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HISTORY
TODAY
Part of the Mertramar Group with offices in:
Algeciras, Cadiz, Malaga, Sevilla and Madrid.
www.mertramar.com |
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Gibraltar is a port and
city located at the western entrance to the Mediterranean, and forms
the eastern shore of a bay that has been a haven for vessels transiting
the Strait of Gibraltar since the earliest days of sea faring.
The Phoenicians and the Carthaginians were the first known over-seas
visitors to ‘Calpe’ c 950 BC. The name Gibraltar originates
from the Berber Tarik-ibn-Zeyad who landed at the southern end of
the rock in 711 AD. The name ‘Gibraltar’ is thought to
be a corruption of the Arabic words ‘Jebel Tarik’ (Tarik’s
mountain).
The Moors and the Spanish battled over Gibraltar until it was invaded
by an Anglo-Dutch force during the War of the Spanish Succession.
It was yielded to the Crown of Great Britain ‘for ever’
under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 and has been a strategic naval
base for the British ever since. Gibraltar remains a British territory
and is a member of the EU under the British Treaty of Accession. |
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