"A Little Piece of Britain" a Gibraltar Travel Page by St_Vincent

This photo was taken from the Top of the Rock and shows the extent of land reclamation that has taken place over recent years. Look for the runway that extends out into the Bay of Gibraltar and remember this when you come into land and get worried about apparently landing in the water.

When you think of Gibraltar you automatically think of the sovereignty issue and wonder how this small chunk of rock hanging off the end of Spain can belong to Britain. Although Gibraltar has much older history, this particular issue came about at the beginning of the 18th Century and the death of King Charles II of Spain. He died without children and for political reasons there were three claims to the throne leading to the Spanish War of Succession which started in 1701. Many of the issues were finally resolved by a number of treaties under the banner of The Treaty of Utrecht under which Philip V was recognised as the King of Spain, but Spain's European empire was divided up. Gibraltar’s fate was covered by Article X signed on 13th July 1713 which included the following opening paragraph,

The Catholic King does hereby, for himself, his heirs and successors, yield to the Crown of Great Britain the full and entire propriety of the town and castle of Gibraltar, together with the port, fortifications, and forts thereunto belonging; and he gives up the said propriety to be held and enjoyed absolutely with all manner of right for ever, without any exception or impediment whatsoever.

Seems fairly clear you might think, but Spain was not prepared to accept the loss of Gibraltar and laid siege to the rock in 1727. But the British garrison stood firm and it was over within 5 months. A much longer siege, referred to as the Great Siege, took place between 1779 and 1782 when Spanish and French troops joined forces in another attempt to recapture the Rock. During this time a series of tunnels were excavated that criss-crossed the inside of the rock to aid the defences. (Part of this complex is now a tourist attraction and you can walk through and look out across the airport towards Spain). This was the last military attack on Gibraltar with the Treaty of Versailles marking the end of the war with Spain.

SOME OTHER NOTABLE EVENTS IN GIBRALTAR'S HISTORY

1805 - Following the Battle of Trafalgar, HMS Victory was towed into Gibraltar with Admiral Nelson's body on board preserved in a barrel of brandy. Although he wasn't buried there, Gibraltar commemorated him by the naming of Trafalgar Cemetery.

1848 - A skull was found in Forbes Quarry and although not known at the time it belonged to a prehistoric form of human being. Eight years later in the Neander Valley in Germany another was found hence the name Neanderthal Man. I guess it could have been Gibraltar Man if they had realised what they had found a bit earlier.

1869 - Gibraltar’s geographical location became more important to Britain when the Suez Canal opened making trade with India easier.

During the Second World War all civilians were evacuated to Britain, Jamaica or Madeira and British troops were moved in to protect the Rock from attack. It became an important point for supply lines and a base for the British Navy.

In 1969 General Franco closed the border with Spain and cut off all trade and communication links after an earlier referendum when the Gibraltarians overwhelmingly voted to continuing their links with Britain. The border was not fully opened again until 1985. Since that time Gibraltar has had an uneasy relationship with Spain which hasn't been helped by the British and Spanish Governments entering into various discussions over sovereignty issues.

I paid two interesting visits to Gibraltar in 2002. The first was in February when on my last day I joined a large demonstration at the Spanish border. In fact I had to join it as the airport is right by the border and the buses could not get anywhere near it so I had to walk. It really showed the passion that the Gibraltarians have about their links to Britain and the animosity towards the Spanish. Despite this there was a great deal of anger against the British Government, and Foreign Office Minister Peter Hain in particular, for entertaining any suggestions of joint sovereignty. Speaking to the demonstrators there was a clear sense that their wishes were being ignored and a fear that the British were going to let them down despite previous assurances. Many could just not understand why the British were even talking to the Spanish about sovereignty given their obvious opposition to it and the fact that Britain had signed a Constitution for Gibraltar in 1969 that read "Her Majesty's Government will never enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another state against their freely and democratically expressed wishes."

As these negotiations seemed ongoing the Gibraltar Government decided to pre-empt things and hold a referendum. Their intention was that, given the 1969 Constitution, the British could not continue negotiations if the concept of joint sovereignty were to be rejected by Gibraltar. The wording of the referendum was,

On the 12th July 2002 the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, in a formal statement in the House of Commons, said that after twelve months of negotiation the British Government and Spain are in broad agreement on many of the principles that should underpin a lasting settlement of Spain's sovereignty claim, which included the principle that United Kingdom and Spain should share sovereignty over Gibraltar.
Do you approve of the principle that Britain and Spain should share sovereignty over Gibraltar?

This referendum was held on 7th November 2002 and I was again lucky enough to be in Gibraltar at the time. It was a really exciting time to be there, the whole town was adorned with Gibraltar and Union Jack flags, everyone was talking about the vote and many people partied all night waiting for the result. All the more remarkable because the result was never in question although for the record an amazing 98.97% of people voted NO to the principle of shared sovereignty.

A clear message to both Governments you might think, but that is not the end of the story. Discussions continued, although in 2004 they did agreed to allow the Gibraltar Government to represent themselves in what was called an open agenda discussion forum (or tripartite talks). So at least now they had a voice and the first tripartite talks took place in July 2005. These were held in Faro, Portugal and centred mainly around joint use of Gibraltar's airport. I don't think any conclusion was reached.

Who knows what the future holds, but for now Gibraltar remains A Little Piece of Britain.