Spain’s historic claim, doesn’t ring true.....
......an article by DAVID EADE who has been reading an article entitled......
“Gibraltar, una tierra disputada durante siglos” by General D.Agustín Alcázar Segura.
The article appeared in the CISDE Observatorio whose banner tells us is an Observatorio de Inteligencia, Seguridad y Defensa.
I set out reading it, presuming the General was going to argue that the present dispute between Spain, Britain and Gibraltar over the Rock is nothing new and has been going on for many centuries.
Indeed I presume that was his intention, but his argument does not ring true.
He starts off by talking about Carteia which was founded by the Phoenicians in 940 BC and then speaks of its periods when Romans and later Barbarians ruled the roost.
All of which I am sure is true but of course Carteia is part of modern day San Roque and has little to do with Gibraltar.
The General then moves on to the arrival of Tarik on April 29 711, how he named the Rock, Yebel Tarik, which has over the years become Gibraltar.
It was in this period that Gibraltar became a fortress with a triple wall. It also had a port and an arsenal.
The article then arrives at the Re-conquest which largely passed Gibraltar by, but mentions the taking of Córdoba by Fernando III in 1238 and the foundation of the Kingdom of Granada which came up to Gibraltar’s gates.
We then go to 1309 when Fernando IV took Gibraltar for Spain after 598 years of Muslim rule but lost it again in 1333.
Over that century there were skirmishes between Spain and the Moors which continued into the 1400s before the Spanish retook it in 1462.
Of course during this period Andalucía was in a state of war with the battles between the Christians and Moors.
In 1506 Gibraltar became part of the domain of the Dukes of Medina Sidonia and finally during the 16 th and 17 th centuries there was a period of relative tranquillity given the times.
The General then arrives at 1704 and the rest we know well enough.
All the above dates are the General’s and I am sure they are correct.
However what he has described is largely the history of the Iberian Peninsula and not specifically the Rock. Indeed considering the mayhem in Al Andalus over the centuries Gibraltar got away fairly lightly.
If you look to British history you have the Romans, Vikings, Normans, various invasions over the Tudor periods and so on and so forth.
It is a far bloodier history than that of Gibraltar.
Gibraltar has always been a fortress largely due to its strategic position commanding the Strait, which has made it an obvious target for conquest.
My point here is that Gibraltar’s history is the Iberian Peninsula’s and Spain’s history simply because the Rock is attached to it.
The Rock has been at the centre of history but not more so than other places, perhaps even less.
The idea that the present conflict over Gibraltar’s territorial waters is a continuation of over 3,000 years of war over disputed territory simply doesn’t hold true.
Over the ages every piece of our earth has been disputed by some tribe or other: and will be for aeons to come.
What history does show us though, is that Gibraltar has only for a briefest period in modern history been “Spanish”.
Over the centuries it has been ruled by the Moors (over 700 years), then Spain (242 years), then Britain and during the latter period Gibraltar the nation came in to being.
The period when Gibraltar was “Spanish” was the shortest of all and that alone removes any historic claim that Spain might think it has over the Rock.
Panorama Gibraltar - 05/12/12
