Gibraltar: When is a Colony Decolonised?

• Author: Peter Gold
• Pages: 237-252

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Gibraltar:

When is a Colony Decolonised?

Like the chapter on the Falkland Islands, this contribution provides

an investigation of governance in a non-independent territory far from

the Caribbean that may provide an interesting parallel and contrast to

the situation in which some of the non-independent Caribbean

territories find themselves. Also like the Falklands, the sovereignty of

Gibraltar is contested between Britain, as the colonial power, and a

neighbouring Hispanic country, in this case Spain. But there are also

major differences between the islands in the South Atlantic and the

peninsula attached to Iberia known as ‘The Rock’.

Perhaps the most significant of these differences is that, whereas

the Falklands lie in the South Atlantic, far from the epicentres of

geopolitical interest, Gibraltar is located in Europe, at the extreme

western end of the Mediterranean in what once was (and to some

extent remains) a highly sensitive location of great strategic significance.

From the perspective of governance, however, the most significant

difference from the Falkland Islands must be the sovereignty of Gibraltar

and the constraints on the options for change. They are determined by

a centuries-old treaty – the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht – signed when

colonial powers treated overseas possessions like bargaining chips but

gave little consideration to the wishes of their inhabitants. Despite the

fact that certain aspects of the treaty have been respected more in the

breach than in the observance,1 both Spain and the international

community through the United Nations (UN) regularly find it useful

to have recourse to it as a means of determining the path by which the

dispute should be resolved.

The element of dispute over sovereignty, together with the existence

of an internationally recognised treaty as part of that dispute, will also

mark Gibraltar as a significantly different case study from that of non-

independent territories in the Caribbean. What this chapter will

PETER GOLD

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endeavour to show is that even in such a case, the people of a non-

independent territory can achieve a high level of self-governance short

of independence from a colonial power, such that both sides can assert

that the relationship is no longer a colonial one. However, such an

achievement will not currently be recognised internationally as a

successful act of decolonisation because of the narrow criteria applied

by the UN. It is in this regard that some territories in the Caribbean

may find resonances with the situation of Gibraltar.

BRITAIN AND GIBRALTAR

British involvement with Gibraltar goes back to the beginning of

the eighteenth century. On August 1, 1704, as part of the Wars of the

Spanish Succession, an Anglo-Dutch force began the bombardment of

the fortified town of Gibraltar on the southernmost tip of the Iberian

Peninsula. After three days of battle, Gibraltar was successfully seized.

Of the 4,000 inhabitants, all but 70 fled across the isthmus into the

Spanish hinterland. Initially Gibraltar was garrisoned by Dutch and

English regiments, but a mixture of Jews, Moroccans and other civilians

from elsewhere in Europe were allowed to come back to the town

(Harvey, 1996, 73).

In 1713 the Treaty of Utrecht (which was designed to ensure that

the thrones of Spain and France would never be united) required the

Dutch to remove their troops from Gibraltar and, in Article X, assigned

the territory to Britain. Although the drafting of the article was unclear

and has led to arguments between Britain and Spain as to its meaning

ever since (Hills, 1974, 222–5), the clause that has hung over the

governance of the territory is that it shall be ‘held and enjoyed absolutely

with all manner of right for ever’ by Britain, followed by the reversionary

clause that if Britain decided to ‘grant, sell, or by any means to alienate

therefrom the propriety’ of Gibraltar then ‘the preference of having

the same shall always be given to the Crown of Spain before any others’

(quoted in Gold, 2005, 338–9). On account of this clause,

independence is not an option (Gibraltar claims that it has never in

fact sought independence, although this has always been in the context

of being a contested territory).

In the early years of the eighteenth century, between 1713 and

1728, there were seven occasions when British ministers were prepared