A small peninsula located on the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula near the southern tip of Spain, Gibraltar is a 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 Rock of Gibraltar
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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 British Indian Ocean Territory.
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 The American Revolution, 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 World War II, when their population was in decline, it is said that Winston Churchill authorized Emergency Monkey Relief. Perhaps this is not true, but it should be. These days, the monkeys primarily steal food from tourists. Gibraltar probably had lions at some point as well.
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 World War II, Adolf Hitler offered it to Francisco Franco 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 Nazi Germany were to invade the place, and among those was a certain intelligence officer named Ian Fleming. The code name of those plans? "Operation Goldeneye".
AKA The Rock, it remains an important military location for 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 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 George R. R. Martin, who based Casterly Rock, home of the Lannisters, on Gibraltar.
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 Ceuta, which is a Spanish territory that would but for the vagaries of history be in Morocco.note Naturally, the Moroccans are about as pleased with this arrangement as the Spaniards are about Gibraltar.)
Examples of Gibraltar in media:
Advertising
- An image of the Rock of Gibraltar has been used by Prudential Insurance (later known as Prudential Financial Services) since the 1890's, along with the slogans "The Strength of The Rock" and "Get a Piece of The Rock". In some countries, Prudential even operates under the brand name of "Gibraltar Life".
Anime and Manga
- In the Cosmic Era timeline of the Gundam franchise, ZAFT's largest planetside base is in Gibraltar. Athrun visits it at least once in each series, and notably in the second visit, he manages to escape from it when he's declared a traitor on trumped-up charges.
Films — Animation
- In Sky Blue, the characters spend most of the movie talking about the wonderful lives they'll have when they go to Gibraltar after the fall of Ecoban.
- In Toy Story, the name of the wrestler action figure Rocky Gibraltar is a play off the rock's name. His mask has the shape of the rock, and he even has a picture of the rock itself on his belt.
Films — Live-Action
- In Das Boot, when the German U-Boot is ordered to enter the Mediterranean from the Atlantic, the sailors are sure they are going to die, as the British used Gibraltar to close off access, with many a war ship and fast attack craft. They end up surviving that death trap, though not without the fear of their life.
- The first scenes of The Living Daylights show a military exercise on Gibraltar, in which James Bond 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.
Literature
- A Dangerous Place by Jacqueline Winspear has her heroine Maisie Dobbs involved in murder and intrigue in 1937 Gibraltar.
- In the Emberverse, Gibraltar survived, and became the launching pad for British recolonisation of western Europe. Sir Nigel Loring, wait, no, just Nigel Loring, was offered Governorship of Gibraltar.
- In DoubleShot, the bad guys enact a series of events that are supposed to set up James Bond for crimes that he didn't commit, which are to end with Gibraltar being given back to Spain.
- Mentioned as a refueling stop in Lord of the Flies, the aeroplane doesn't end up in the sea at Gibraltar, but rather somewhere over the Pacific.
- Shadow of the Rock by Thomas Mogford, along with his other novels starring the Gibraltarian lawyer Spike Sanguinetti.
- The Sullivan and Broderick crime series by Robert Daws.
- A Vision of Battlements is a 1965 satire by Anthony Burgess, based on his experiences serving on the Rock during World War two.
Live-Action Television
- 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, the road having to close each time a plane landed. Photos of the airport have made their round in e-mails, saying "Look at this!" For the record, Snopes does confirm the images were completely real.
- Sadly for enthusiasts, but probably safer for everyone, the road and associated pedestrian walkway were transferred into a newly-built tunnel in 2023.
- The Sandbaggers had an early episode set on Gib.
- New Tricks 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.
- Gibraltar has an entry in Mutants & Masterminds: Atlas of Earth-Prime. In the Freedom City 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 in the belief that this would weaken Britain, instead creating an elemental vortex that is waiting to empower someone as the Spirit of Gibraltar.
- Mark Steel's In Town had an episode set in Gibraltar. Mark's jokes included the abovementioned runway, why there were so many cars and motor scooters in a territory you could jog around ("Apparently people complain about all the scooters on the road. And it must be bad if it's worse than the planes!") and, when he learned that the size of Gibralter was decided as the length of a cannon shot, whether they could try again with a more powerful modern weapon.
- Gibraltar was taken over by the Empire of Japan and subsequently liberated by the allies in the allied campaign in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3.
- A futurized Gibraltar appears as one of the maps in Battlefield 2142.
- Gib is also featured as a map in Overwatch.
- Fort Gale, a track in WipEout Pulse, is set near a weather control station straddling the Rock of Gibraltar.
- Wolfenstein: The New Order: The victorious Nazis build the Gibraltar Bridge, a superstructure meant to connect the European continent to Africa.
- Call of Duty: WWII has a Gibraltar map.
- Gibraltarball of the Polandball comics.
Web Original
- Gibraltar was nuked by the Soviets during Doomsday in 1983: Doomsday. Post-war, both the Celtic Alliance and New Britain still lay a claim on the ruins of Gib. It is currently being discussed turning the area into a international zone set up by the reformed League of Nations.
- Great Nuclear War: Gibraltar was invaded and then incorporated by Francoist Spain in 1968 following the 1962 nuclear war between the US and the USSR.
- Scotland says "Yes": The Spanish accuse the British based in Gibraltar of supporting Spanish separatists.
Western Animation
- Shaggy mentions Prince Omar and the Rock of Gibraltar could be second cousins upon finding him petrified in Scooby-Doo in Where’s My Mummy?.
The Gibraltarian flag
The British National Anthem
The Gibraltarian National Song
Government
- Devolved representative democratic parliamentary dependency under a constitutional monarchy
- Monarch: Charles III
- Governor: Sir David Steel
- Chief Minister: Fabian Picardo
- Mayor: Carmen Gomez
Miscellaneous
- Capital: Gibraltar
- Largest district by population: Westside
- Population: 34,003
- Area: 6.8 km² (2.6 sq mi)
- Currency: Gibraltar pound (£) (GIP)
- ISO-3166-1 Code: GI
