Gibraltar

It is believed that this distinctive promontory,

in some time in the prehistory—which is calcu-

lated to have happened 200,000,000 years ago—

was submerged under the sea. Its surface is mostly

limestone formed through hundreds of years of

evolution and its current formgoes back to the last

Ice Age.

The 8th century marks the date of the Umayyad

Conquest of Hispania. In April 30, 711,

Ṭā

riq Benze-

ma ibn Ziy

d al-Layti commanded seven thousand

Berber soldiers and crossed the Strait of Gibraltar.

They disembarked victorious in Calpe, “the north

pillar of the Strait,” which was called Gibraltar from

then on (

Jebel Tariq

or Tariq's mountain) in honor to

the general.

Muslims ruled the Rock during four centuries,

but it wasn’t until 1150 that the sultan Almohad

Abd al-Mu'min founded the first permanent settle-

ment in the history of the Rock.

In 1309, Fernando IV of Castile’s forces occupied

Gibraltar, but in 1333 it returned to the Muslims,

who won the territory back after five months of

battles. Different Muslim factions maintained this

power until the Duke of Medina Sidonia re-con-

quered Gibraltar in 1462 (after eight sieges); that

was the end of Muslim rule over the Rock. The King-

dom of Castile reigned until 1704. The War of the

Spanish Succession took place between 1701 and

1713, fought by Anglo-Dutch troops and French-

Spanish

forces. The confrontations ended in 1713

when the Treaty of Utrecht was signed and sev-

eral territories were exchanged; one of the agree-

ments granted Great Britain legitimate posses-

sion of Gibraltar, still in force today.

·amura·

compás int • int compass

Gibraltar is an overseas

British territory, but it

has a government and a

constitution of its own.

Conde-duquedeOlivares

deDiegoVelázquez

(1634)-MuseoNacional

delPrado,Madrid./

Count-

DukeofOlivares

byDiego

Velázquez(1634)-The

PradoMuseum,Madrid.

5.Laguerradesucesión

españolacomenzóen1701

yterminóen1713con la

firmadeltratadodeUtrecht.

TheWaroftheSpanish

Successionbeganin1701

andendedin1713with

thesigningoftheTreaty

ofUtrecht