What On Earth Is Gibraltar? (UK Overseas Territory)

14 kilometers north of Northern Morocco you will find the UK overseas territory of Gibraltar sitting Rock Bottom of southern Spain you will find a giant rock known as The Rock of Gibraltar the most dominating characteristic of this territory but why on Earth does the UK own this piece of land within the southern Iberian Peninsula and what is life like there well it all started back in 1704 during the war of the Spanish succession where an anglo-dutch Fleet captured the region of Gibraltar nine years later the Spanish officially ceded the region to the British today it has its own government and is self-governing in most aspects although the UK is responsible for its defense and Foreign Affairs the name Gibraltar is actually Arabic and comes from an 8th Century military leader named Tariq IBN Ziad which then gave jabal Tariq which means mountain of Tariq you can kind of see where the name Gibraltar came from from Japan Tariq sort of similar sounding right over the years Gibraltar has remained a continuous issue between the UK and Spain Spain asserts a territorial claim over Gibraltar and has occasionally sought its return but the people of Gibraltar have consistently expressed their desire to remain under British rule the most recent and referendum held in Gibraltar in 2002 showed an overwhelming support to remain British over 99 however during the referendum to vote whether to remain or leave the EU an overwhelming 75 percent of the people of Gibraltar voted to remain so when they woke up on the 23rd of June 2016 it's fair to say the people of this territory were not happy speaking of the people of Gibraltar how many of them live there so the territory has a population of around 33 to 34 000 meaning if this territory was to break away from the UK and become its own Nation it would be the fifth least populated it has a population ever so smaller than San Marino at just 6.8 kilometers squared the territory is Tiny only two other countries are smaller in terms of land size Monaco and Vatican City this means that the population density of Gibraltar is around 3400 people per kilometers squared this makes it around 12 times more densely populated than the UK itself and in fact makes it the fifth most densely populated place on Earth English is the official language there with schools and businesses primarily using it although as you'd expect a lot of people also speak Spanish interestingly some people of Gibraltar also speak yanito which is a form of Andalusian Spanish mixed with words from English and other languages such as Maltese Portuguese and Italian the GDP of Gibraltar is around 2.4 billion pounds giving a GDP per capita of around 72 000 pounds which is actually extremely high and in fact more than double of that of the UK is however this data is an estimate to take it with a pinch of salt Gibraltar actually has its own currency the Gibraltar pound or Gip which is actually pegged to the British pound meaning one Gip equals one Great British pound the economy of Gibraltar mainly relies on the services sector with tourism finance and shipping being important however weirdly online gambling is also a huge part of gibraltar's economy where an estimated 25 of its GDP comes from as well as around 3 500 people working within this sector but why exactly why is this tiny territory so favorable for online gambling companies well companies based in Gibraltar paid 10 corporation tax on top of that there's no capital gains tax or value-added tax or vat which makes it an extremely attractive proposition to the companies that are best there with online businesses honestly Gibraltar is starting to sound like a really good place to live which takes us nicely to the next segment their incredible climate the climate as you'd expect in these Southern Iberian Peninsula is super desirable Winters are gen mild and summers are nice and hot the highest temperature ever recorded in Gibraltar was 40.6 degrees Celsius Which is incrementally higher than the UK's highest of 40.3 but generally apart from the Mediterranean weather life is quite similar to that of the UK the laws monarchy language and currency are all the same although something I found that was interesting is that in the UK we drive on the left side of the road but in Gibraltar they drive on the right this is probably because it's physically connected to Spain who drives on the right also it would be a bit chaotic if you were to cross the border and have to switch side of the road so as mentioned earlier the most dominating and iconic feature of this territory has to be the big old rock which at its highest point stands 426 meters tall which is 100 meters taller than the Eiffel Tower the rock is also famously home to around 300 Barbary macau's which are the only no owned wild monkeys in the continent of Europe the population of macau's in Africa is decreasing due to hunting and deforestation however in Gibraltar their population is actually thriving and increasing which isn't particularly great news for the locals who have to deal with their Antics but anyways less monkeys and back to the big old rock which was formed around 55 million years ago when the African tectonic plates collided with the European plate the inside of the rock is crisscross by a great and complex system of underground fortifications known as the great Siege Turtles this network of tunnels was created by the British in 1782 during the Great Siege of Gibraltar by the Spanish after The Siege the fortifications were rebuilt and are now a tourist attraction Gibraltar sits on no other than the Gibraltar Strait which is a narrow strip of water that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea it is located between the southern coast of Spain and the northern coast of Morocco in North Africa this is one of the reasons why the UK absolutely does not want to give up Gibraltar as this is one of the most important and busiest shipping channels in the world it is about 14 kilometers wide at its narrowest Point making it a crucial passage for ships traveling between the Mediterranean and the rest of the world the Gibraltar Strait is not only important for shipping and marine life but also has political and economic significance it serves as a Gateway between Europe and Africa and the surrounding countries rely on it for trade and tourism with Gibraltar being an overseas territory it doesn't really have a capital city some sources state that the capital is itself Gibraltar but it is more generally accepted that west side is its de facto Capital it lies between the Western slopes of the Rock of Gibraltar and the Eastern shores of the Bay of Gibraltar in 2012 it was inhabited by around 26 000 people around 78 of the territory's total population something interesting I spotted was that gibraltar's life expectancy especially for men is rather low at 75 years especially considering that it sits in the Mediterranean which usually has an above average life expectancy now for some reason I had a bit of a hunch that perhaps smoking rates are high here which would drive down that average life expectancy a quick Google search and yet my instinctive thought was correct around 35 percent of adults smoke in Gibraltar one of the highest in the world so there we have it the tiny but interesting UK territory of Gibraltar explained if you love this sort of content consider dropping a like and if you love it consider subscribing as you can always unsubscribe whenever you like so thank you very much for watching and we will see you very soon in our next fascinating video

Channel: The Geography Bible

Views: 961,446

Keywords: geography, the geography bible, interesting geography, geography now, geography facts, fun geography facts, geography uk, Gibraltar, gibraltar, rock of gibraltar, gibraltar guide, things to do in gibraltar, gibraltar travel, #1 gibraltar, gibraltar rock, visit gibraltar, gibraltar monkeys, gibraltar weather, gibraltar airport, gibraltar things to do, gibraltar town centre, gibraltar travel guide, rock of gibraltar monkeys, gibraltar uk, gibraltar 4k, gibralta

Id: XR-YMtHyCbI

Length: 8min 21sec (501 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 11 2023