Portal:Gibraltar

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The Gibraltar Portal

Location of Gibraltar (dark green)

United Kingdom shown in pale green

Gibraltar (/dʒɪˈbrɔːltər/ jib-RAWL-tər, Spanish: [xiβɾalˈtaɾ]) is a British Overseas Territory and city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the Atlantic Ocean (Strait of Gibraltar). It has an area of 6.8 km² (2.6 sq mi) and is bordered to the north by Spain (Campo de Gibraltar). The landscape is dominated by the Rock of Gibraltar, at the foot of which is a densely populated town area, home to some 34,003 people, primarily Gibraltarians.

Gibraltar was founded as a permanent watchtower by the Almohads in 1160. It switched control between the Nasrids, Castilians and Marinids in the Late Middle Ages, acquiring larger strategic clout upon the destruction of nearby Algeciras c. 1375. It became again part of the Crown of Castile in 1462. In 1704, Anglo-Dutch forces captured Gibraltar from Spain during the War of the Spanish Succession, and it was ceded to Great Britain in perpetuity under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. It became an important base for the Royal Navy, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars and World War II, as it controlled the narrow entrance and exit to the Mediterranean Sea, the Strait of Gibraltar, with half the world's seaborne trade passing through it.

The sovereignty of Gibraltar is a point of contention in Anglo-Spanish relations, as Spain asserts a claim to the territory. Gibraltarians overwhelmingly rejected proposals for Spanish sovereignty in a 1967 referendum, and for shared sovereignty in a 2002 referendum. Nevertheless, Gibraltar maintains close economic and cultural links with Spain, with many Gibraltarians speaking Spanish as well as a local dialect known as Llanito. (Full article...)

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Section of the 1908 Ordnance Survey map of Gibraltar showing Flat Bastion. Note retired flank and orillon on west wall. Flat Bastion Magazine is highlighted in yellow. North is to the left.

Flat Bastion is a bastion which projects southward from the Charles V Wall in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. Once known as the St. Jago's Bastion or the Baluarte de Santiago in Spanish, the fortification was built by the Spanish in the mid 16th century and formed part of the southern defences of the city of Gibraltar, together with Charles V Wall, Southport Gates, Southport Ditch, and South Bastion. In 1859, six guns, four 12-pounders and two 12-pound carronades, were installed on the bastion, and four years later, five 32-pounders were mounted on the fortification.

Flat Bastion takes its name from the angle that its south-facing walls form with each other and with the Charles V Wall. Within the eastern portion of Flat Bastion is Flat Bastion Magazine. The bastion and magazine within it are separately listed with the Gibraltar Heritage Trust. The magazine has been restored and converted into a research facility. (Full article...)

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Photo credit: User:RedCoat10

A Barbary Macaque (Macaca sylvana) in Gibraltar. The Rock of Gibraltar is home to the last wild monkey population in all of Europe, where popular belief holds that as long as Barbary Macaques exist on Gibraltar, the territory will remain under British rule.

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“

Gibraltar is a place which Englishmen ought to know and to revere. It affords at once a monument of her past deeds and a proof of her present power.

”

— Lord St. Vincent's biographer, 1838.

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Field Marshal John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort, VC, GCB, CBE, DSO & Two Bars, MVO, MC (10 July 1886 – 31 March 1946) was a senior British Army officer. As a young officer during the First World War, he was decorated with the Victoria Cross for his actions during the Battle of the Canal du Nord. During the 1930s he served as Chief of the Imperial General Staff (the professional head of the British Army). He is best known for commanding the British Expeditionary Force that was sent to France in the first year of the Second World War, only to be evacuated from Dunkirk the following year. Gort later served as Governor of Gibraltar and Malta, and High Commissioner for Palestine and Transjordan. (Full article...)

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Peter Caruana Joe Bossano George Augustus Eliott, 1st Baron Heathfield George Don (British Army officer) Edward Cornwallis Joshua Hassan Bruce Cooper Alfred Holmes Alexander George Woodford Sir William Green, 1st Baronet John Thomas Jones Clive Finlayson Simón Susarte John Mackintosh (philanthropist) John Leake

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Did you know...

... that Dorothy Ellicott was the first woman to be elected to two different Gibraltar Councils and was posthumously awarded the Gibraltar Medallion of Honour on Gibraltar National Day 2008?
... that in 1939, excavations beneath John Mackintosh Square in Gibraltar for the construction of an air-raid shelter revealed no signs of any foundations, suggesting it has always been an open square?
... that capital punishment in Gibraltar was last enforced in 1944 when British hangman Albert Pierrepoint travelled undercover to the territory to hang two young Spanish spies? (25 July 2012, 5,697 views)
... that the Gibraltar Museum houses the remains of a 14th-century Moorish bath house, once the private baths of the Governor of Gibraltar during the Marinid dynasty? (26 July 2012, 2,222 views)
... that the Europa Point Lighthouse at Gibraltar is the only lighthouse operated by Trinity House on continental Europe outside the United Kingdom? (27 July 2012, 4,122 views)
... that Giovanni Battista Calvi was an Italian military engineer who worked on many important Spanish defensive projects in the 1500s, to include those in the now British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar?

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General images

The following are images from various Gibraltar-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Annotated satellite view of the Strait of Gibraltar (from History of Gibraltar)
Image 2Aerial view of Gibraltar as seen in 2011 (from History of Gibraltar)
Image 3Sir George Rooke, the commander of the Anglo-Dutch fleet that conquered Gibraltar in the name of Archduke Charles of Austria (from History of Gibraltar)
Image 4The United States' Great White Fleet visiting Gibraltar harbour in February 1909 (from History of Gibraltar)
Image 5The Explosion of the Spanish Flagship during the Battle of Gibraltar by Cornelis Claesz van Wieringen (from History of Gibraltar)
Image 6A current Gibraltar rear number plate featuring the country identifier GBZ (from Transport in Gibraltar)
Image 7Gibraltar Cable Car (from Transport in Gibraltar)
Image 8Foreign Secretary William Hague and Minister for Europe David Lidington with Chief Minister of Gibraltar Fabian Picardo at a meeting in London, 28 August 2013 (from Culture of Gibraltar)
Image 9The Charles V Wall, built by the Spanish to control access to the south side of Gibraltar after the pirate raid of September 1540 (from History of Gibraltar)
Image 10The First Battle of Algeciras (6 July 1801) off Gibraltar, portrayed in Algéciras, 6 Juillet 1801 by Antoine Léon Morel-Fatio (from History of Gibraltar)
Image 11The Sortie made by the Garrison of Gibraltar in the Morning of 27 November 1781 by John Trumbull, depicting a British attack that occurred during the Great Siege of Gibraltar (from History of Gibraltar)
Image 12Traffic drives on the right (from Transport in Gibraltar)
Image 13View across Gibraltar looking north, by Frederick William J. Shore (1883) (from History of Gibraltar)
Image 14Searchlights on the Rock of Gibraltar during an air raid practice on 20 November 1942 (from History of Gibraltar)
Image 15Gibraltar Bus Company bus routes (right-click to enlarge). (from Transport in Gibraltar)
Image 16The arms granted to the city of Gibraltar by a Royal Warrant passed in Toledo on 10 July 1502 by Isabella I of Castile (from History of Gibraltar)
Image 17MV Aurora (2000) berthed adjacent to the Gibraltar Cruise Terminal at the Western Arm of the North Mole (from Transport in Gibraltar)
Image 18The 14th-century Tower of Homage, the largest surviving fragment of Gibraltar's Moorish Castle (from History of Gibraltar)
Image 19The closed gates at the border between Gibraltar and Spain, 1977 (from History of Gibraltar)
Image 20Timetable on a bus shelter (from Transport in Gibraltar)
Image 21Gibraltar's country identifier is GBZ (from Transport in Gibraltar)
Image 22"Gibraltar Woman" – a Neanderthal who lived in Gibraltar some 50,000 years ago (from History of Gibraltar)
Image 23Castle Street, Gibraltar, by Frederick Leeds Edridge, 1833 (from History of Gibraltar)
Image 24The Gibraltar House of Assembly (now the Gibraltar Parliament), established in 1969. (from History of Gibraltar)
Image 25Thousands of Gibraltarians dress in their national colours of red and white and fill Grand Casemates Square during the 2013 Gibraltar National Day celebrations (from Culture of Gibraltar)
Image 26A map of Gibraltar and its fortifications, drawn in 1799 by Jean-Denis Barbié du Bocage (from History of Gibraltar)
Image 27Gibraltar's Moorish Baths, now incorporated into the Gibraltar Museum (from History of Gibraltar)
Image 28North View of Gibraltar from Spanish Lines by John Mace (1782) (from History of Gibraltar)
Image 29Gibraltar Bus Company Dennis Dart on route 4 at the Both Worlds bus terminus, Sandy Bay. (from Transport in Gibraltar)
Image 30Special passes were required to enter Gibraltar proper at night, whilst the Spanish civil war was raging 1936. (from History of Gibraltar)
Image 31The Pillars of Hercules depicted erroneously as an island on the Tabula Peutingeriana, an ancient Roman map (from History of Gibraltar)
Image 32Location of Gibraltar in the far south of the Iberian Peninsula (from History of Gibraltar)
Image 33Gibraltar's Royal Navy Base (from Transport in Gibraltar)
Image 34Calypso Transport open top bus on discontinued route 10 (from Transport in Gibraltar)
Image 35Veüe du d'Estroit de Gibraltar et des Environs, avec les tranchées du Siège mis en 1704, by Louis Boudan (1704) (from History of Gibraltar)
Image 36Spanish border pass for Gibraltarian residents, permitting day visits only. (from History of Gibraltar)
Image 37Gibraltar, 1654 by Jan Peeters I (from History of Gibraltar)
Image 38Gibraltar Airport and border area. Showing runway (Gibraltar) and pier behind (Spain). Officially, any exact line is still disputed (from Transport in Gibraltar)