Where and what is Gibraltar?… as a matter of fact, it is a British overseas territory occupying a tiny peninsula in Spain’s southern Mediterranean coastline, just north-east of the Strait of Gibraltar, on the east side of the Bay of Gibraltar, and directly south of the Spanish city of La Línea de la Conception.

It is 5 km (3 miles) long and 1.2 km (0.75 miles) wide and is connected to Spain by a low, sandy isthmus that is 1 mile (1.6 km) long. Its name is derived from Arabic: Jabal Ṭāriq (Mount Tarik), honouring Ṭāriq ibn Zeyād, who captured the peninsula in 711. The rock is a heavily fortified British air and naval base that guards the Strait of Gibraltar, which is the only entrance to the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean. Ever since the 18th century, Gibraltar has been a symbol of British naval strength, and it is commonly known in that context as “the Rock.”

With the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, the Rock of Gibraltar increased in strategic importance, and its position as a provisioning port was greatly enhanced. Furthermore, since World War II the British military garrison and naval dockyard have continued to be an important part of Gibraltar’s economy and NATO naval operations.

The Rock of Gibraltar is one of the Pillars of Heracles (Hercules); the other has been identified as one of two peaks in northern Africa: Mount Abyla, near the city of Ceuta (the Spanish exclave on the Moroccan coast), or Jebel Moussa (Musa), in Morocco. The Pillars of Hercules—which, according to Homer, were created when Heracles broke the mountain that had connected Africa to Europe—defined the western limits of navigation for the ancient Mediterranean world.