Rock of Gibraltar

Gibraltar (/dʒɪˈbrɔːltər/ jih-BRAWL-tər, Spanish: [xiβɾalˈtaɾ]) is a British Overseas Territory and city located at 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 km (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 34,000 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.

Gibraltarians (Spanish: gibraltareños, colloquially: llanitos) are a sub-national group who live in Gibraltar, a British overseas territory situated near the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, close to Spain, at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. Gibraltarians hold British citizenship.

Algeciras (Spanish: [alxeˈθiɾas] ) is a city and a municipality of Spain belonging to the province of Cádiz, Andalusia. With a registered population as of 2020 of 123,078, it’s the largest municipality of the Campo de Gibraltar and the second largest in the province. The city is located in the western shore of the Bay of Gibraltar (Bahía de Algeciras) opposite the Rock of Gibraltar, around the mouth of the Río de la Miel, now mostly culverted in its lower course near the southernmost end of the Iberian Peninsula and continental Europe and the Strait of Gibraltar.

The area was inhabited in Antiquity, including archaeological strata generally identified with the Roman city of Iulia Traducta. Founded soon after the Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula on the mouth of the Río de la Miel, al-Jazira al-Khadrā [es] became the head of a rump taifa kingdom after Umayyad state collapse in the 11th century. In 1275, the Emirate of Granada ceded the place to the Marinids, who founded the new walled precinct of al-Bunayya after 1282 on the opposite bank of the Río de la Miel. The twin medinas were conquered in 1344 by the Crown of Castile. Medieval urban continuity came to an abrupt end when the town was torn down by the Nasrids circa 1369–1385. The ruins were repopulated and the town eventually refounded upon the arrival of refugees from the 1704 Anglo-Dutch capture of Gibraltar.

The Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvanus) is a macaque species native to the Atlas Mountains of Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, along with a small introduced population in Gibraltar.It is the type species of the genus Macaca. From the Early Pliocene to the Late Pleistocene, about 85-40,000 years ago, it was widely distributed in Europe. Today, the Barbary macaques in Gibraltar are the only Old World monkeys in Europe. About 300 individuals live on the Rock of Gibraltar. This population appears to be stable or increasing, while the North African population is declining.

The diet of the Barbary macaque consists primarily of plants and insects. Males play an atypical role in rearing young. Because of uncertain paternity, males are integral to raising all infants. Generally, both sexes and all ages contribute in alloparental care of the young. Males live to around 25 years old while females may live up to 30 years.

The Pillars of Hercules are the promontories that flank the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. The northern Pillar, Calpe Mons, is the Rock of Gibraltar. A corresponding North African peak not being predominant, the identity of the southern Pillar, Abila Mons, has been disputed throughout history, with the two most likely candidates being Monte Hacho in Ceuta and Jebel Musa in Morocco. The term was applied in antiquity: Pliny the Elder included the Pillars of Hercules in his Naturalis historia (Book III:3).

Tariq ibn Ziyad (Arabic: طارق بن زياد Ṭāriq ibn Ziyād; c. 670 – c. 720), also known simply as Tarik in English, was an Umayyad commander who initiated the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula (present-day Spain and Portugal) against the Visigothic Kingdom in 711–718 AD. He led an army and crossed the Strait of Gibraltar from the North African coast, consolidating his troops at what is today known as the Rock of Gibraltar. The name "Gibraltar" is the Spanish derivation of the Arabic name Jabal Ṭāriq (جبل طارق), meaning 'mountain of Tariq', which is named after him.

Monte Hacho is a low mountain that overlooks the Spanish city of Ceuta, on the north coast of Africa. Monte Hacho is positioned on the Mediterranean coast at the Strait of Gibraltar opposite Gibraltar, and along with the Rock of Gibraltar is claimed by some to be one of the Pillars of Hercules (the other candidate for the southern pillar being Jebel Musa). According to the legend, Hercules pushed apart the two mountains and created a link between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.

In classical civilization it was possibly known as Mons Abila (Mount Abila or Abyla), although this title could refer to Jebel Musa instead.

Don Diego Esteban Gómez de Salinas y Rodríguez de Villarroel (Madrid, 3 August 1649 – 27 November 1720) was the last Spanish Governor of Gibraltar. He held the post when The Rock was captured by an Anglo-Dutch fleet in August 1704.

Forbes' Quarry is located on the northern face of the Rock of Gibraltar within the Upper Rock Nature Reserve in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The area was quarried during the 19th century to supply stone for reinforcing the fortress' military installations. In the course of the quarrying, a limestone cave was found. The second ever Neanderthal discovery was made within this cave when Cpt. Edmund Flint found the skull of an adult female Neanderthal in 1848.