Gibraltar ( ) is a self-governing British overseas territory
located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula
and Europe at the entrance of
the Mediterranean
overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar
. The territory covers and shares a land border
with Spain
to the
north. Gibraltar has historically been an important base for
the
British Armed Forces and is
the site of a
Royal Navy base.
A one-year investigation and analysis of 235 countries and
territories by
Jane’s
Country Risk listed Gibraltar as 5th most prosperous and
stable worldwide, and the highest ranked British territory.
The sovereignty of Gibraltar has been a major point of contention
in
Anglo-Spanish relations.
Gibraltar was ceded by Spain to the Crown of Great Britain in
perpetuity, under the 1713
Treaty of
Utrecht, though Spain
asserts a claim to the
territory and seeks its return. The overwhelming majority of
Gibraltarians strongly oppose
this, along with any proposal of shared sovereignty. The British
government has stated that it is committed to respecting the
Gibraltarians' wishes.
Etymology
The name
Gibraltar is the
Spanish derivation of the
Arabic name
Jabal Tāriq (جبل طارق),
meaning "mountain of Tariq".
It refers to the geological formation, the
Rock of
Gibraltar
, which in
turn was named after the Berber
Umayyad general Tariq ibn-Ziyad who led the initial
incursion into Iberia in
advance of the main Moorish force in 711 under the command of
Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid I.
Earlier,
it was known as Mons Calpe, one of the Pillars of
Hercules
. Today, Gibraltar is known colloquially as
Gib or
The Rock.
History
There is evidence of human habitation in Gibraltar going as far
back as
Neanderthal man, an extinct
species of the genus
Homo.
Within recorded
history, the first inhabitants were the Phoenicians
, around 950 BC. Subsequently,
Gibraltar became known as one of the Pillars of Hercules, after the Greek legend of the creation of the
Strait of
Gibraltar. The Carthaginians
and Romans also
established semi-permanent settlements.
After the collapse of the Roman Empire, Gibraltar came briefly
under the control of the
Vandals. The area
later formed part of the
Visigothic
Kingdom of
Hispania until the Kingdom's
collapse from the
Muslim
conquest in 711 AD.
The Moorish period
On 30
April 711, the Umayyad general Tariq ibn Ziyad led a Berber-dominated army
across the Strait from Ceuta
.
He first
attempted to land at Algeciras
but failed. Subsequently, he landed undetected at the
southern point of the Rock from present-day Morocco
. However, the first four centuries of
Moorish control brought little
development.
The
Almohad Sultan
Abd al-Mu'min built the first permanent
settlement in the 1150s.
He ordered the construction of a
fortification on the Rock, the remains of which are still present
in the form of the Moorish
Castle
. Gibraltar would later become part of the
Kingdom of Granada until 1309,
when Castillian troops briefly occupied it. In 1333, the
Marinids, who had invaded Muslim Spain, conquered
it, but ceded Gibraltar to the Kingdom of Granada in 1374. Finally,
the
Duke of Medina Sidonia
reconquered it in 1462, finally ending
750 years of Moorish control.
The Spanish period
Medina
Sidonia
initially granted Gibraltar sovereignty as a home
to a population of exiled Sephardic
Jews. Pedro de
Herrera, a Jewish converso from
Córdoba
who had led the conquest of Gibraltar, led a group
of 4,350 Jews from Córdoba and Seville
to establish themselves in the town. A
community was built and a garrison established to defend the
peninsula. However, this lasted only three years. In 1476, the Duke
of Medina Sidonia realigned with the Spanish Crown; the
Sefardim were then forced back to Córdoba and the
Spanish Inquisition. In 1501 Gibraltar
passed under the hands of the Spanish Crown, which had been
established in 1479.
In 1501, in Toledo
, Isabella of Castile issued a Royal Warrant granting Gibraltar the coat of arms that it still uses
today.
The naval
Battle of
Gibraltar
took place on 25 April 1607 during the Eighty Years' War when a Dutch fleet
surprised and engaged a Spanish fleet anchored at the Bay of
Gibraltar. During the four-hour action, the entire Spanish
fleet was destroyed.
The British period
During the
War of the
Spanish Succession, English and Dutch troops, allies of
Archduke Charles, the
Austrian pretender to the Spanish Crown, formed a joint fleet and
attacked various towns on the southern coast of Spain. On 4 August
1704, after six hours of bombardment starting at 5:00 am, the
fleet, under the command of Admiral Sir
George Rooke, assisted by
Field Marshal Prince George of
Hesse-Darmstadt, comprising some 1800 Dutch marines and the
English Royal Marines, captured the town of Gibraltar and claimed
it in the name of the Archduke Charles. After the surrender the
majority of the Spanish population left Gibraltar.
Franco-Spanish troops failed to retake the town. The 1713
Treaty of Utrecht, which ended the war,
awarded Britain sovereignty over Gibraltar.
In this treaty, Spain
ceded Gibraltar (Article
X) and Minorca
(Article
XI) to the United Kingdom in perpetuity. Great Britain
has retained sovereignty over Gibraltar (though not Minorca) ever
since, despite attempts by Spain to recapture it.
Due to military incursions by Spain various fortifications were
established and occupied by British troops in the area which came
to be known as "
the British Neutral Ground". This was the
area to the north of the city wall, militarily conquered and
continuously occupied by the British except during time of war.
(The
sovereignty of this area, which today contains the airport
, cemetery, a number of housing estates and the
sports
centre
, is separately disputed by Spain.
)
During
the American Revolution, the
Spanish, who had entered the conflict against the British, imposed
a stringent blockade against Gibraltar as part of an unsuccessful
siege (the Great Siege of Gibraltar
) that lasted for more than three years, from 1779
to 1783. On 14 September 1782, the British destroyed the
floating batteries of the French and Spanish besiegers. The signing
of peace preliminaries in February 1783 ended the siege.
Gibraltar
subsequently became a key base for the Royal
Navy, first playing an important part prior to the Battle of
Trafalgar
. Its strategic value increased with the
opening of the Suez
Canal
as it controlled the sea route between the UK and
its colonies and Dominions east of Suez,
such as India and Australia.
Spanish Civil War
After Britain recognised the Franco regime in 1938, Gibraltar had
two Spanish Consulates, a Republican one and a Nationalistic one.
During the
Spanish Civil War there
were several incidents that touched Gibraltar.
In May 1937, HMS Arethusa had to tow HMS Hunter into port after
Hunter hit a mine off Almeria
that killed and wounded several British
sailors. In June 1937, the German pocket battleship
Deutschland arrived in Gibraltar with dead and wounded
after Republican planes bombed it in Ibiza
in
retaliation for the Condor Legion's
bombing of Guernica. In August 1938,
the Republican destroyer
Jose Luis
Diez took refuge in Gibraltar after taking casualties from
the guns of the National cruiser
Canarias.
The one incident that
resulted in the death of Gibraltarians occurred in January 1938
when a submarine of unknown origin, though probably Italian, sank
the SS Endymion, a small freighter taking a cargo of coal
to Cartagena
, which was in Republican hands.
World War II
During
World War II, the British
evacuated Gibraltar's women and children and turned the Rock into a
fortress.
They also converted the civilian golf course
into an airfield. Spain's reluctance to allow the
German Army onto Spanish soil frustrated a German
plan to capture the Rock, codenamed
Operation Felix, later named Llona.
Germany's Admiral
Wilhelm Canaris,
head of the
Abwehr, secretly opposed
Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, and filed a
pointedly negative assessment of the options. Hitler sent Canaris
to negotiate with Franco, but, according to some sources, Canaris
privately told Franco it would be foolish for him to join or
cooperate with the Axis. Franco subsequently made exorbitant
demands for his cooperation, and erected concrete barriers on roads
leading to the Pyrenees.
General
Władysław
Sikorski, who led Poland’s government in exile during World War
II, died on 4 July 1943, when the British bomber he was in crashed
into the sea after taking off from Gibraltar.
Recent history
In the 1950s, Spain, under the dictatorship of
Franco, renewed its claim to sovereignty
over Gibraltar, sparked in part by the visit of
Queen Elizabeth II in
1954 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Rock's capture. For
the next thirty years, Spain restricted movement between Gibraltar
and Spain, in application of one of the articles of the Treaty.
Gibraltar's first
sovereignty referendum was held on 10 September 1967, in which
Gibraltar's voters were asked whether they wished either to pass
under Spanish sovereignty (when Spain was under the dictatorship of
Franco), or remain under British
sovereignty, with institutions of
self-government. The vote was overwhelmingly
in favour of continuance of British sovereignty, with 12,138 to 44
voting to reject Spanish sovereignty. This led to the passing of
the
Gibraltar
Constitution Order, granting
autonomy
in May 1969, which the Government of Spain strongly opposed. In
response, in June Spain completely closed the border with Gibraltar
and severed all communication links.
View of the frontier from the Spanish side.
In 1981 it was announced that the
honeymoon for the royal wedding between
Prince Charles and
Diana Spencer would start from
Gibraltar. The Spanish Government responded that
King Juan Carlos and
Queen Sofia had declined their
invitation to the ceremony as an act of protest.
The border with Spain was partially reopened in 1982, and fully
reopened in 1985 prior to Spain's accession into the
European Community. Joint talks on the
future of The Rock held between Spain and the United Kingdom have
occurred since the late 1980s under the
Brussels Agreement.
In July 2002 proposals for joint sovereignty with Spain were
revealed by
British
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. A
second
sovereignty referendum was organised in Gibraltar in November
2002, which rejected any idea of joint sovereignty by 17,900
(98.97%) votes to 187 (1.03%). The British Government restated
that, in accordance with the preamble of the
Constitution of
Gibraltar:
"La Cuestión de Gibraltar" ( ), as it is termed by Spain, continues
to affect
Spain–United Kingdom
relations.
September
2006 saw representatives of the United Kingdom, Gibraltar and Spain
conclude talks in Córdoba
, Spain, with a landmark agreement on a range of
issues affecting the Rock and the Campo de Gibraltar removing some of
the restrictions imposed by Spain. This agreement resolved a
number of longstanding problems; improved flow of traffic at the
frontier, use of the airport, recognition of the
+350 telephone code and the settlement of the
long-running dispute regarding the pensions of former Spanish
workers in Gibraltar who lost their jobs when Spain closed its
border in 1969.
The
Trilateral process is ongoing, and the British
Government now states as policy that it will not enter into talks
about sovereignty with Spain without the consent of the Government
and people of the territory.
In December 2008, Gibraltar won its EU case on regional selectivity
providing for a new tax system. A public holiday in January 2009
was announced to celebrate this milestone.
In May 2009 there were a number of Spanish incursions into British
Waters around Gibraltar leading to intervention by the Police and a
diplomatic protest by the UK.
In July 2009
Miguel Angel
Moratinos, became the first serving Spanish foreign minister to
visit Gibraltar for a meeting of the trilateral forum.
Politics
As Gibraltar is an overseas territory of the UK, the head of state
is
Queen Elizabeth
II, who is represented by the
Governor of Gibraltar. The UK retains
responsibility for
defence and
foreign relations. The
Governor is not involved in the day-to-day administration of
Gibraltar, and his role is largely as a ceremonial representative
of the head of state. The Governor officially appoints the Chief
Minister and government ministers after an election.
Parliament of Gibraltar
The Government of Gibraltar is elected for a term of four years.
The head of Government is the
Chief Minister, currently
Peter Caruana QC. The Government consists of ten elected
members.
The
unicameral Parliament
presently consists of seventeen elected
members. The speaker is appointed by a resolution of the
Parliament. There are three political parties currently represented
in the Parliament: the governing
Gibraltar Social Democrats (GSD),
and two opposition parties - the
Gibraltar Socialist Labour
Party (GSLP) and the
Gibraltar Liberal Party which are in
an electoral alliance and form a single parliamentary
grouping.
The
2007 election
was contested by the GSD, GSLP-Liberal Alliance, the PDP and two
independents. Two parties which fielded candidates in the
2003 election did not
present candidates in the 2006 election; the
Reform Party was wound up and
Gibraltar Labour Party
absorbed into the GSD in a merger in 2005. A new party, the
Progressive
Democratic Party (PDP) was formed in 2006 and fielded
candidates in the 2007 election, but none were elected.
Gibraltar is a part of the
European
Union, having joined under the British Treaty of Accession
(1973), with exemption from some areas such as the
Customs Union and
Common Agricultural Policy.
After a
ten-year campaign to exercise the right to vote in European
Elections, from 2004, the people of Gibraltar participated in
elections for the European Parliament
as part of the South West
England constituency.
In March 2006, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw announced that
a new Gibraltar constitution had been agreed upon and would be
published prior to a referendum on its acceptance in Gibraltar that
year. In July, in a statement to the UK Parliament,
Geoff Hoon, the Minister for Europe, confirmed
that the new Constitution affirms the right of self-determination
of the Gibraltarian people. On 30 November 2006, a
referendum was
held to approve a
new
constitution. The turnout was 60.4% of eligible voters, of whom
60.24% voted to approve the constitution; 37.75% voted against. The
remainder returned blank votes. The Chief Minister, Peter Caruana,
welcomed the result as a step forward for Gibraltar's political
development.
All local political parties oppose any transfer of sovereignty to
Spain. Instead, they support
self-determination for the Rock. The main
UK opposition parties also support this policy and it is currently
UK Government policy not to engage in talks about the sovereignty
of Gibraltar without the consent of the people of Gibraltar.
Gibraltar
remains on the United
Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories (as it was
nominated by the UK in 1947) considered annually by the United Nations
Committee on Decolonization, though politicians both from the
British Foreign
Office
and Gibraltar wish to see it removed citing that
Gibraltar has effectively been decolonised.
Geography
The Rock of Gibraltar, West Side town
area, 2006
The territory covers .
It shares a land border with Spain.
On the
Spanish side is the town La Línea de
la Concepción
, a municipality of
Cádiz
province
. The part of Cádiz province next to
Gibraltar is called
Campo de
Gibraltar, literally
Gibraltar Countryside. The
shoreline measures in length.
There are two coasts (sides) of
Gibraltar the East
Side
, which contains the settlements of Sandy
Bay
and Catalan
Bay
, and the Westside
, where the vast majority of the population
lives.
Having negligible natural resources and few natural freshwater
resources, limited to natural wells in the north, until recently
Gibraltar used large concrete or natural rock water catchments to
collect water. Fresh water from the boreholes is supplemented by
two
desalination plants: a
reverse osmosis plant, constructed in a
tunnel within the rock, and a
multi-stage flash
distillation plant at North Mole.
Gibraltar is one of the most densely populated territories in the
world, with approximately . The growing demand for space is being
increasingly met by
land
reclamation; reclaimed land currently comprises approximately
one tenth of the territory's total area.
The Rock itself is made of
limestone and
is high. It contains many tunnelled roads, most of which are
operated by the military and closed to the public.
Flora and fauna
Over 500 different species of
flowering
plants grow on The Rock. One of them, the
Gibraltar
candytuft (
Iberis
gibraltarica), is
endemic to
Gibraltar, being the only place in Europe where it is found growing
in the wild. It is the symbol of the
Upper Rock nature
reserve. Among the wild trees that grow all around The Rock,
olive and
pine trees are
some of the most common.
Most of
its upper area is covered by a nature
reserve, which is home to around 230 Barbary
Macaques
, commonly known as apes, the only wild monkeys found in Europe. They sometimes visit
the town area. Recent genetic studies and historical documents
point to their presence on the Rock before its capture by the
British.
A superstition analogous to that of the
ravens at the Tower of London
states that if the monkeys ever leave, so will the
British. In 1944 British leader Winston Churchill was so
concerned about the dwindling monkey population that he sent a
message to the Colonial Secretary requesting that something be done
about the situation. Other mammals found in Gibraltar include
rabbits, foxes and bats.
Dolphins and whales are frequently seen in
the Bay of
Gibraltar
. Migrating birds are very common and
Gibraltar is home to the only specimens of
Barbary Partridges found on the European
continent.
Climate
The climate is
Mediterranean /
Subtropical with mild winters and warm
summers. There are two main prevailing winds, an easterly one known
as the
Levante coming
from the Sahara in Africa which brings humid weather and warmer sea
and the other as
Poniente which is westerly and brings
fresher air in and colder sea.
Its terrain consists of the 430 metre
(1,400 ft) high Rock of Gibraltar and the narrow coastal lowland surrounding
it. Rain occurs mainly in winter, the summers are generally
dry.
Its average annual temperature is : during the day and at night. In
the coldest month - January, the typically temperature ranges from
during the day, at night, the average sea temperature is . In the
warmest month - August, the typically temperature ranges from
during the day, above at night, the average sea temperature is .
Average number of days above is 181, average number of days above
is 5-6 (2 in July, 3 in August). Average morning
relative humidity: 82%, evening relative
humidity: 64%. Sunshine hours is till 2,778 per year, from 150 in
November (5 hours of sunshine every day) to 341 in July (11 hours
of sunshine every day).
Subdivisions
Gibraltar has no administrative divisions. It is, however, divided
into seven Major Residential Areas, which are further divided into
Enumeration Areas, used for statistical purposes.
The Major Residential Areas are listed below, with population
figures from the Census of 2001:
|
Residential area |
Population |
% of total |
1. |
East Side |
429 |
1.56% |
2. |
North District |
4,116 |
14.97% |
3. |
Reclamation Areas |
9,599 |
34.91% |
4. |
Sandpits Area |
2,207 |
8.03% |
5. |
South District |
4,257 |
15.48% |
6. |
Town Area |
3,588 |
13.05% |
7. |
Upper Town |
2,805 |
10.20% |
|
Remainder |
494 |
1.79% |
|
Gibraltar |
27,495 |
100% |
Eastside Development
Preliminary work was begun in 2004 on a 10-year project to
construct a new hotel and marina project on the Eastside of the
Rock, overlooking Spain's Costa del Sol. Designed by world-famous
British architect Norman Foster, the 2 billion euro mega-project
will feature three, 200-metre long finger quays and a sweeping
half-mile long curved breakwater to surround them, totaling over
300,000 square metres of infill. The project, known as Sovereign
Bay, will include several hotels and casinos and is scheduled for
completion in 2014. The deep-draft breakwater will be capable of
berthing large ocean liners within the "bay", while the marina will
accommodate 500 private boats. Spanish news outlets expressed
outrage over the Sovereign Bay project in January 2009,
particularly over the fact that infill material to create the quays
and breakwater was reportedly coming from Spanish quarries in
Andalucia.
Economy
The British military traditionally dominated the economy of
Gibraltar, with the naval dockyard providing the bulk of economic
activity. This has however diminished in the last twenty years, and
it is estimated to account for only 7% of the local economy,
compared to over 60% in 1984. Today, Gibraltar has an extensive
service-based economy, dominated by
financial services and
tourism.
Recently, many bookmakers and online gaming operators have
relocated to Gibraltar to benefit from operating in a regulated
jurisdiction with a favourable corporate tax regime. However, this
corporate tax regime for non-resident controlled companies is due
to be phased out by 2010.
Tourism is also a significant industry. Gibraltar is a popular stop
for cruise ships and attracts day visitors from resorts in Spain.
The Rock is a popular tourist attraction, particularly among
British tourists and residents in the southern coast of Spain. It
is also a popular shopping destination, and all goods and services
are
VAT free. Many of the large
British high street chains have branches or franchises in Gibraltar
including
Marks & Spencer,
Bhs,
Topshop,
Miss
Selfridge,
Dorothy Perkins,
Evans,
Adams,
Mothercare,
Early Learning Centre,
Monsoon,
Next,
Peacocks and the supermarket
Morrisons. Branches and franchises of
international retailers such as
Tommy
Hilfiger and
Sunglass
Hut are also present in Gibraltar, as is the Spanish clothing
company
Mango.
Figures
from the CIA World Factbook show
the main export markets in 2006 were United Kingdom
30.8%, Spain 22.7%,
Germany
13.7%, Turkmenistan
10.4%, Switzerland
8.3%, Italy
6.7% while
the corresponding figures for imports are Spain 23.4%,
Russia
12.3%,
Italy 12%, UK 9%, France
8.9%,
Netherlands
6.8% and United States
4.7%.
The Gibraltar Government state that economy grew in 2004/2005 by 7%
to a GDP of £599,180,000. Based on statistics in the 2006 surveys,
the Government statisticians estimate it has grown by 8.5% in
2005/6 and by 10.8% in 2006/7 and that the GDP is probably now
around 730 million. Inflation was running at 2.6% in 2006 and
predicted to be 2% to 3% in 2007. Speaking at the 2007 budget
session, Peter Caruana, the Chief Minister said "The scale of
Gibraltar's economic success makes it one of the most affluent
communities in the entire world."
Banking
A number of British and international banks have operations based
in Gibraltar.
Jyske Bank claims
to be the oldest bank in the country, based on Jyske's acquisition
in 1987 of Banco
Galliano
, which
began operations in Gibraltar in 1855. An ancestor of
Barclays Bank, the
Anglo-Egyptian Bank, entered in 1888,
and Credit Foncier, now
Credit
Agricole Indosuez, entered in 1920.
In 1967, Gibraltar enacted the Companies (Taxation and Concessions)
Ordinance, which provided for special tax treatment for
international business. This was one of the factors leading to the
growth of professional services such as private banking and captive
insurance management. Gibraltar has several positive attributes as
a financial centre, including a common law legal system and access
to the EU single market in financial services. The Financial
Services Commission, which was established by an ordinance in 1989
that took effect in 1991, regulates the finance sector. In 1997,
the Department of Trade and Industry established its Gibraltar
Finance Centre (GFC) Division to facilitate the development the
financial sector's development.
Currently the FSC has licensed about 17 banks to provide full
banking services in Gibraltar. Some banks are licensed by the EEA
(European Economic Community) rather than the FSC and are subject
to their home countries’ regulatory authorities. Lastly, five banks
have only representative offices in Gibraltar.
Currency
Under the terms of the 1934
Currency Notes Act, the
Government of Gibraltar
issues banknotes that are
legal tender
alongside Bank of England banknotes in Gibraltar. A
currency board issues these notes against
reserves of
sterling. Clearing and
settlement of funds is conducted in sterling, and Gibraltar
banknotes in circulation bear the words "Pounds sterling". Most
retail outlets in Gibraltar unofficially accept the euro, though
some payphones and the Post Office do not.
Demographics
The population of Gibraltar was 29,286 in 2008 (estimate).
The people of Gibraltar are highly placed against the
highest human life
expectancy in the world, at an average of 80.9 years at
birth.
Gibraltarians are a racial and
cultural fusion of the many European immigrants who came to the
Rock over three hundred years. They are the descendants of economic
migrants that came to Gibraltar after the majority of the Spanish
population left in 1704. The few Spaniards who remained in
Gibraltar in August 1704 were augmented by others who arrived in
the fleet with Prince George of Hesse, possibly some two hundred in
all, mostly Catalans.
By 1753 Genoese
, Maltese
, and Portuguese
people formed the majority of this new
population. Other groups include Minorcans (due to the links
between both British possessions during the 18th century;
immigration begun in that century and continued even after Minorca
was returned to Spain in 1802 by the
Treaty of Amiens) Sardinians, Sicilians and
other Italians, French, Germans, and the British. Immigration from
Spain and intermarriage with Spaniards from the surrounding Spanish
towns was a constant feature of Gibraltar's history until General
Francisco Franco closed the border with Gibraltar, cutting off many
Gibraltarians from their relatives on the Spanish side of the
frontier.
Religion
Gibraltar's main religion is Christianity, with the majority ( 78%
) of Gibraltarians belonging to the
Roman Catholic Church.
Other Christian
denominations include the Church of
England ( 7% ), whose Cathedral
of the Holy Trinity
is the cathedral of the Anglican Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe;
the Gibraltar
Methodist Church
, Church of Scotland
, various Pentecostal and
independent churches mostly influenced by the House Church and Charismatic movements, as well as two
Plymouth Brethren
congregations. There is also a ward of
The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and
Jehovah's Witnesses.
There are also a
number of Hindu Indians, a Moroccan Muslim population, members of
the Bahá'í Faith and a
long-established Jewish
community.
Language
As a
British overseas
territory, the sole
official
language of Gibraltar is
English, and it is used by the Government
and in schools. Most locals are
bilingual,
also speaking
Spanish, due to
Gibraltar's proximity to Spain.
However, because of the varied mix of ethnic
groups which reside there, other languages are spoken on The
Rock. Arabic is
spoken by the Moroccan community, as are Hindi and
Sindhi by the Indian
community
of Gibraltar. Hebrew is
also spoken by the Jewish community and the Maltese language is still spoken by some
families of Maltese descent.
Gibraltarians often converse in
Llanito ( ). It is an
Andalusian Spanish based
vernacular and unique to Gibraltar. It
consists of an eclectic mix of Andalusian Spanish and
British English as well as languages such as
Maltese,
Portuguese,
Italian of the
Genoese variety and
Haketia .Andalusian Spanish is the main constituent
of Llanito, but is also heavily influenced by British English.
However, it borrows words and expressions of many other languages,
with over 500 words of Genoese and Hebrew origin. It also often
involves
code-switching to
English.
Gibraltarians also call themselves
Llanitos.
Education
Education in Gibraltar
generally follows the
English
system operating within a
three
tier system. Schools in Gibraltar follow the
Key Stage system which teaches the
National
Curriculum.
Schools
Gibraltar has fifteen
state schools,
one
MOD school,
one
private school and one
College of Further
Education.
Higher education
As there are no facilities in Gibraltar for full-time
higher education, all Gibraltarian students
must study elsewhere at
degree level
or equivalent and certain non-degree courses.
The Government of Gibraltar operates a
scholarship/grant system to provide
funding for students studying in the United Kingdom. All Gibraltarian students follow the
student loans
procedure of the UK, where they apply for a loan from the
Student Loans Company which is
then reimbursed in full by the Government of Gibraltar. In 2008,
there were 224 Gibraltarian students enrolled in UK
universities.
Health care
All Gibraltarians are entitled to free
health care in public
ward and
clinics at the
hospital and
primary health care centre. All other
British citizens are also entitled to free of charge treatment on
the Rock on presentation of a valid British passport during stays
of up to 30 days. Other EU nationals are equally entitled to
treatment on presentation of a valid
European Health Insurance
Card.
Dental treatment and
prescribed medicine are also free
of charge for Gibraltarian students and
pensioners.
Culture
Tercentenary celebrations in
Gibraltar.
The culture of Gibraltar reflects Gibraltarians' diverse origins.
While
there are Andalusian
and British influences, the ethnic origins of most
Gibraltarians are not confined to British or Andalusian
ethnicities. Other ethnicities include
Genoese,
Maltese,
Portuguese, and
German.
A handful of other Gibraltar residents are
Jewish of Sephardic origin, North African, or Indians.
British influence remains strong. English is the language of
government, commerce, education, and the media. Gibraltarians going
on to higher education attend university in the UK. Patients
requiring medical treatment not available on the Rock receive it as
private patients paid for by the Gibraltar Government either in the
United Kingdom, or more recently in Spain.
There exists a small but interesting amount of literary writings by
native Gibraltarians. The first prominent work of fiction was
probably Héctor Licudi's 1929 novel
Barbarita, written in
Spanish. It is a largely autobiographical account of the adventures
and misadventures of a young Gibraltarian man. Throughout the 1940s
and 1950s, several noteworthy anthologies of poetry were published
by Leopoldo Sanguinetti, Albert Joseph Patron, and Alberto
Pizzarello. The 1960s were largely dominated by the theatrical
works of Elio Cruz and his two highly acclaimed Spanish plays
La Lola se va pá Londre and
Connie con cama camera en
el comedor. In the 1990s, the Gibraltarian
man-of-letters Mario Arroyo published
Profiles (1994), a series of bilingual meditations on
love, loneliness and death. Of late there have been interesting
works by the essayist Mary Chiappe such as her volume of essays
Cabbages and Kings (2006) and by the UK-educated academic
M. G. Sanchez, author of the hard-hitting novel
Rock Black
0-10: A Gibraltar fiction (2006).
Cuisine
Gibraltarian cuisine is the result of a
long relationship between the Andalucian Spaniards and the British, as well as the many foreigners who made Gibraltar
their home over the past three centuries. The culinary
influences include those from
Malta,
Genoa,
Portugal and
Andalusia. This marriage of tastes has
given Gibraltar an eclectic mix of
Mediterranean and
British cuisine. Calentita, a baked
bread-like dish made with chickpea flour, water, olive oil, salt
and pepper, is considered Gibraltar's national dish.
Music
The
music of Gibraltar is
undergoing a
renaissance with a
multitude of local bands playing original material and covers.
Local
venues have begun accepting Gibraltarian bands and those from
nearby Spain, resulting
in a varied mix of live performances every weekend as well as some
weekday nights.
Musicians
from Gibraltar include Charles
Ramirez, the first guitarist invited to
play with the Royal College of Music
Orchestra, and successful rock bands like Breed 77,
Melon Diesel and Taxi.
The best known Gibraltarian musician is
Albert Hammond, who has had top 10 hits in
the UK & US, and has written many songs for international
artists such as
Whitney Houston,
Tina Turner and
Julio Iglesias among many others.
National Day
Gibraltar
National Day
commemorates Gibraltar's first
sovereignty referendum when the people of Gibraltar voted to
reject Spanish sovereignty or association by a massive
majority. It is celebrated annually on 10 September, the
same day the referendum was held in 1967. The day is a
public holiday, during which most
Gibraltarians dress in their national colours of red and
white.
Since the first Gibraltar National Day in 1992 until recently, the
day's main event has been a
political
rally which was held at
Grand
Casemates Square. In recent years, the main event has been held
at
John Mackintosh Square and
hosted by the
Mayor of Gibraltar
from the balcony of the
City
Hall. The main event culminates with the symbolic release of
30,000 red and white
balloons representing
the people of Gibraltar.
The
Conservative MP Andrew
Rosindell described the event as:
Tercentenary
Gibraltarians encircle the Rock in
2004.
In 2004, Gibraltar celebrated the 300th anniversary of its capture.
In recognition of and with thanks for its long association with
Gibraltar, the
Royal Navy was given the
freedom of the City. Another
event saw nearly the entire population, dressed in red, white and
blue, link hands to form a human chain encircling the
Rock.
Sport
In 2007 there were eighteen Gibraltar Sports Associations with
official recognition from their respective International Governing
Bodies. Others, including the Gibraltar National Olympic Committee,
have submitted applications for recognition which are being
considered.
The Government supports the many sporting associations financially.
Gibraltar also competes in the bi-annual
Island Games, which
it hosted in 1995.
Football is the most popular
sport in Gibraltar. The
Gibraltar Football
Association applied for full membership of
UEFA, but their bid was turned down in 2007 in a
contentious decision.
Cricket enjoys massive popularity in Gibraltar as the weather is
perfectly suited to cricket games. The
Gibraltar national cricket
team recently won the
European Cricket
Championships.
Rugby union is fairly
popular, and
Campo Gibraltar
RFC now play in the Andalusian second division.
Communications
Site of the first telephone exchange
in City Mill Lane.
Gibraltar has a digital telephone exchange supported by a fibre
optic and copper infrastructure. The main telephone operator,
Gibtelecom,
also operates a
GSM network and is an Internet
Service provider.
A local company Gibnet Limited, started the first Internet service
in January 1996 and later changed its name to Sapphire Networks
Limited.
Victorian Post Box of standard 1887 UK
design in use in Gibraltar Old Town in 2008
International Direct
Dialling is provided, and Gibraltar was allocated the access
code 350 by the
International
Telecommunication Union. This works from all countries with
IDD, including Spain, which has accepted its use since 10 February
2007, when the
telecom
dispute was resolved. Gibraltar mobile and fixed service
numbers are eight digits.
Dial-up, ADSL, high-speed Internet lines are available, as are some
wifi hotspots in hotels. Local operator CTS is
rolling out WiMax.
The
Gibraltar Broadcasting
Corporation
operates a television and radio station on UHF, VHF
and medium-wave. The radio service is also
Internet-streamed. Special events and the daily news bulletin are
streamed in video.
The other
local radio service is operated by British
Forces Broadcasting Service
who also provide a limited cable network for
television to HM Forces.
The
largest and most frequently published newspaper is the Gibraltar
Chronicle
, Gibraltar’s oldest established daily
newspaper and the world’s second oldest English language newspaper to have been in
print continuously with daily editions six days a week.
Panorama is published on weekdays, and
Vox,
7
Days,
The New People, and
Gibsport are
weekly.
Transport
The Cable Car.
Within Gibraltar, the main form of transport is the car. Motorbikes
are popular and there is a good modern bus service. Unlike in other
British territories, traffic drives on the right, as the territory
shares a land border with Spain.
There is a
cable car which runs from
ground level to the top of the rock, with an intermediate station
at the apes’ den, the cables are currently being replaced (in March
2009).
Restrictions on transport introduced by the Spanish dictator
Francisco Franco closed the land
frontier in 1969 and prohibited any air or
ferry connections. In 1982, the land border was
reopened.
As the result of an agreement signed in
Cordoba on 18 September 2006 between Gibraltar, the United
Kingdom and Spain, the Spanish government agreed to relax the
border controls at the frontier that
have plagued locals for decades; in return, Britain will pay
increased pensions to workers who lost their jobs when Franco
closed the border. Restrictions on telephones were removed
in 2007 and restrictions on movements at the airport were removed
on 16 December 2006.
The first Iberia flight lands at
Gibraltar.
Gibraltar
maintains regular flight connections to London
and
Manchester
. Scheduled flights to Morocco and Madrid
proved
unsustainable due to insufficient demand.
GB Airways operated a service between
Gibraltar and London and other cities for many years. The airline
initially flew under the name "Gibraltar Airways." In 1989, and in
anticipation of service to cities outside the UK, Gibraltar Airways
changed its name to GB Airways with the belief that a new name
would incur fewer political problems. As a franchise, the airline
operated flights in full British Airways livery. In 2007 GB Airways
was purchased by
EasyJet who operate flights
under their name from April 2008 when
British Airways re-introduced flights to
Gibraltar under their name.
Monarch
Airlines operate a daily scheduled service between Gibraltar
and Luton. From September 2008 they operate a scheduled service to
Manchester, UK. The Spanish
national
airline,
Iberia, operated a
daily service to Madrid which ceased due to lack of demand. In May
2009
Ándalus Líneas
Aéreas opened a Spanish service. An annual return
charter flight to Malta is operated by
Maltese national airline,
Air Malta.
Gibraltar
Airport is unusual not only due to its proximity to the
centre of the city resulting in the airport terminal being within
walking distance of much of Gibraltar but also because the runway
intersects Winston Churchill Avenue
, the main north-south street, requiring movable
barricades to close when aircraft land or depart. New roads
and a tunnel for Winston Churchill Avenue, which will end the need
to stop road traffic when aircraft use the runway, are planned to
coincide with the building of a new
airport terminal building with an
originally estimated completion date of 2009, although due to
delays this is now more likely to be 2010 or even 2011.
Motorists, and on occasion pedestrians, crossing the border with
Spain have been subjected to long delays and searches by the
Spanish authorities. Spain has closed the border during disputes or
incidents involving the Gibraltar authorities, such as the
Aurora cruise ship incident and
when fishermen from the Spanish fishing vessel
Pirana were
arrested for illegal fishing in Gibraltar waters.
The most
popular alternative airport for Gibraltar is Malaga
Airport
in Spain, some 120 km to the east, which
offers a wide range of destinations.
Gibraltar receives a large number of visits from cruise ships, and
the Strait of Gibraltar is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the
world.
Passenger and cargo ships anchor in the port of Gibraltar.
Also, a
daily ferry links Gibraltar with Tangier
, Morocco.
There are no train or tram services within Gibraltar.
Military
Royal Navy base in Gibraltar.
Gibraltar's defence is the responsibility of the tri-service
British Forces Gibraltar.
In January 2007, the Ministry of Defence announced that the private
company - SERCO - would provide services to the base. The
announcement resulted in the affected trade unions striking.
- The
Royal
Gibraltar Regiment
provides the army garrison. The regiment was
originally a part-time reserve force but the British Army placed it on the permanent
establishment in 1990. The regiment includes full-time and
part-time soldiers recruited from Gibraltar, as well as British Army regulars posted from other
regiments.
- The Royal Navy maintains a squadron at the Rock. The squadron is
responsible for the security and integrity of British Gibraltar
Territorial Waters (BGTW). The shore establishment at Gibraltar is
called Rooke after Sir George
Rooke who captured the Rock for Archduke Charles (pretender
to the Spanish throne) in 1704. Gibraltar's strategic position
provides an important facility for the Royal
Navy and Britain's allies.
- Ships from the Spanish Navy do not
call at Gibraltar.
- British and U.S. nuclear submarines frequently visit the Z
berths at Gibraltar. A Z berth provides the facility for
nuclear submarines to visit for operational or recreational
purposes, and for non-nuclear repairs.
- The Royal Air Force station at
Gibraltar forms part of Headquarters British Forces Gibraltar.
Although
aircraft are no longer permanently stationed at RAF Gibraltar
, a variety of RAF aircraft make regular visits to
the Rock and the airfield also houses a section from the Met
Office.
The Rock is believed to be a
SIGINT listening
post.
Its
strategic position provides a key GCHQ
and
National
Security Agency
location for Mediterranean and North African coverage.
Gibraltar and the Falklands War
During the
Falklands War, an Argentine
plan to attack British shipping in the harbour using frogmen
(
Operation Algeciras) was
foiled. The naval base also played a part in supporting the task
force sent by Britain to recover the Falklands.
Attempted IRA bombing
On 6
March 1988, as part of Operation Flavius
, the British SAS
killed three members of the Provisional Irish Republican
Army (IRA) in Gibraltar. The three,
Mairéad Farrell,
Sean Savage, and
Daniel
McCann, were there on an IRA operation to plant a car bomb
targeting the British Army band. All three IRA members were unarmed
at the time, but a car they had hired was subsequently discovered
in Spain with of
Semtex explosive. The
incident became the subject of a contentious
Thames Television documentary,
Death on the Rock. The
ensuing "
Death on the Rock"
controversy prompted a major political row in the UK.
An inquest ruled the SAS's action to be lawful.
The families of the
deceased took the case to the European
Court of Human Rights
. In 1995 it held by ten votes to nine that
the British government had violated Article 2 of the
European Convention on Human
Rights. It also ruled that the three killed had been engaged in
an act of
terrorism, consequently
dismissing unanimously the applicants' claims for damages, for
costs and expenses incurred by the original inquest and for any
remaining claims for just satisfaction.
Gibraltar in popular culture
Film
- In
the film The Captain's
Paradise, Alec Guinness plays
the captain of a ship that travels between Gibraltar and Morocco.
- The film The Silent
Enemy was filmed on location in Gibraltar in 1958. It is a
dramatisation of the period during the Second World War when
Lionel "Buster" Crabb served as a mine
and disposal officer in Gibraltar while frogmen of the Italian Navy's Tenth Light Flotilla were
sinking vital shipping.
- The opening scene of the film The Living Daylights (from the
James Bond film series) takes place in
Gibraltar.
- In the German-language film Das
Boot, a German U-boat struggles in its attempt to get past
the British navy in Gibraltar to relocate to a base in the
Mediterranean sea.
- In the anime series Mobile Suit Gundam SEED,
Gibraltar serves as a major military base for the ZAFT forces.
Literature
- Anthony Burgess's novel
A Vision of
Battlements (1965), chronicling the troubled love-life of
the British soldier Richard Ennis, is set in Gibraltar.
- The satirical novel Gil
Braltar by Jules Verne (1887)
describes an almost successful attack of the monkeys on the
fortress.
- "The
Day of an American Journalist in 2889", an 1889 Jules Verne short
story, also mentions Gibraltar as the last territory of a British Empire that has lost the British Isles
themselves.
- Raffles' Crime in Gibraltar by
Barry Perowne, a Sexton Blake story set in Gibraltar in 1937
(U.S. title:
They Hang Them in Gibraltar).
- Scruffy by Paul Gallico is
set on Gibraltar during World War II. It follows the steady decline
in the size of the Macaque colony and the possible fulfilment of
the superstition that Gibraltar will fall if it disappears.
- As Molly Bloom is a native
Gibraltarian, references to Gibraltar appear throughout James Joyce's Ulysses (1922). A sculpture of Molly
Bloom as imagined by local artist Jon
Searle is on display in the Alameda
Gardens
.
- Arthur C. Clarke's novel The Fountains of Paradise
mentions the 'Gibraltar Bridge', a
novel infrastructure connecting Europe and Africa.
- John Masters' book The
Rock is a collection of short stories set in Gibraltar:
ranging from a story set in prehistoric times to one suggesting a
possible future for the Rock.
- In Maud Hart Lovelace's book
Betsy and the Great
World, the heroine goes on a cruise to Europe and makes a
stop at Gibraltar, where she learns about its history and legends,
and goes shopping.
- Raymond Benson's James Bond novel Doubleshot deals with a fictional plot to
forcibly return Gibraltar to Spain. The climax takes place in
Gibraltar.
Music
Notable people from Gibraltar
Notable or famous
Gibraltarians
include:
Town Twinnings
Current
Gibraltar is currently
twinned with
the following European cities:
Past
Gibraltar was once twinned with the following British town:
See also
References
- Stable and prosperous review 2008
- Informe sobre la cuestión de Gibraltar, Spanish
Foreign Ministry
- Corrected transcript of evidence taken before the
Foreign Affairs Select Committee; 2008-03-28; Answer to Question 257 by
Jim Murphy:
[T]he UK Government will never – "never" is a seldom-used word
in politics – enter into an agreement on sovereignty without the
agreement of the Government of Gibraltar and their people. In fact,
we will never even enter into a process without that
agreement.
- the British attacked the Rock of Gibraltar
- "Gibraltar." Microsoft Encarta 2006 [DVD]. Microsoft
Corporation, 2005.
- Paco Galliano. 2003. '"The Smallest Bank in the World.
(Gibraltar: Gibraltar Books), p.57-9.
- Anthony Cave Brown, Bodyguard of Lies, Harper& Row, 1975,
p. 239
- General's body to be exhumed
- Transcript of evidence taken before the Foreign
Affairs Select Committee
- European Court Judgement
- Chief Minister's statement
- Britain tells Spain violation unacceptable
- Return of the Armada
- Communique of the forum July 2009
- Statement by the Minister for Europe
- C. Michael Hogan (2008) Barbary Macaque: Macaca sylvanus,
Globaltwitcher.com, ed. Nicklas Stromberg
- BBC news - Churchill sends telegram to protect
apes
- http://www.gibraltar.gov.uk/hol/WhatToSee/upper_rock.asp
- Weatherbase: Historical Weather for
Gibraltar
-
http://www.fosterandpartners.com/Projects/1268/Default.aspx
-
http://www.zibb.com/article/4738650/Gibraltar+accused+of+illegal+expansion+into+Spanish+waters
- European Central Bank Monthly Bulletin, April 2006,
page 96
- Managing a Global Enterprise, William R. Feist,
James A. Heely, Min H. Lu, page 40
- Currency Board Arrangements, Tomás J. T.
Baliño, Charles Enoch, International Monetary
Fund, page 1
- Noble, John; Forsyth, Susan; Hardy, Paula; Hannigan, Des
(2005). Andalucía. Lonely Planet. p. 221. ISBN
978-1740596763.
- Abstract of Statistics 2008
- Census of Gibraltar 2001
- United Nations World Population Prospects: 2006
revision – Table A.17 for 2005-2010
- :
- Abstract of Statistics 2008
- Hansard 27 October 2004: Column 1436
- Air Andalus flys from Gibraltar
- and images of the proposals:
External links
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- General information
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- Television, radio and news media
- Newspapers with online editions
- Image galleries
over the winter of 1917.
service active in North America, his amorous exploits inspired
the best-selling novel Charlotte
Temple.
, Madeira
, Portugal
, Northern
Ireland
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