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Why Does the U.K. Own Gibraltar?
The story behind the little piece of Britain in the south of Spain
The Iberian peninsula is made up of five countries: Andorra, France, Portugal, Spain, and the U.K. It might come as a surprise to some that the U.K. has territory on the Mediterranean, but it’s true — here’s why.
In the year 1700, King Charles II of Spain died and, given that he had no children, he chose Philip, Duke of Anjou of the House of Bourbon, in France, to succeed him. Naturally, this angered the majority of people as it meant Spain would be under heavy French influence, and therefore, war broke out.
Most of Europe, including the U.K., united against Spain and France, and in 1704, English and Dutch soldiers landed in Gibraltar and seized it to prevent the enemy from entering the Mediterranean Sea.
In 1713, in return for Britain leaving the war immediately, Spain agreed to let them keep Gibraltar forever, as its original Spanish population had all fled to Spain during the war and the peninsula had little use to the Spanish government.
The English decided to use it as a key naval base and the English population there grew over the following years.
Spain began to see the value in such a prime naval base and tried to recapture the land three times…
