The name is formed from the Arabic words gebel al Tank (the height or rock of Tank), since Tank Ibn Zeiad,.the general of the caliph Valid, at the time of the irruption of the Moors into Spain (711 A.D., and following years), landed at the foot of this rock (known as the aCalpea of antiquity and one of the "Pillars of Hercules' —Abyla in Africa being the other), where he founded a strong fortress. About the beginning of the 14th century it was taken from the Moors by Ferdinand, king of Castile, but in 1333 it was recovered by them, and was not finally acquired by the Spaniards till 1462, when it was taken in the reign of Henry IV. The Duke of Medina-Sidonia, who had assisted in gaining it for the Christians, took forcible pos session of it for himself, and it remained in the keeping of his family till 1501, when the Span ish sovereign got it into his own hands. The third duke unsuccessfully tried to recover it in 1506, by which time the fortress had undergone altogether some half score of sieges. The pirates of Algiers subsequently made an attack upon it, but were forced to retire. The German engineer, Speckel of Strassburg, in the reign of the Emperor Charles V, substituted for the old Moorish fortifications works in the European style. In the war of the Spanish Succession the Spaniards were obliged to surrender this fortress 4 Aug. 1704, to the British admiral, Rooke, assisted by a body of troops under Prince George of Darmstadt From October 1704 to April 1705 it was besieged by the Span iards. It was secured to Britain by the Peace
of Utrecht in 1713. Since this time nothing has been omitted by Britain to render this fortress, which forms a bulwark of her Mediterranean trade, absolutely impregnable. As the increas ing value of the place rendered the possession of Gibraltar more desirable to Spain, the siege of it was commenced 7 March 1727, but raised upon the approach of Admiral Wager, with 11 ships of the line. Spain then offered 12,000, 000 sterling for the delivery of the place, but in vain; and by a compact at Seville in 1729 Spain agreed to renounce all its claims upon it. Still the Spaniards omitted nothing to pre vent all entrance into the fortress, and to cut it off from the mainland, by constantly strength ening the lines of Saint Roch and Algeciras. But it was easy to supply the inhabitants and garrison by sea. In the war which broke out between Britain and Spain in 1779 the last at tempt was made for the recovery of Gibraltar.
It now underwent the famous four years' seige from 1779 till 1783, but was ably and success fully defended by General Elliot, afterward Lord Heathfield. It was secured to Britain by the peace of 1783. Since that time in the various British and Spanish and also French wars, Gibraltar has hien blockaded only on the land side. Consult Drinkwater, 'History of the Siege of (1785) ; Mann, 'History of Gibraltar' (1870) ; and Spilsbury, 'Journal of the Siege of Gibraltar' (1908).