History UsefulNotes / Gibraltar

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* '''Area:''' 6.8 km (2.6 sq mi)

* '''Area:''' 6.8 km
(2.6 sq mi)

[[https://www.polandballwiki.com/wiki/Gibraltarball Gibraltarball]] of the ''Webcomic/{{Polandball}}'' comics.

* [[https://polandball.wikia.com/wiki/Gibraltarball Gibraltarball]] of the ''Webcomic/{{Polandball}}'' comics.

** Mayor: John Gonçalves

* In ''Literature/DoubleShot'', the bad guys enact a series of events that are supposed set up Literature/JamesBond for crimes that he didn't commit, which are to end with Gibraltar being given back to Spain.

AKA The Rock, it remains an important military location for [[UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships the British Armed Forces]]. In the 20th century, the largest of the 3 Gibraltar drydocks (272 metres long and 38 metres wide) defined the upper size limit for Royal Navy warships. Gibraltar has over the years become synonymous with the notion of an impregnable fortress, with other prominent fortresses and military bases around the world ending up with the nickname "the Gibraltar of X".

The British conquered the place in 1704 from Spain. The Spanish want it back, or at least dual sovereignty. The locals are highly against ''that'' (rejecting the proposal received just under '''99%''' of the vote, and Britain stated they will not enter into any agreement without strong support from locals), and they back up their argument rather convincingly with a piece of paper signed in 1713 by Spain at Utrecht giving up possession of Gibraltar ''forever''. Spain has periodically attempted to retake the Rock by force, such as during the aforementioned Great Siege, the longest endured by the British military (4 years), which saw feats of gallantry from both sides. During UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler offered it to UsefulNotes/FranciscoFranco in exchange for his support of the Axis war effort. Franco, however, demanded both Gibraltar ''and'' the remnants of the French Empire, which Hitler wasn't prepared to promise. Franco's intransigence was helped by the British bribing him and his top generals a vast amount of money into staying out. Still, the British prepared emergency plans in case Spain and/or Germany were to invade the place, and among those was a certain intelligence officer named Creator/IanFleming. The code name of those plans? "Operation Goldeneye".

A small peninsula located on the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula near the southern tip of UsefulNotes/{{Spain}}, Gibraltar is a [[UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom British]] Overseas Territory in Southern Europe, and was where the Moors first landed in Europe (the name "Gibraltar" may be derived from the Arabic phrase Jabal Tariq, literally Tariq's mount, after an early leader of the Muslim conquest of Iberia), dominated by the famed [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_of_Gibraltar Rock of Gibraltar]].

* ''A Dangerous Place'' by Creator/JacquelineWinspear has her heroine Maisie Dobbs involved in murder and intrigue in 1937 Gibraltar.

* ''Shadow of the Rock'' by Thomas Mogford, along with his other novels starring the Gibraltarian lawyer Spike Sanguinetti.

The British military in fact dug 55 kilometres (34 miles) worth of tunnels into the Rock over a period of around 200 years, twice as long as the entire local road network, to contain all the men, equipment, food etc. to withstand a prolonged siege. The last was constructed in 1968, after which, as Britain's military presence reduced, they were less needed. Some have been turned into tourist attractions, two into roads and many of the others deemed off-limits or even sealed for safety reasons. The tunnels served as direct inspiration for Creator/GeorgeRRMartin, who based Casterly Rock, home of the Lannisters, [[https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2022/12/23/a-couple-of-rocks/ on Gibraltar]], then turned it UpToEleven.

A small peninsula located on the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula near the southern tip of UsefulNotes/{{Spain}}, Gibraltar is a [[UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom British]] Overseas Territory in Southern Europe, and was where the Moors first landed in Europe (the name "Gibraltar" may be derived from the Arabic phrase Jabal Tariq, literally Tariq's mount, after an early leader of the Muslim conquest of Iberia), dominated by the famed [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_of_Gibraltar Rock of Gibraltar]]. It is the only part of the UK in mainland Europe, and one of the only two British territories where people drive on the right side of the road, the other being the UsefulNotes/BritishIndianOceanTerritory.

AKA The Rock, it remains an important military location for [[UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships the British Armed Forces]]. In the 20th century, the largest of the 3 Gibraltar drydocks (272 metres long and 38 metres wide) defined the upper size limit for Royal Navy warships. Gibraltar has over the years become synonymous with the notion of an impregnable fortress, with other prominent fortresses and military bases around the world ending up with the nickname "the Gibraltar of X". As one of the Pillars of Hercules, it is a vital access point from the Mediterranean into the North Atlantic. (Rather ironically, one of the proposed African Pillars of Hercules is... Monte Hacho, in UsefulNotes/{{Ceuta}}, which is a Spanish territory that would but for the vagaries of history be in UsefulNotes/{{Morocco}}.[[note]]As for why Ceuta didn't become known as an impregnable fortress like Gibraltar despite sharing similar geographical advantages and the same strategic location? Largely because Spain didn't have the might of the Royal Navy to turn it into a major military base. Gibraltar's geography certainly makes it ridiculously difficult to seize by force, but any isolated fortress can be starved out via a siege. British naval might was so great that Gibraltar was never truly "isolated"; even if Spain and France had sent their ''entire'' navies to participate in the blockade during the Great Siege, the British could ''still'' send an even larger force to break through. The Spanish Navy simply wasn't large enough to justify a base on the same scale as Gibraltar. Which is probably actually to Spain's benefit; if 18th century Britain had gotten the idea that Ceuta was as valuable as Gibraltar, they probably would've just conquered it ''too''.[[/note]] Naturally, the Moroccans are about as pleased with this arrangement as the Spaniards are about Gibraltar.)

* Gibraltar's sole airfield gained notoriety on the History Channel documentary "Most Extreme Airports" for having the area's primary motor-traffic thoroughfare actually '''bisect''' the airfield's one and only runway. Photos of the airport have made their round in e-mails, saying "Look at this!" For the record, ''{{WebSite/Snopes}}'' does confirm the images are completely real.
** That said, there have been plans to renovate the airport's terminal that include moving that road into a tunnel '''beneath''' the runway, but this has suffered rather major ScheduleSlip.

->God save our gracious Queen!
->Long live our noble Queen!
->God save the Queen!
->Send her victorious,

->God save the Queen!

** Monarch: Elizabeth II

[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rockgibraltar.jpeg]]

AKA The Rock, it remains an important military location for [[UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships the British Armed Forces]]. In the 20th century, the largest of the 3 Gibraltar drydocks (272 meters long and 38 meters wide) defined the upper size limit for Royal Navy warships. Gibraltar has over the years become synonymous with the notion of an impregnable fortress, with other prominent fortresses and military bases around the world ending up with the nickname "the Gibraltar of X". As one of the Pillars of Hercules, it is a vital access point from the Mediterranean into the North Atlantic. (Rather ironically, one of the proposed African Pillars of Hercules is... Monte Hacho, in UsefulNotes/{{Ceuta}}, which is a Spanish territory that would but for the vagaries of history be in UsefulNotes/{{Morocco}}.[[note]]As for why Ceuta didn't become known as an impregnable fortress like Gibraltar despite sharing similar geographical advantages and the same strategic location? Largely because Spain didn't have the might of the Royal Navy to turn it into a major military base. Gibraltar's geography certainly makes it ridiculously difficult to seize by force, but any isolated fortress can be starved out via a siege. British naval might was so great that Gibraltar was never truly "isolated"; even if Spain and France had sent their ''entire'' navies to participate in the blockade during the Great Siege, the British could ''still'' send an even larger force to break through. The Spanish Navy simply wasn't large enough to justify a base on the same scale as Gibraltar. Which is probably actually to Spain's benefit; if 18th century Britain had gotten the idea that Ceuta was as valuable as Gibraltar, they probably would've just conquered it ''too''.[[/note]] Naturally, the Moroccans are about as pleased with this arrangement as the Spaniards are about Gibraltar.)

->Unlike most British Overseas Territories, this flag is not a British Ensign. Instead, it consists of a white stripe twice as wide as that of the red below. At the center is a red castle with three towers and a golden key dangling below, symbolizing both the fortress-peninsula itself and its strategic position as one of the Pillars of Hercules, respectively.

AKA The Rock, it remains an important military location for [[UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships the British Armed Forces]]. In the 20th century, the largest of the 3 Gibraltar drydocks (272 meters long and 38 meters wide) defined the upper size limit for Royal Navy warships. Gibraltar has over the years become synonymous with the notion of an impregnable fortress, with other prominent fortresses and military bases around the world ending up with the nickname "the Gibraltar of X". As one of the Pillars of Hercules, it is a vital access point from the Mediterranean into the North Atlantic. (Rather ironically, one of the proposed African Pillars of Hercules is... Monte Hacho, in UsefulNotes/{{Ceuta}}, which is a Spanish territory that would but for the vagaries of history be in UsefulNotes/{{Morocco}}.[[note]]As for why Ceuta didn't become known as an impregnable fortress like Gibraltar despite sharing similar geographical advantages and the same strategic location? Largely because Spain didn't have the might of the Royal Navy to turn it into a major military base. The Spanish Navy simply wasn't large enough to justify a base on the same scale as Gibraltar. Which is probably actually to Spain's benefit; if 18th century Britain had gotten the idea that Ceuta was as valuable as Gibraltar, they probably would've just conquered it ''too''.[[/note]] Naturally, the Moroccans are about as pleased with this arrangement as the Spaniards are about Gibraltar.)

* ''Seroes/NewTricks'' has a two part episode set here, investigating the murder of a shipping company owner's son, and of a boy who lived in Gibraltar itself.

AKA The Rock, it remains an important military location for [[UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships the British Armed Forces]]. Gibraltar has over the years become synonymous with the notion of an impregnable fortress, with other prominent fortresses and military bases around the world ending up with the nickname "the Gibraltar of X". As one of the Pillars of Hercules, it is a vital access point from the Mediterranean into the North Atlantic. (Rather ironically, one of the proposed African Pillars of Hercules is... Monte Hacho, in UsefulNotes/{{Ceuta}}, which is a Spanish territory that would but for the vagaries of history be in UsefulNotes/{{Morocco}}. Naturally, the Moroccans are about as pleased with this arrangement as the Spaniards are about Gibraltar.)

* The first scenes of ''Film/TheLivingDaylights'' show a military exercise on Gibraltar, in which Film/JamesBond and the other 00s participate. A 00 imposter murders 004 during the exercise and a chase through the tourist zone ensues with Bond. Some Barbary macaques can be seen, with one startling Bond.

It probably had lions at some point.

It's famous for the Barbary Macaque or "Barbary Ape" (actually monkeys), which are the only European monkeys. Legend has it that during Spain's Great Siege during UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution, a rather trope-heavy defense of the fortress and Britain's only major success of the war, Moroccan blockade runners opposed to Spain brought limes in their dhows... and monkeys. In this way the monkeys became symbols of British rule, and during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, when their population was in decline, it is said that UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill authorized Emergency Monkey Relief. Perhaps this is not true, but it should be. These days, the monkeys primarily steal food from tourists.

* Gibraltar has an entry in ''TabletopGame/MutantsAndMasterminds: Atlas of Earth-Prime''. In the ''TabletopGame/FreedomCity'' world there is a WWII-era military robot prototype abandoned in the tunnels beneath the Rock, and a supervillain once tried to magically drive the macaques off the peninsula, instead creating an elemental vortex that is waiting to empower someone as the Spirit of Gibraltar.

* Gibraltar has an entry in ''TabletopGame/MutantsAndMasterminds: Atlas of Earth-Prime''. In the ''TabletopGame/FreedomCity'' world there is a WWII-era military robot prototype abandoned in the tunnels beneath the Rock, and a supervillain once tried to magically drive the macaques off the island, instead creating an elemental vortex that is waiting to empower someone as the Spirit of Gibraltar.

[[AG: TabletopGames]]