina Sidonia, after a 16-month siege, took Gibraltar. Alfonso of Castile, half-brother of Henry IV, and puppet pretender handled by the nobility, granted him the Lordship of Gibraltar (Nineth Siege of Gibraltar).
• 1469 June 3: after the death of Alfonso de Castilla and the 1st Duke of Medina Sidonia, his son and heir Enrique de Guzman, 2nd Duke of Medina Sidonia changed side and in reward, saw the status of Gibraltar, as part of the domains of the Duke, confirmed by the Queen Isabella of Castile.
• 1470 December 20: a new charter was granted to the town of Gibraltar, now a nobiliary , based in the Antequera charter.
• 1478 September 30: the Catholic Monarchs granted the title of Marquis of Gibraltar to the Duke of Medina Sidonia.
• 1492 - After conquering Granada, the Catholic Monarchs expelled the Jews from Spain. Many passed through Gibraltar on their way into exile in North Africa.
• 1492 Summer: after the death of the former Duke, his son and heir, Juan Alfonso Perez de Guzman, 3rd Duke of Medina Sidonia saw his lordship over Gibraltar renewed by the Catholic Monarchs.
• 1497: Gibraltar became the main base in the conquest of Melilla by the troops of the Duke of Medina Sidonia.
• 1501 December 2: acknowledging the importance of the town, the Catholic Monarchs asked the Duke of Medina Sidonia for the return of Gibraltar to the Royal domain. The Duke accepted the Royal request and ceded the town to the monarchs.
• 1502 January 2: Garcilaso de la Vega took possession of the town on behalf of Queen Isabella of Castile.
• 1502 July 10: by a Royal Warrant passed in Toledo, the Catholic Monarchs granted to Gibraltar its coat of arms: "An escutcheon on which the upper two thirds shall be a white field and on the said field set a red castle, and below the said castle, on the other third of the escutcheon, which must be a red field in which there must be a white line between the castle and the said red field, there shall be a golden key which hangs by a chain from the said castle, as are here figured". The Castle and Key are the Arms of Gibraltar to this day.
• 1506: alleging a false donation by the king Philip I of Castille, the Duke of Medina Sidonia attempted to recover Gibraltar by sieging the town. The siege was unsuccessful. The Duke was admonished by the Regency and forced to pay a fee to the town. The town received the title of "Most Loyal City" (Tenth Siege of Gibraltar).
• 1540 September 8: Corsairs from the coast of Barbary (under their leader Barbarossa) raided Gibraltar and took away many captives.
• 1552 - After the claims from the inhabitants of the town, Charles I of Spain (the Emperor Charles V) sent the Italian engineer Giovanni Battista Calvi to strengthen the defences of the town. A wall was built (nowadays known as Charles V Wall); also a ditch by the wall of the town and a drawbridge at the Landport (Puerta de Tierra).
• 1606 - The Moriscos (the descendants of the Muslim inhabitants in Spain) were expelled from Spain by King Philip III. Many passed through Gibraltar on their way into exile in North Africa.
• 1649 - Typhoid epidemic.
• 1656 - In a letter to Councillor General Montagu, afterwards Earl of Sandwich, General-at-sea and one of the Protector's personal friends, Cromwell mentioned the necessity of securing a permanent base at the entry of the Mediterranean, preferably Gibraltar (the first suggestion for the occupation of Gibraltar as a naval base had been made at a Council of War held at sea on October 20, 1625).
• 1700 - King Charles II of Spain died without leaving an heir to the throne. He nominated Prince Philip V of Bourbon, a grandson of Louis XIV backed by France. The other pretender, an Austrian Hapsburg, Archduke Charles, supported by Austria, England, Holland and the Holy Roman Empire, did not accept the nomination. The result was the War of the Spanish Succession.

Spanish (under the rule of the Archduke Charles, pretender to the Spanish Throne)

(While merging in from Siege of Gibraltar, History of Gibraltar said that the 3-day initial siege was 3 days ending on 24 July, and Siege of Gibraltar said 1-4 August. Is this date discrepancy due to the change of calendars?)

• 1704 1 August: During the War of the Spanish Succession, an Anglo-Dutch fleet, under the command of sir George Rooke, chief commander of the Alliance Navy, began the siege of Gibraltar. They demanded its unconditional surrender and an oath of loyalty to the Habsburg pretender to the Spanish throne, Charles III. The Governor of Gibraltar refused the ultimatum. A brigade of Dutch and British Marines, 1800 strong, under the command of Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt, chief commander of the Alliance Army in Spain, began to besiege Gibraltar, in the name of Charles, archduke of Austria.

The exact beginning of the English/British occupation of Gibraltar has been over the time imprecise. From the 18th century, Spanish sources stated that immediately after the takeover of the city, Sir George Rooke, the British admiral, on his own initiative caused the British flag to be hoisted, and took possession of the Rock in name of Queen Anne, whose government ratified the occupation (the story is told by the Marquis of San Felipe, who wrote his book "Comentarios de la guerra de España e historia de su rey Phelipe V el animoso" in 1725, more than twenty year after the fact, as quoted in "Historia de Algeciras. Moderna y Contemporánea", pg. 17, Mario Ocaña, Diputación de Cádiz, Cádiz, 2001. Such story is widely spread, not only in Spanish sources but also in Gibraltarian ones (see History page in the official Tercentenary web site: He [Rooke] had the Spanish flag hauled down and the English flag hoisted in its stead). However, it is proved by present-day historians now that this version is apocryphal since no contemporary source accounts it. Furthermore, such a fact would have caused a big crisis in the Alliance supporting the Archduke Charles. It is now accepted that British Troops who had landed on the South Mole area, only raised their flag to signal their presence to the ships, and avoid being fired upon by their own side. (see "Gibraltar. La razón y la fuerza", pg. 90, by Isidro Sepúlveda, Ed. Alianza Editorial, 2004, in Spanish).

• 1704 night of 3-4 August: Heavy shelling targeted the castle and the town.
• 1704 August 4: The Governor Diego de Salinas surrendered the town to Prince George of Hesse, who took it in the name of Charles, archduke of Austria. This was the end of the Eleventh Siege of Gibraltar.
• 1704 August 7. According to mainly Spanish sources ("Gibraltar. La razón y la fuerza", pg. 91, by Isidro Sepúlveda, Ed. Alianza Editorial, 2004, ISBN 84-206-4184-7; "Ceuta, Melilla, Olivenza y Gibraltar", by Máximo Cajal, Ed. Siglo XXI Editores, Madrid, 2003, ISBN 84-323-1138-3; "Atlas de Historia de España", pg. 341, by Fernando García de Cortázar, Ed. Planeta, Barcelona, 2005, ISBN 84-08-05752-9; all in Spanish, which recount the memories of what happened in Gibraltar between 1704 and 1714, by the priest Juan Romero de Figueroa (the priest in charge of the Gibraltar Cathedral)) a large column of inhabitants of the city (4,000 according to [1]), led by the Spanish Governor, Diego de Salinas, the garrison and the members of the city council abandoned the city. Most of them took refuge in the proximity of the chapel of San Roque, where the council was reestablished founding a new town named San Roque (other settled down in what today is Los Barrios or even far away, in the ruins of the abandoned city of Algeciras). Those who left took with them the symbols and objects of Gibraltar's history: the council archives and the historical documents signed by the Spanish Catholic Monarchs in 1502, granting Gibraltar's coat of arms; also the statue of the Holy Crowned Virgin Mary, and the city's banner (also granted by the Catholic Monarchs). These objects remain nowadays in San Roque.
• 1704 August 24. The Alliance fleet, under the command of Rooke, intercepted a Spanish-French fleet that attempted to recover Gibraltar by the coast of Málaga (battle of Málaga). The result was uncertain, with heavy losses on both sides, but anyway the Spanish-French fleet was stopped and prevented from arriving at Gibraltar.
• 1704 September 5: Troops of France and Spain under the marquess of Villadarias, general captain of Andalucía, started to beseige Gibraltar to try to recover it. The Marine brigade, still under the command of the British admiral Sir John Leake, and the military governor, Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt (who had commanded the land forces in July), and reinforced shortly before by a further 400 Royal Marines, held the fortress against repeated attacks.
• 1704 November 11: A notable incident during the siege: 500 French and Spanish volunteer grenadiers tried to surprise the garrison. Captain Fisher of the Marines with 17 of his men successfully defended the Round Tower against their assault. A contemporary report of this noted defence says, "Encouraged by the Prince of Hesse, the garrison did more than could humanly be expected, and the English Marines gained an immortal glory".
• 1705 January: Villadarias was replaced by the French marshal de Tessé.
• 1705 February 7: The last assault before the arrival of de Tessé was executed. The Gibraltar wall was damaged, but French troops refused to go on until the arrival of de Tessé (who arrived the day after).
• 1705 March 31: The French marshal de Tessé, who had replaced Villadarias, gave up the siege and retired.
• 1705 August 2: the Archduke Charles stopped over in Gibraltar in his way to Catalonia. The Prince of Hesse went with him (he died one month later in the siege of Barcelona). The English Major General John Shrimpton was left as governor (appointed by the Archduke Charles but nominated by Queen Anne).

Undefined rule

• 1707 24 December: The first British Governor directly appointed by Queen Anne, Roger Elliott, took up residence in the Convent of the Franciscan Friars.

British

Treaty of Utrecht

• 1713: The territory was subsequently ceded to Great Britain in perpetuity by Spain in the Treaties of Utrecht. Despite some attempts by the Spanish to retake it, most notably in the Great Siege of 1779-1783, the Rock has remained under British control ever since.

In that treaty, Spain ceded Great Britain "the full and entire propriety of the town and castle of Gibraltar, together with the port, fortifications, and forts thereunto belonging ... for ever, without any exception or impediment whatsoever."

The Treaty stipulates that no overland trade between Gibraltar and Spain was to take place, except for emergency provisions in the case that Gibraltar is unable to be resupplied by sea. Another condition of the cession is that "no leave shall be given under any pretence whatsoever, either to Jews or Moors, to reside or have their dwellings in the said town of Gibraltar." This was never enforced and Gibraltar has had for many years an established Jewish community, along with Muslims from the North of Africa.

Under the Treaty, should the British crown wish to dispose of Gibraltar, that of Spain should be offered the territory first. This article of the Treaty has been used by Britain to deny independence to Gibraltar, and by Spain to pursue its claim to the Rock, despite it being ceded in perpetuity. The Gibraltar Government points out however that this "reversionary clause" is overruled and anulled by Article 103 of the UN Charter.

Later history

• 1727: Second of several sieges by Spain tried to recapture Gibraltar (Thirteenth Siege of Gibraltar).
• 1729: At the end of the Anglo-Spanish War of 1727-1729, the Treaty of Seville allowed Britain to keep Port Mahon and Gibraltar, and stipulated a strip of land of width "600 toises, being more than 2 cannon shots distance between the British guns and the Spanish guns" be considered "the neutral ground".
• 1730 - A Belgian Engineer, the Marquis of Verboom, arrived in San Roque commissioned by the Spanish government to design a line of fortifications across the isthmus. Fort San Felipe and Fort Santa Barbara are built.
• 1776 February 23 - One of the heaviest storms ever recorded in Gibraltar. The lower part of the town was flooded. Linewall was breached along 100m.
• 1779 July - Start of the Great Siege of Gibraltar (fourteenth and last military siege). This was an action by French and Spanish forces to wrest control of Gibraltar from the established British Garrison. The garrison, led by George Augustus Eliott, later 1st Baron Heathfield of Gibraltar, survived all attacks and a blockade of supplies.
• 1782 September 13: Start of an assault involving 100,000 men, 48 ships and 450 cannon. The British garrison survived.
• 1783 February. By now the Siege was over, and George Augustus Eliott was awarded the Knight of the Bath and was created 1st Baron Heathfield of Gibraltar. The Treaty of Paris reaffirmed previous treaties.
• 1802 - Several mutinies among some regiments garrisoned in Gibraltar.
• 1803 June - Admiral Nelson arrived in Gibraltar as Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean.
• 1804 - Great epidemic of "Malignant Fever" broke out. Although traditionally labelled as "Yellow Fever" now it is thought to have been typhus.
• 1805 January - The great epidemic ended. Over a third of the civilian population 5946 people) died.
• 1805 October 21 - Battle of Trafalgar.
• 1805 October 28 - HMS Victory was towed into Gibraltar bringing Nelson's body aboard. The Trafalgar Cemetery still exists today in Gibraltar.
• 1806 Gibraltar was made a Catholic Apostolic Vicariate (until then Gibraltar belonged to the See of Cadiz)
• 1810 - Britain and Spain became allies against Napoleon.
• 1810 February - The Anglo-Spanish alliance gave the Governor of Gibraltar the opportunity of removing the Spanish forts of San Felipe and Santa Barbara, located on the northern boundary of the neutral ground. Claiming that the forts might fall into French hands, Lieutenant General Sir Colin Campbell instructed Royal Engineers, at the behest of the Spanish authorities to blow the forts up. Such a task was carried out on February 14 together with the demolition of other fortifications of the Spanish Lines.
• During the Peninsular War, contingents from the Gibraltar Garrison were sent to aid Spanish resistence to the French at Cadiz and Tarifa.
• 1814 - Outbreak of malignant fever.
• 1815 April 20 - The British authorities at Gibraltar constructed an isolation camp to prevent the spread of the epidemic outside the fortress walls. The Spanish government was informed of this for reasons of public health and courtesy, but this has been interpreted by revisionist historians as requesting permission for this. As far as the British government was concerned, the area is British territory so no permission was required. This fact can be tracked as the beginning of the present-day dispute with Spain over the isthmus sovereignty.
• 1817 - The first civil judge was established.
• 1830 - Gibraltar becomes a British Crown Colony.

Gibraltar Police Force was established.

• During the reign of Isabel II of Spain, who wished to recover the lost Spanish Empire, a Spanish minister had an idea to exchange the Chincha Islands, which it had captured from Peru in 1864, with Gibraltar, but this project never came to fruition.
• 1869. The Suez Canal was opened. It heavily increased the strategic value of the Rock in the route from Britain to India.
• 1908 August 5 - The British Ambassador in Madrid informed the Spanish Minister of State 'as an act of courtesy', of the British Government's intention to build a fence along the British edge of the neutral territory at Gibraltar to demarcate the border of the colony. According to the British government the neutral zone as defined on the Treaty of Seville after the second siege of Gibraltar (1729) could be meant as having two halves, one belonging to Spain and other to the UK. Therefore, such a construction would placed in the Britain's side of the neutral territory (in fact 1 metre inside British territory). Spain does not recognize the fence as the valid border, since it claims the fence was build on Spanish soil. Even though Spain, the United Kingdom and Gibraltar are all part of the European Union, the border fence is still relevant today since Gibraltar is outside the customs union. The border crossing is open 24-hours a day as required by EU law.
• 1922 - The City Council was established and the first elections were held in Gibraltar.

Second World War and after

• 1939-1945: During the Second World War the residents of Gibraltar were evacuated, and the Rock was again turned into a fortress. Control of Gibraltar gave the Allied Powers control of the entry to the Mediterranean Sea (the other side of the Strait being Spanish territory, and thus neutral). The Rock was a key part of the Allied supply lines to Malta and North Africa, and the horse racecourse near the border was converted into an airport.
• 1941: Germany planned to occupy Gibraltar and hand it over to Spain in "Operation Felix" which was due to start on 10th January 1941. It was cancelled because the Spanish government were reluctant to let the Wehrmacht enter Spain and then attack against the Rock, its civilians or the British Army from Spanish soil, because Franco feared that it may have been impossible to remove the Wehrmacht afterwards. In any case, Hitler was too busy elsewhere in Europe to give this much priority. After the war, the residents returned.
• 1940-1943: Gibraltar harbour was attacked many times by Italian commando frogmen, see for more information.
• 1950 - Gibraltar's first Legislative Council is opened.
• 1954: This was the 250th anniversary of its capture. Queen Elizabeth II visited Gibraltar, which angered General Franco, who renewed its claim to sovereignty, which had lain dormant for over 150 years. This led to the closure of the Spanish consulate and to the imposition of restrictions on freedom of movement between Gibraltar and Spain. By the 1960s, motor vehicles were being restricted or banned from crossing the border, while only Spanish nationals employed on the Rock being allowed to enter Gibraltar. For about 30 years, the land border was closed (from the Spanish side), to try to isolate the territory.

At the United Nations, Spain argued that the principle of territorial integrity, not self-determination, applied in the case of Gibraltar, and that Britain should cede sovereignty of the Rock to Spain. Madrid gained diplomatic support from countries in Latin America, with the UN General Assembly passing resolutions (2231 (XXI) and 2353 (XXII)) urging UK & Spain to overcome their differences, respecting the "interests" of the people of Gibraltar. For its part, Britain stated that it would respect the "wishes" of the people of Gibraltar, and that there would be no change of sovereignty against their wishes.

A small group of Gibraltarians, known as the palomos or 'doves', advocated a political settlement with Spain, and met with Spanish Foreign Office officials (a meeting was even held with the very Spanish Foreign Secretary) to try and bring this about ("Informe sobre Gibraltar. 1996", pg. 42, several authors, INCIPE). This provoked widespread public hostility in Gibraltar (with attacks to their homes and properties, Rock's voters signal rejection of Spanish deal, at The Guardian) and civil unrest. Even now, the "palomos" have not been "forgiven" and are still called traitors.

• 1967: A referendum was held on 10 September, in which Gibraltar's voters were asked whether they wished to either pass under Spanish sovereignty, or remain under British sovereignty, with institutions of self-government. Gibraltarians ignored Spanish pressure and voted overwhelmingly by 12,138 to 44 to remain under British sovereignty.
• 1969: A new constitution for Gibraltar is introduced by the United Kingdom government. Under it, Gibraltar attained full internal self-government, with an elected House of Assembly. The preamble to the Constitution stated that

"Her Majesty's Government will never enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another state against their freely and democratically expressed wishes."

• 1969: In response, Spain closed the border with Gibraltar, and severed all communication links. Gibraltarians with families in Spain had to go by ferry to Tangier in Morocco, and from there to the Spanish port of Algeciras, while many Spanish workers lost their jobs in Gibraltar.
• 1969: Major Robert (later Sir Robert) Peliza of the Integration with Britain Party (IWBP) was elected Chief Minister.
• 1972: Joshua (later Sir Joshua) Hassan of the Association for the Advancement of Civil Rights (AACR) was returned to power.
• 1973 - Gibraltar joins the European Economic Community alongside the United Kingdom.
• 1975: General Francisco Franco died, but this situation remained unchanged, with the border not fully reopened until 1985.
• 1975: The British Foreign Office Minister Roy Hattersley ruled out integration with the UK, and stated that any constitutional change would have to involve a 'Spanish dimension'. This position was reaffirmed the following year when the British government rejected the House of Assembly's proposals for constitutional reform. The IWBP broke up and was succeeded by the Democratic Party of British Gibraltar (DPBG), led first by Maurice Xiberras, formerly of the IWBP, and subsequently by Peter Isola.
• 1981 - Gibraltarians granted full British citizenship
• 1982: The re-opening of the border was delayed in the wake of the war between Britain and Argentina over the Falkland Islands. The re-opening was only partial, as only pedestrians resident in Gibraltar and Spain were allowed to cross the border.
• 1985: Spain sought to join the European Communities. Under the 1985 Brussels Agreement, Britain agreed to enter into discussions with Spain over Gibraltar, including sovereignty. The border was reopened.
• 1987: A proposal for joint control of Gibraltar's airport with Spain led to widespread opposition locally. Chief Minister Sir Joshua Hassan resigned at the end of that year, to be succeeded by Adolfo Canepa.
• 1988: Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party (GSLP) leader Joe Bossano was elected as Chief Minister, and firmly ruled out any discussions with Spain over sovereignty.
• 1988: The Special Air Service of the British Army shot dead three unarmed members of the IRA near the Spanish border, claiming they were making "suspicious movements". A subsequent search led to the discovery of a car containing a large amount of Semtex explosive, which they had planned to use to bomb the 'Changing of the Guard' ceremony a few days later.
• 1996: In an election, Bossano was replaced by Peter Caruana of the Gibraltar Social-Democrats (GSD), who while favouring dialogue with Spain, also ruled out any deals on sovereignty.
• 1991: The British Army effectively withdrew from Gibraltar, leaving only the locally recruited Royal Gibraltar Regiment, although the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy remain.
• Spain has made various proposals involving the sovereignty of Gibraltar, which have been rejected by all parties in the Gibraltar House of Assembly.
• 1991: The Socialist government of Felipe González proposed joint sovereignty over Gibraltar with the United Kingdom. A similar proposal was advocated by Peter Cumming, formerly of the GSD, in which the Rock would become a self-governing condominium or 'Royal City', with the British and Spanish monarchs as joint heads of state.
• 1997: The Partido Popular Spanish Foreign Minister, Abel Matutes made proposals under which Gibraltar would be under joint sovereignty for fifty years, before being fully incorporated into Spain, as an autonomous region, similar to Catalonia or the Basque Country, but these were rejected by British Government.
• 2000: An agreement was reached between the UK and Spain over recognition of 'competent authorities' in Gibraltar. Spain had a policy of non-recognition of the Government of Gibraltar as a 'competent authority', therefore refusing to recognise Gibraltar's courts, police and government departments, driving licences, and identity cards. Under the agreement, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London would act as a 'post box', through which Gibraltar's police and other government departments could communicate with their counterparts in Spain. In addition, identity documents issued by the Government of Gibraltar now featured the words 'United Kingdom'.
• 2000 May - 2001 May: the nuclear submarine HMS Tireless (S88) was repaired in Gibraltar. This caused diplomatic tension with Spain, which expressed its concern about the effective safety for the inhabitants of Gibraltar and those living in its hinterland -some 250,000 people (Press conference of the Spanish Foreign Secretary, Mr. Pique in London, of 2001 January 24). The inhabitants of the area saw this repair as a precedent of future nuclear repair operations in Gibraltar. The Gibraltar government has accused Spain of using this incident as an excuse to go on creating a dispute over Gibraltar and pointed out that as Nuclear propelled submarines regularly visit Spanish ports, there should be no reason for Spain to object to visits to foreign ones.
• 2001: The UK Government announced plans to reach a final agreement with Spain over the future of Gibraltar, which would involve shared sovereignty; however agreement was not reached.
• 2002: The Gibraltar government organised a referendum on 7 November. The voters rejected shared sovereignty by 17,900 votes to 187 on a turnout of almost 88%. The wording of the 2002 referendum was:

On the 12th July 2002 the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, in a formal statement in the House of Commons, said that after twelve months of negotiation the British Government and Spain are in broad agreement on many of the principles that should underpin a lasting settlement of Spain's sovereignty claim, which included the principle that Britain and Spain should share sovereignty over Gibraltar.

Do you approve of the principle that Britain and Spain should share sovereignty over Gibraltar?

The Gibraltarians did not approve. The Referendum was supervised by a team of international observers headed by the Labour MP Gerald Kaufman, who certified that it had been held fairly, freely and democratically.

• 2004 August - Gibraltar celebrates 300 years of British rule.
• 2004 December - The governments of the United Kingdom and Spain agree to allow the Gibraltar government to represent itself in a new open agenda discussion forum.

External links

• A Timeline of Gibraltar's History in Gibraltar for kids
• History of Gibraltar (detailed) in discoverGibraltar.com
• Government of Gibraltar website: History of Gibraltar