By Hector Choksi

If you want to see the most famous monkeys in the world, you have to go to the British town of Gibraltar in Europe, which is actually a tiny peninsula, just at the confluence of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

With barely an area of 1700 acres (slightly larger than the famous Kolkata maidan) Gibraltar is about three miles long and about one mile wide. But with a population of 30 thousand (all speak English), has succeeded in making tourists all over the world (six million in 2010) to come and see the only monkeys (230 in number) in the whole of Europe.

Before going to see the monkeys (they are all over the city - like the monkeys in our own Jaipur city) one has to take a walk down the main street of Gibraltar known as Winston Churchill Avenue, which is barely one kilometre long. In fact the city is so small, that as I landed in the airport, I was told that it was barely 500 metres from the city centre and after the aircraft touched the ground, the pilot announced that the main street intersected the runway and one could see traffic halted on both sides of the runaway, just like manned railway crossings in India.

The name Gibraltar is the Spanish derivation of the Arabic name Jabal Tāriq, meaning "mountain of Tariq" a 1400 feet high hillock. An Anglo-Dutch force captured Gibraltar in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession. The territory was subsequently ceded to Britain by Spain in 1713. It became an important base for the British Royal Navy, which nourished the local economy and provided employment for a large portion of the local population. Just an adjunct of main land Spain, the sovereignty of Gibraltar is a major point of contention in Anglo-Spanish relations as Spain asserts a claim to the territory and seeks its return. Gibraltarians resoundingly rejected proposals for Spanish sovereignty in referendums held in 1967 and 2002. Nowadays, the economy is largely based on tourism, financial services and shipping. This beautiful town, one of Britain’s self governing overseas territories has in the last one hundred years has become an amalgam of British and other international entrepreneurs.

The famous macaque monkeys arrived at Gibraltar in 1704, brought by British sailors. During World War II they nearly became extinct, causing consternation as the local legend sasy that when the monkey leaves Gibraltar it will stop being British. The British have embraced this particular piece of folklore for centuries; and not even the British Prime Minister Churchill, in the throes of World War II, dared to disregard it. In 1944, with British morale battered by the war and the Rock’s monkey population dwindling, he took no chances. He ordered a shipment of Barbary macaques from Morocco, a short hop across the strait. Little did Churchill envision how big the monkey population would grow, nor the shenanigans that would come along with it.

There are now nearly 230 monkeys on Gibraltar, and they do not merely live on the Rock, so much as dominate it. As the last free-ranging monkeys left in Europe, the macaques happily take advantage of that privilege, oblivious to the consternation they provoke among the Rock’s other set of primates, their human neighbours.

Today, with over 6 million tourists visiting The Rock of Gibraltar each year, the monkeys are the tiny peninsula’s most famous residents.

Other interesting tourist spots in this small town are the:

The Moorish Castle

The construction of the Moorish castle began in 1133 whilst Gibraltar was still under Moorish rule. However, all that is left now is the Tower of Homage; the only reason why it’s still standing is due to its extremely thick walls

St Michael’s Cave

This is actually quite impressive and was first written about by a Roman, Pomponius Mela. The cave is actually used as a theatre to host, plays and concerts or pageants. Here you can find all the wonderful things that one can find in caves ie; stalactites, stalagmites and stalactoes.

Siege Tunnels - a system of tunnels dug during the Great Siege by Spain 225 years ago which acted as a defence system. This is a unique place for the curious traveller. For the tourist one great opportunity is to view the confluence of two oceans from the top of the Rock of Gibraltar and there are two ways to do it.

The Mediterranean Steps

For those not afraid of walking, this is a walk to the top of the Gibraltar Rock. The views are fantastic, and the path underwent renovation work in 2007, so is less treacherous than it has been in the past. If you don’t fancy the uphill struggle, you can always get the cable car up and then come down this way.

Nowadays Gibraltar has an extensive service-sector-based economy, dominated by financial services and tourism. The current number of registered companies in Gibraltar is 81 thousand or nearly three per citizen! MF