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The Rock of Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a huge rock found to the south of Spain. The region belongs to the United Kingdom. On one side there is the Bay of Algeciras, and on the other the Mediterranean Sea. Gibraltar borders the town of La Linea de la Concepción, part of the county of Cádiz.
Gibraltar is situated at the southern end of Europe with a land frontier to Spain on its northern front.
It sits at the joining of the Atlantic Ocean with the Mediterranean Sea.
The stretch of water that separates Gibraltar from north Africa is called the Strait of Gibraltar and throughout history has played a strategic part in battles fought and won to control the western Mediterranean seaways.
In ancient times Gibraltar was one of the Pillars of Hercules.
It was known to the Greeks as Mons Calpe, the other pillar being Mons Abyla on the Moroccan side of the Strait.
Gibraltar marked the limit to the known world. To pass beyond it was to sail to certain destruction over the bottomless waterfall at the edge of the world. Thus the many findings of offerings made to the Gods by these and other civilisations such as the Phoenicians and Carthaginians in the many caves on the shorelines. Intrinsically linked with the sea, Gibraltar is one of the busiest ports of call in the Mediterranean.
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