Gibraltar and the ‘British Mediterranean’: an overview

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article traces the role of Gibraltar in British strategies and policies in the Mediterranean and in relations with Spain from its seizure in 1704 to post-Brexit. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries this was shaped by accident and contingency rather than any strategic logic. Later, a Gibraltarian identity emerged. Pragmatism has shaped developments after Brexit allowing Gibraltar to bed down anew in a symbiotic relationship with its Spanish surrounds, along the grain of history and underlying inclinations.