History
- For full articles on the history of the north Gibraltar shore, see History of Gibraltar or History of Spain. For the full article on the history of the south Gibraltar shore, see History of Morocco.
Evidence of the first human habitation of the area by Neanderthals dates back to 125,000 years ago. In fact, it is believed that the Rock of Gibraltar may have been one of the last outposts of Neanderthal habitation in the world, with evidence of their presence there dating to as recently as only 24,000 years ago. Archaeological evidence of Homo sapiens habitation of the area dates back to ca. 40,000 years ago.
Beginning in 1492, the straits began to play a certain cultural role in acting as a barrier against cross-strait conquest and the flow of culture and language that would naturally follow such a conquest. In that year, the last Muslim government north of the straits was overthrown by a Spanish force. Since that time, the straits have come to foster the development of two very distinct and varied cultures on either side of the straits.
On the northern side, the Christian/European culture has remained dominant (as it used to be in the southern side too), along with the Latin-based Spanish language, while on the southern side, the markedly different Muslim-Arabic/Mediterranean culture came to dominate later, along with the Arabic language. For the last 500 years, religious and cultural intolerance, more than the small travel barrier that the straits present, has come to act as a powerful enforcing agent of the cultural separation that exists between these two groups.
The small British enclave of the city of Gibraltar presents a third cultural group found in the straits. This enclave was first established in 1704 and has since been used by Britain to act as a surety for control of the sea lanes into and out of the Mediterranean.
Following the Spanish coup of July 1936 the Spanish Republican Navy tried to blockade the Strait of Gibraltar to hamper the transport of Army of Africa troops from Spanish Morocco to Peninsular Spain. But on 5 August 1936 the so-called Convoy de la victoria was able to bring at least 2,500 men across the strait breaking the republican blockade.
Read more about this topic: Strait Of Gibraltar
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