P erhaps one of the most inconvenient places to live, Gibraltar is also one of the most strategic points in the world. It marks the entrance to the Mediterranean sea, and all traffic headed in or out must pass the rock’s stern gaze. The peninsula has changed hands between the Spanish and Arabs for thousands of years. Finally, in the 18th century is became a British possession in the War of Spanish Secession. It became a permanent part of the British empire with the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Having a British colony on their doorstep has never sat well with the Spanish who have tried more than a dozen times to take the land back by force. Today Gibraltar remains a thorn in the side of international relations between those two countries, and a banking and espionage haven for others. Spain demands that the land be returned. Britain maintains that it will let Gibraltar go if that’s what its people want. However, the people have repeatedly voted overwhelmingly to remain part of the British Empire.
Mal Walker
Five stars.