Gibraltar ( jih-BRAWL-tər, -BROL-, Spanish: [xiβɾalˈtaɾ]) is a British Overseas Territory and city located near 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. Gibraltar is home to around 38,000 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.
Gibraltar's economy rests on online gambling, financial services, tourism and the port. With one of the world's lowest unemployment rates, the largest part of the labour force are resident in Spain or non-Gibraltarians, especially in the private sector.
Since Brexit, Gibraltar is not a member of the European Union: a draft treaty was negotiated in June 2025 that would allow the territory to participate in the Schengen Agreement and the European Union customs union. In July 2026, the UK, Spain, Gibraltar and the EU signed the treaty, removing border controls with Spain.
Name
The name is derived from Arabic: جبل طارق, romanized: Jabal Ṭāriq, lit. 'Mount of Tariq' (named after the 8th-century North African military leader Tariq ibn Ziyad, who began the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula via the Strait of Gibraltar in 711).
History
Prehistory and ancient history
Evidence of Neanderthal habitation in Gibraltar from around 50,000 years ago has been discovered at Gorham's Cave. The caves of Gibraltar continued to be used by Homo sapiens after the final extinction of the Neanderthals. Stone tools, ancient hearths and animal bones dating from around 40,000 years ago to about 5,000 years ago have been found in deposits left in Gorham's Cave.
Numerous potsherds dating from the Neolithic period have been found in Gibraltar's caves, mostly of types typical of the Almerian culture found elsewhere in Andalusia, especially around the town of Almería, from which it takes its name. There is little evidence of habitation in the Bronze Age when people had largely stopped living in caves.
During ancient times, Gibraltar was regarded by the peoples of the Mediterranean as a place of religious and symbolic importance. The Phoenicians were present for several centuries since around 950 BC, apparently using Gorham's Cave as a shrine to the genius loci, as did the Carthaginians and Romans after them. Gibraltar was known as Mons Calpe, a name perhaps of Phoenician origin. Mons Calpe was considered by the ancient Greeks and Romans as one of the Pillars of Hercules, after the Greek legend of the creation of the Strait of Gibraltar by Heracles. There is no known archaeological evidence of permanent settlements from the ancient period. They settled at the head of the bay in the Campo (hinterland) of Gibraltar. The town of Carteia, near the location of the modern Spanish town of San Roque, was founded by the Phoenicians around 950 BC on the site of an early settlement of the native Turdetani people.
Middle Ages
The area of Gibraltar later formed part of the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania for almost 300 years, from 418 until 720 AD.
Following a raid in 710, a predominantly Berber army under the command of Tariq ibn Ziyad crossed from North Africa in April 711 and landed somewhere in the vicinity of Gibraltar (though most likely not in the bay or at the Rock itself). Tariq's expedition led to the Islamic conquest of most of the Iberian peninsula. Mons Calpe was renamed Jabal Ṭāriq (جبل طارق), "the Mount of Tariq", subsequently corrupted into Gibraltar.
In 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). The Tower of Homage of the Moorish Castle remains standing.
From 1274 onwards, the town was fought over and captured by the Nasrids of Granada (in 1237 and 1374), the Marinids of Fez (in 1274 and 1333) and the kings of Castile (in 1309). Upon the Nasrid destruction and abandonment of Algeciras c. 1375 and Nasrids' procurement of Gibraltar away from Marinids in 1375, the Nasrids favoured Gibraltar (a worse natural harbor than Algeciras but featuring better defence capabilities) as a military and urban outpost in the Strait, although Gibraltar did not ever reach a large population during this period.
Modern era
In 1462, Gibraltar was captured by Juan Alonso de Guzmán, 1st Duke of Medina Sidonia, from the Emirate of Granada.
After the conquest, Henry IV of Castile assumed the additional title of King of Gibraltar, establishing it as part of the comarca of the Campo Llano de Gibraltar. Six years later, Gibraltar was restored to the Duke of Medina Sidonia, who sold it in 1474 to a group of 4,350 conversos (Christian converts from Judaism) from Cordova and Seville and in exchange for maintaining the garrison of the town for two years, after which time they were expelled, returning to their home towns or moving on to other parts of Spain. In 1501, Gibraltar passed back to the Spanish Crown, and Isabella I of Castile issued a Royal Warrant granting Gibraltar the coat of arms that it still uses.
In 1540 Gibraltar was captured and ransacked by Ottoman admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa. The raid of the small town eliminated nearly an entire generation of Gibraltarians.
In 1704, during the War of the Spanish Succession, a combined Anglo-Dutch fleet, representing the Grand Alliance, captured the town of Gibraltar on behalf of the Archduke Charles of Austria in his campaign to become King of Spain. Subsequently, the vast majority of the approximately 4,000 to 5,000 Spanish inhabitants left the town, with only about 70 people, mostly neutral Genoese traders, choosing to remain. Many of the displaced residents settled nearby. As the Alliance's campaign faltered, the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht was negotiated, which ceded control of Gibraltar to Britain to secure Britain's withdrawal from the war. Unsuccessful attempts by Spanish monarchs to regain Gibraltar were made, with the siege of 1727, and again with the Great Siege of Gibraltar (1779 to 1783), during the American War of Independence.
After the destructive Great Siege, the town was almost entirely rebuilt. Giovanni Maria Boschetti, who arrived in Gibraltar in 1784 as a 25-year-old from Milan, where he is thought to have been a stonemason or engineer, built the Victualling Yard (completed in 1812) and many other buildings. Boschetti is regarded as having been responsible for setting the old town's style, described by Claire Montado, chief executive of the Gibraltar Heritage Trust, as "military-ordnance-style arched doorways, Italianate stucco relief, Genoese shutters, English Regency ironwork balconies, Spanish stained glass and Georgian sash and casement windows."
During the Napoleonic Wars, Gibraltar became a key base for the Royal Navy and played an important role leading up to the Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805). Designated one of four Imperial fortresses (along with Bermuda, Halifax (Nova Scotia) and Malta), its strategic location made it a key base during the Crimean War of 1854–1856. In the 18th century, the peacetime military garrison fluctuated in numbers from a minimum of 1,100 to a maximum of 5,000. The first half of the 19th century saw a significant increase of population to more than 17,000 in 1860, as people from Britain and all around the Mediterranean – Italian, Portuguese, Maltese, Jewish and French – took up residence in the town.
Its strategic value increased with the opening of the Suez Canal, as it lay on the sea route between the UK and the British Empire east of Suez. In the later 19th century, major investments were made to improve the fortifications and the port.
Contemporary history
During the Second World War, most of Gibraltar's civilian population was evacuated, mainly to London, but also to parts of Morocco and Madeira and to Gibraltar Camp in Jamaica. The Rock was strengthened as a fortress. On 18 July 1940, the Vichy French air force attacked Gibraltar in retaliation for the British bombing of the Vichy navy. The naval base and the ships based there played a key role in the provisioning and supply of the island of Malta during its long siege. As well as frequent short runs, known as "Club Runs", towards Malta to fly off aircraft reinforcements (initially Hurricanes, but later, notably from the USN aircraft carrier Wasp, Spitfires), the critical Operation Pedestal convoy was run from Gibraltar in August 1942. This resupplied the island at a critical time in the face of concentrated air attacks from German and Italian forces. Spanish dictator Francisco Franco's reluctance to allow the German Army onto Spanish soil frustrated a German plan to capture the Rock, codenamed Operation Felix.
In the 1950s, Franco renewed Spain's claim to sovereignty over Gibraltar and restricted movement between Gibraltar and Spain. Gibraltarians voted overwhelmingly to remain under British sovereignty in the 1967 Gibraltar sovereignty referendum, which led to the passing of the Gibraltar Constitution Order in 1969. In response, Spain completely closed the border with Gibraltar and severed all communication links. The border with Spain was partially reopened in 1982 and fully reopened in 1985 before Spain's accession to the European Community.
In the early 2000s, Britain and Spain were in negotiations over a potential agreement that would see them sharing sovereignty over Gibraltar. The government of Gibraltar organised a referendum on the plan, and 99% of the population voted to reject it. In 2008, the British government committed to respecting the Gibraltarians' wishes. A new Constitution Order was approved in referendum in 2006. A process of tripartite negotiations started in 2006 between Spain, Gibraltar and the UK, ending some restrictions and dealing with disputes in some specific areas such as air movements, customs procedures, telecommunications, pensions and cultural exchange.
In the British referendum on membership of the European Union 96% of Gibraltarians voted to remain on an 84% turnout. Spain renewed calls for joint Spanish–British control of the peninsula; these were strongly rebuffed by Gibraltar's Chief Minister. On 18 October 2018, however, Spain seemed to have reached an agreement with the United Kingdom in relation to its objections to Gibraltar leaving the EU with the UK, with Spain's prime minister Pedro Sánchez stating, "Gibraltar will no longer be a problem in arriving at a Brexit deal."
On 31 January 2020, the UK left the European Union, and Gibraltar consequently did the same. During the transition phase set out in the Brexit withdrawal agreement, Gibraltar's relationship with the EU remained unchanged until the end of 2020, when it was replaced by the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. On 31 December 2020, the UK and Spain agreed in principle on a framework for Gibraltar to participate in the Schengen Area to avoid a hard border with Spain after years of negotiations.
In 2022, Gibraltar launched a bid for city status as part of the Platinum Jubilee Civic Honours. The bid was refused, but when researchers looked through the National Archives, they found that it had already been recognised as a city by Queen Victoria in 1842. The status came into force on 29 August 2022.
On 11 June 2025, a deal was signed which established an open border and joint passport controls at Gibraltar International Airport, measures designed to facilitate easier travel and daily crossings. Despite these arrangements, the UK reaffirmed that Gibraltar remains British sovereign territory, preserving the existing status despite practical changes on the ground. The agreement was later formalised on 14 July 2026, when the UK, Spain, Gibraltar and the European Union signed a treaty in Brussels removing routine border controls at the Gibraltar–Spain frontier and enabling Gibraltar's participation in the Schengen Area and the European Union Customs Union.
Governance
Under its current constitution, Gibraltar has almost complete internal self-governance through a parliament elected for a term of up to four years. The unicameral parliament presently consists of 17 elected members, and the Speaker who is not elected but appointed by a resolution of the parliament. The government consists of 10 elected members. The head of state is the British monarch King Charles III, who is represented by the Governor of Gibraltar. The governor enacts day-to-day matters on the advice of the Gibraltar Parliament but is responsible to the British government in respect of defence, foreign policy, internal security and general good governance. Judicial and other appointments are made on behalf of the monarch in consultation with the head of the elected government.