Gibraltar

Gibraltar's caves hold some of the last evidence of Neanderthals in Europe. A Neanderthal skull found at Forbes' Quarry in 1848 — before the Neander valley find that named the species — was the first adult Neanderthal skull discovered, and Gorham's Cave shows occupation until perhaps 40,000 years ago or later. The Gorham's Cave Complex became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016.

In 711 the Berber commander Tariq ibn Ziyad landed here to begin the Muslim conquest of Iberia; the Rock became Jabal Tariq, 'Tariq's mountain', and then Gibraltar. The Moorish Castle's Tower of Homage dates from the 14th century, when Marinids and Nasrids fought Castile for the Rock.

Castile took Gibraltar for good in 1462. For the next 240 years it was a small Spanish garrison town.

In 1704, during the War of the Spanish Succession, an Anglo-Dutch fleet captured Gibraltar in the name of the Habsburg claimant to the Spanish throne. Britain kept it, and in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht Spain ceded the town, castle and fortifications 'forever' — but without territorial jurisdiction over the land around, a gap still argued over.

Spain tried to retake it by force several times. The Great Siege of 1779–1783 lasted three years and seven months; the garrison held out, and engineers began tunnelling into the north face to mount guns overlooking the isthmus. Those galleries became the Great Siege Tunnels.

In the Second World War the civilian population was evacuated and the Rock hollowed out further — over 50 km of tunnels — as a fortress guarding Allied convoys and the 1942 invasion of North Africa, planned by Eisenhower from inside the Rock.

When the British took the Rock most Spanish inhabitants left for San Roque, nearby. The new population came from Genoa, Minorca, Malta, Portugal, Britain, Morocco — including a Sephardic Jewish community that still keeps several synagogues — and later India. Intermarriage produced a distinct Gibraltarian identity: Catholic majority, British institutions, Mediterranean family life.

The everyday language, Llanito, is Andalusian Spanish mixed with English and borrowings from Genoese, Hebrew and others, switching mid-sentence. English is the language of government, school and law.

Gibraltarians voted 12,138 to 44 to stay British in 1967 and rejected shared UK–Spanish sovereignty by about 99% in 2002. National Day on 10 September marks the 1967 vote.

The Rock is a Jurassic limestone ridge 426 m high, sheer on its north and east faces. The Upper Rock Nature Reserve covers much of it: maquis scrub, caves (St Michael's Cave is used as a concert hall), and paths like the Mediterranean Steps.

The Barbary macaques are Europe's only wild monkeys, about 200–300 animals in several troops, descended from North African animals probably brought by people. Legend says Britain holds Gibraltar as long as the apes remain; in 1942 Churchill ordered their numbers topped up. Feeding them is illegal because it makes them aggressive.

The Strait is one of the world's great migration routes: raptors, storks and seabirds cross in spring and autumn, and dolphins and sometimes whales feed in the bay. On clear days the Rif mountains of Morocco stand 20 km away.

Spain has claimed Gibraltar since 1713. Under Franco it pressed the claim at the United Nations, and after Gibraltar's 1969 constitution Spain closed the land frontier entirely, cutting phone lines and ferries. For 13 years the only way to Spain was via Tangier.

The frontier reopened to pedestrians in 1982 and fully in 1985, ahead of Spain joining the European Community. For the next four decades the crossing was a symbol of the dispute: sometimes smooth, sometimes hours of queues depending on the political weather. The airport runway, built across the isthmus, still divides the road into town.

Gibraltar voted 96% to remain in the EU in 2016. After Brexit, the UK and EU negotiated a separate treaty: the physical frontier controls came down on 15 July 2026, Schengen checks moved to Gibraltar's airport and port with Spanish officers, and goods rules were aligned. The treaty expressly leaves the sovereignty question untouched — a practical deal, not a settlement.

Gibraltar governs itself under its 2006 constitution, with the UK responsible for defence and foreign affairs. Its economy runs on online gambling, financial services, shipping (bunkering is a major trade) and tourism, including cruise ships and day visitors from the Costa del Sol.

Every day about 15,000 people, mostly Spanish, cross from the Campo de Gibraltar to work — which is why the frontier matters more to La Línea's economy than to tourists. Land reclamation has added marinas, housing and the Ocean Village district.

For visitors the 2026 changes mean a smoother walk in from Spain but a new two-step check for those flying in from the UK. Taxes, prices and plugs remain British; driving, time zone and much of daily life are Spanish.