Gibraltar

Long ago, Gibraltar, Spain and Morocco were connected but after the Atlantic Ocean flooded into the Mediterranean, the 9-mile-wide Strait of Gibraltar was formed. Gibraltar, nicknamed ‘Gib’ or ‘The Rock’, is a 2½-mile-long limestone outcrop which came into British sovereignty in 1704. Since 2006 its Constitution has given it self-government with the UK responsible for external matters.

Its strategic position at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea has been invaluable to the UK. Its airport is owned by the Ministry of Defence and the runway has been extended into the sea to cater for civilian aircraft as well. Tourism, financial services, shipping and the military provide the major sources of income for Gibraltar, the world’s fifth most densely-populated nation.

Spain has long since wished to reclaim Gibraltar, but the population of 32,000 identify themselves as ‘British Gibraltarians’ and have twice voted overwhelmingly to remain under the UK’s wing. The 1969-85 Spanish closure of the border only helped to solidify their British allegiance. The official language is English and there is also ‘Llanito’ or ‘Yanito’, a code-switching mixture of English, Andalusian Spanish, Italian, Genoese, Arabic, Hebrew, Maltese and Portuguese.

Notice the main road (Winston Churchill Avenue) crossing the runway at the end of this video:-

(Top image [cropped] showing Gibraltar, top left: Riccardo Rossi at Flickr.com (courtesy of eol.jsc.nasa.gov) / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)