The point or rock known as Gibraltar is a promontory two and one-half
miles long and from a quarter to three-quarters of a mile wide. It
rises abruptly from the sandy shore to a height at its highest point
of 1,408 ft. It is composed of gray limestone, honeycombed with caves
and subterranean passages, some of which contain most beautiful
stalactites in the form of massive pillars.
Gibraltar is emphatically a fortress, and in some respects its
fortifications are unique. On the eastern side the rock needs no
defense beyond its own precipitous cliffs, and in all other directions
it has been rendered practically impregnable. Besides a sea wall
extending at intervals round the western base of the rock, and
strengthened by curtains and bastions and three formidable forts,
there are batteries in all available positions from the sea wall up to
the summit, 1,350 feet above the sea, and a remarkable series of
galleries has been hewn out of the solid face of the rock toward the
north and northwest. These galleries have an aggregate length of
between two and three miles, and their breadth is sufficient to let a
carriage pass. Portholes are cut at intervals of twelve yards, so
contrived that the gunners are safe from the shot of any possible
assailants. At the end of one of the galleries hollowed out in a
prominent part of the cliff is St. George's Hall, 50 feet long by 85
feet wide, in which the governor was accustomed to give fetes.
Alterations, extensions, and improvements are continually taking place
in the defensive system, and new guns of the most formidable sort are
gradually displacing or supplementing the old fashioned ordnance.
The whole population of Gibraltar, whether civil or military, is
subjected to certain stringent rules. For even a day's sojourn the
alien must obtain a pass from the town major, and if he wish to remain
longer, a consul or householder must become security for his good
behavior. Licenses of residence are granted only for short
periods--ten, fifteen, or twenty days--but they can be renewed if
occasion require. Military officers may introduce a stranger for
thirty days. A special permit is necessary if the visitor wishes to
sketch.
Though the town of Gibraltar may be said to date from the fourteenth
century, it has preserved very little architectural evidence of its
antiquity. Rebuilt on an enlarged and improved plan after its almost
complete destruction during the great siege, it is still, on the
whole, a mean-looking town, with narrow streets and lanes and an
incongruous mixture of houses after the English and the Spanish types.
As a proprietor may at any moment be called upon to give up his house
and ground at the demand of the military authorities, he is naturally
deterred from spending his money on substantial or sumptuous
erections. The area of the town is about one hundred acres.
Gibraltar was known to the Greek and Roman geographers as Calpe or
Alybe, the two names being probably corruptions of the same local
(perhaps Phenician) word. The eminence on the African coast near
Ceuta, which bears the modern English name of Apes' Hill, was then
designated Abyla; and Calpe and Abyla, at least according to an
ancient and widely current interpretation, formed the renowned pillars
of Hercules (Herculis columnæ), which for centuries were the limits of
enterprise to the seafaring peoples of the Mediterranean world.
The strategic importance of the rock appears to have been first
discovered by the Moors, who, when they crossed over from Africa in
the eighth century, selected it as the site of a fortress. From their
leader, Tarik Ibn Zeyad, it was called Gebel Tarik or Tarik's Hill;
and, though the name had a competitor in Gebel af Futah, or Hill of
the Entrance, it gradually gained acceptance, and still remains
sufficiently recognizable in the corrupted form of the present day.
The first siege of the rock was in 1309, when it was taken by Alonzo
Perez de Guzman for Ferdinand IV. of Spain, who, in order to attract
inhabitants to the spot, offered an asylum to swindlers, thieves, and
murderers, and promised to levy no taxes on the import or export of
goods. The attack of Ismail Ben Ferez, in 1315 (second siege), was
frustrated; but in 1333 Vasco Paez de Meira, having allowed the
fortifications and garrison to decay, was obliged to capitulate to
Mahomet IV. (third siege). Alphonso's attempts to recover possession
(fourth siege) were futile, though pertinacious and heroic, and he was
obliged to content himself with a tribute for the rock from Abdul
Melek of Granada; but after his successful attack on Algeciras in 1344
he was encouraged to try his fortune again at Gibraltar. In 1349 he
invested the rock, but the siege (fifth siege) was brought to an
untimely close by his death from the plague in February, 1350. The
next or sixth siege resulted simply in the transference of the coveted
position from the hands of the King of Morocco to those of Yussef III.
of Granada; and the seventh, undertaken by the Spanish Count of
Niebla, Enrico de Guzman, proved fatal to the besieger and his forces.
In 1462, however, success attended the efforts of Alphonso de Arcos
(eighth siege), and in August the rock passed once more under
Christian sway. The Duke of Medina Sidonia, a powerful grandee who had
assisted in its capture, was anxious to get possession of the
fortress, and though Henry IV. at first managed to maintain the claims
of the crown, the duke ultimately made good his ambition by force of
arms (ninth siege), and in 1469 the king was constrained to declare
his son and his heirs perpetual governors of Gibraltar. In 1479
Ferdinand and Isabella made the second duke Marquis of Gibraltar, and
in 1492 the third duke, Don Juan, was reluctantly allowed to retain
the fortress. At length, in 1501, Garcilaso de la Vega was ordered to
take possession of the place in the king's name, and it was formally
incorporated with the domains of the crown. After Ferdinand and
Isabella were both dead the duke, Don Juan, tried in 1506 to recover
possession, and added a tenth to the list of sieges. Thirty-four years
afterward the garrison had to defend itself against a much more
formidable attack (eleventh siege)--the pirates of Algiers having
determined to recover the rock for Mahomet and themselves. The
conflict was severe, but resulted in the repulse of the besiegers.
After this the Spaniards made great efforts to strengthen the place,
and they succeeded so well that throughout Europe Gibraltar was
regarded as impregnable.
In the course of the war of the Spanish succession, however, it was
taken by a combined English and Dutch fleet under Sir George Rooke,
assisted by a body of troops under Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt.
The captors had ostensibly fought in the interests of Charles Archduke
of Austria (afterward Charles III.), but, though his sovereignty over
the rock was proclaimed on July 24, 1704, Sir George Rooke on his own
responsibility caused the English flag to be hoisted, and took
possession in name of Queen Anne. It is hardly to the honor of England
that it was both unprincipled enough to sanction and ratify the
occupation and ungrateful enough to leave unrewarded the general to
whose unscrupulous patriotism the acquisition was due. The Spaniards
keenly felt the injustice done to them, and the inhabitants of the
town of Gibraltar in great numbers abandoned their homes rather than
recognize the authority of the invaders. In October, 1704, the rock
was invested by sea and land; but the Spanish ships were dispersed by
Sir John Leake, and the Marquis of Villadarias fared so ill with his
forces that he was replaced by Marshal Tesse, who was at length
compelled to raise the siege in April, 1705. During the next twenty
years there were endless negotiations for the peaceful surrender of
the fortress, and in 1726 the Spaniards again appealed to arms. But
the Conde de la Torres, who had the chief command, succeeded no better
than his predecessors, and the defense of the garrison under General
Clayton and the Earl of Portmore was so effectual that the armistice
of June 23 practically put a close to the siege, though two years
elapsed before the general pacification ensued. The most memorable
siege of Gibraltar, indeed one of the most memorable of all sieges,
was that which it sustained from the combined land and sea forces of
France and Spain during the years 1779-1783. The grand attack on the
place was made on the 13th September, 1782, and all the resources of
power and science were exhausted by the assailants in the fruitless
attempt. On the side of the sea they brought to bear against the
fortress forty-six sail of the line and a countless fleet of gun and
mortar boats. But their chief hope lay in the floating batteries
planned by D'Arcon, an eminent French engineer, and built at the cost
of half a million sterling. They were so constructed as to be
impenetrable by the red hot shot which it was foreseen the garrison
would employ; and such hopes were entertained of their efficiency that
they were styled invincible. The Count D'Artois (afterward Charles X.)
hastened from Paris to witness the capture of the place. He arrived in
time to see the total destruction of the floating batteries and a
considerable portion of the combined fleet by the English fire.
Despite this disaster, however, the siege continued till brought to a
close by the general pacification, February 2, 1783. The history of
the four eventful years' siege is fully detailed in the work of
Drinkwater, who himself took part in the defense, and in the life of
its gallant defender Sir George Augustus Eliott, afterward Lord
Heathfield, whose military skill and moral courage place him among the
best soldiers and noblest men whom Europe produced during the 18th
century.
Since 1783 the history of Gibraltar has been comparatively uneventful.
In the beginning of 1801 there were rumors of a Spanish and French
attack, but the Spanish ships were defeated off Algeciras in June by
Admiral Saumarez. Improvements in the fortifications, maintenance of
military discipline, and legislation in regard to trade and smuggling
are the principal matters of recent interest.
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