Welcome to You Ask Andy

Fred Casados. age 11. of Los Angeles. Calif. question:

Will you tell some of the history of Gibraltar?

As impregnable as the Rock of Gibraltar' has become an expression. This famous stronghold is a mountain‑studded bit of land at the southern tip of Spain. A low. sandy causeway ties it to the mainland. On one side. sheer cliffs glower at the coast of Africa across 15 miles of water. There is a clear picture of Gibraltar in your gift books. You can see how it is a natural fortress. Study your map of the world and you may guess the importance of that rocky finger of land in world affairs.

The Greeks and the Romans called it Calpe and A1ybe: To them. its sheer cliffs and the cliffs of the African coast opposite were the Pillars of Hercules. Within this gateway rested the calm. safe Mediterranean Sea. Beyond it was the Sea of Darkness into which no mariner dared trespass. Then. as sailors got more ambitious. the Sea of Darkness became the everyday Atlantic Ocean. Gibraltar guarded the narrow gateway between it and the Mediterranean.

Ambitious traders were also pushing eastward from Europe. There came a time when the Suez Canal linked up a sea route to India and the Far East. Gibraltar stood guard over the rich traffic to and fro. It was a port of call between Western Europe and the Far East. No ship could pass in or out of the Western Mediterranean without crossing the strip of water under its frowning towers.

Way back in 711 A.D. Tarik ibu Zaid with 12,000 Arabs. took over the Rock. Its first castle stronghold was finished in 742. The square tower still stands and is called the Moorish Castle. What's more. Gibraltar is named in honor of Tarik ibu Zaid. It is a corruption of Jebel Tarik ‑Mount Tarik.

For many centuries. Spain warred with the Moors. The Rock was a bone of contention. Time after time it passed between Spanish and Moorish control. Around 1460. the Spanish. who loved the idea of invincible armadas and such believed they had made the Rock into an impregnable fortress Some 300 years later. the Dutch and British proved them wrong.

Britain's flag was first raised there in 1704. in the reign of Queen Anne. Spain allied with France to retake it. But a six month siege got them nowhere.. Spain tried again and twice agreed by treaty to leave the fortress in British hands. She made a last try when Britain was occupied with the War of Independence in America. At that time the fortress suffered a harrowing four year siege. Many tales are told of brave sailors who ran the blockade arid took food and supplies to the garrison. But the impregnable fortress remained and still remains in British hands.

Today it is a British crown colony. Guns man its cliffs and turrets. Garrison stations are tunneled deep in its rocks. Part of the invasion fleet set forth for Africa from Gibraltar in World War II. Some 2,000 people live there and enjoy Gibraltar's warm delightful climate. Wild olives and stone pine grow on the flat northern area. Barbary apes chatter and scramble up the rocky slopes. It is a sunny peaceful looking spot. But come trouble. the majestic fortress is ready with its bristling guns to guard the gateway to the Mediterranean.

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