Facts in brief:
Rocky, narrow peninsula of strategic importance, coextensive with British crown colony; was known to the Greeks & others as one of the Pillars of Hercules; fortified by Tariq the Moor in 711; retaken by Spanish in 1462, & conquered by Britain in 1704; official language is English, though Spanish is widely spoken.
"Gibraltar" is derived from "Jabal Tariq" - "Mount Tarik" in Arabic, for the conquerer Tariq ibn Ziyad.
Courtesy of Getty Thesaurus of Geographic NamesTM
( TGN )
Copyright © 2000
The J. Paul Getty Trust. All rights reserved.
You are visitor no. 
