page_title: Status of Gibraltar
section_title: Capture of Gibraltar and the Treaty of Utrecht
hierarchical_section_title: Status of Gibraltar / Capture of Gibraltar and the Treaty of Utrecht
caption_attribution_description: English: Statue of Admiral George Rooke who captured Gibraltar in August 1704
context_page_description: Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory, located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, is the subject of an irredentist territorial claim by Spain. It was captured in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession. The Spanish Crown formally ceded the territory in perpetuity to the British Crown in 1713, under Article X of the Treaty of Utrecht. Spain later attempted to recapture the territory during the thirteenth siege and the Great Siege. British sovereignty over Gibraltar was confirmed in later treaties signed in Seville and the Treaty of Paris.
  Reclamation of the territory became government policy under the regime of the dictator Francisco Franco and has remained in place under successive governments following the Spanish transition to democracy. The Gibraltarians themselves reject any such claim and no political party or pressure group in Gibraltar supports union with Spain. In a referendum in 2002 the people of Gibraltar rejected a joint sovereignty proposal on which Spain and the United Kingdom were said to have reached "broad agreement". The British Government now refuses to discuss sovereignty without the consent of the Gibraltarians.
context_section_description: Gibraltar was captured in 1704 by a force led by Admiral Sir George Rooke representing the Grand Alliance on behalf of the Archduke Charles, pretender to the Spanish Throne. After the battle, almost all of the inhabitants decided to leave. Spanish attempts to regain the territory in the Twelfth Siege of Gibraltar failed, and it was eventually ceded to the Kingdom of Great Britain by Spain in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht as part of the settlement of the War of the Spanish Succession. In that treaty, Spain ceded to Great Britain "the full and entire propriety of the town and castle of Gibraltar, together with the port, fortifications, and forts thereunto belonging ... for ever, without any exception or impediment whatsoever."
  Should the British Crown ever wish to relinquish Gibraltar, a reversion clause holds that the territory would first be offered to Spain, "And in case it shall hereafter seem meet to the Crown of Great Britain to grant, sell or by any means to alienate therefrom the propriety of the said town of Gibraltar, it is hereby agreed and concluded that the preference of having the sale shall always be given to the Crown of Spain before any others."
  Furthermore, the Treaty stipulates "that the above-named propriety be yielded to Great Britain without any territorial jurisdiction, and without any open communication by land with the country round about" (although there is dispute over whether this disclaims territorial jurisdiction over Gibraltar, or over the "country round about") and that no overland trade between Gibraltar and Spain is to take place, except for emergency provisions in the case that Gibraltar is unable to be resupplied by sea. The British Government and the Government of Gibraltar today argue that the membership of both Gibraltar and Spain in the European Union (EU) — Gibraltar was included as a Special member state territory when the United Kingdom joined the EU in 1973; Spain joined the EU in 1986 — supersedes such restrictions as the EU is committed to free movement of goods and services.
caption: Statue of Admiral Sir George Rooke at Waterport Avenue in Gibraltar
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