Gibraltar

Steven DutchUniversity of Wisconsin – Green Bay

Gibraltar

Strait of Gibraltar

View of Gibraltar

Gibraltar

• May have been inhabited 100,000 years ago• 20,000 years ago: The Last Neanderthals?• One of the two pillars of Hercules• No strategic significance in ancient times– No water, wood, arable land, safe anchorage

• Tariq ibn Zayid lands nearby in 711– Jebel al-Tariq Gibraltar

Gibraltar• Spain recaptures Gibraltar 1462• Dutch fleet destroys Spanish fleet 1607• Philip II dies childless in 1700– Two rival claimants: French and Austrian– War of the Spanish Succession– Britain takes Gibraltar, 1704

• British Gibraltar– Base against pirates– Bargaining chip

First Known View, 1567

British Gibraltar• Spain did not like losing Gibraltar (and still not

happy about it)• Numerous attempts to recapture• Great Siege 1779-1782– Siege ends when Britain returns Florida and

Minorca to Spain– You didn’t even know Britain owned Florida, did

you?

• Crimean War (1854-56) and Suez Canal (1867) finally make strategic value obvious

Gibraltar in World War II• 1939: Airfield Constructed• 1940: Most civilians evacuated• 1940: Vichy French air raids• 1940-43: Italian air and frogman raids• Sabotage by Spanish Agents Working for

Germany• 1940-41: Operation Felix– German plan to capture Gibraltar– Spanish refuse to cooperate

Gibraltar in World War II

• 1941-42: Operation Tracer– Stay-behind team in case of German capture

• 1942: North African campaign– Eisenhower uses Gibraltar as HQ– 30 miles of tunnels dug, housed 30,000 troops– Gibraltar has more tunnel than road

• After 1943, Gibraltar became a Rear Supply Base

View From the Top

The Moorish Castle

Waterfall on Gibraltar

Waterfall on Gibraltar

The Real Owners of Gibraltar

Riddled With Caves

St. Michael’s Cavern

Great Siege Tunnels

WWII Tunnel

How Did Gibraltar Come to Be?

The Mediterranean, 200 m.y.

The Mediterranean, 195 m.y.

The Mediterranean, 175 m.y.

The Mediterranean, 165 m.y.

The Mediterranean, 148 m.y.

The Mediterranean, 123 m.y.

The Mediterranean, 110 m.y.

The Mediterranean, 80 m.y.

The Mediterranean, 63 m.y.

The Mediterranean, 53 m.y.

20 Million Years Ago

15 Million Years Ago

6 Million Years Ago

Filling the Mediterranean

National Geographic, January, 1973