READING ABOUT GIBRALTAR

                              
   BEFORE READING

Before reading, have a look at the words below and google an image for each of them.

   1. Fossil remains

   2. Skull

   3. Mosque

   4. Defences

    READING

Now you are goi ng to the text in silence for five minutes reading, pay attention to the words in bold and try to guess their meaning from the context. If you don't understand them after reading the text, don't worry, your teacher will explain them for you.

   A BRIEF HISTORY OF GIBRALTAR PREHISTORIC TIMES

It is clear from the fossil remains discovered in the caves that the Rock of Gibraltar was frequented by Prehistoric men and animals. In fact, in 1848 the skull of a woman of the same type as Neanderthal Man was unear thed at the Rock’s North Face   (you can see it at the local Museum).

        THE PHOENICIANS

Gibraltar was known to the Phoenicians as Calpe. Although there is no evidence that either Carthaginians or Romans lived on the Rock, the city of Carteia was founded by the Phoenicians in around 900 B.C., about two miles away at the Gibraltar Bay.

        THE ARABS

The domination of Gibraltar by the Arabs began with their first invasion in 711 A.D. underTarik Ibn Zeyad; the name Gibel Tarik, Tarik’s Mountain, has been corrupted into ‘Gibraltar’. The Almohad Caliph Abdul Mumen constructed a mosque, defences, and an elaborate water system of reser voirs in 1160 A.D.

The Arabs were expelled by King Ferdinand IV in 1309, but this occupation ended in 1333 when the sultan of Fez, Abdul Hassan, besieged and finally

conquered the Rock. He is responsible of the still-existing Moorish structures in the town (mosque, defences, ...)

        SPANISH AND BRITISH DOMINATION

After seven centuries the Castilian crown finally recaptured the Rock. It was in August 1462, and Gibraltar became a naval base.

In the 18th century, during the war of Spanish Succession, a combined Anglo-Dutch fleet under Admiral Rooke captured Gibraltar on 4 th of August 1704 and British sovereignty was then formalised in 1713 by the Treaty of Utrecht. The Rock resisted two sieges (1727 and 1779), the second one lasted 3 years, 7 months and 12 days. During the Great Siege (1779) the Upper Galleries

were excavated.

        GEOGRAPHICAL IMPORTANCE OF GIBRALTAR

The rock has played a most important part in Britain’s maritime development. In 1805, Nelson’s badly damaged flagship ‘HMS Victory’ made her landfall at Rosia Bay, and many of his men died from their wounds in Gibraltar (now buried in Trafalgar Cemetery).

During the II World War, Hitler conceived the plan Felix, an operation to invade Gibraltar, but he was never successful and many German planes are now in the bottom of the sea.

        GIBRALTAR NOWADAYS

Nowadays Gibraltar is a popular tourist destination. There you can buy many taxt-free items and as a tourist you can also visit its caves, such as Saint Michael's cave, or you can climb the rock and see the apes there. The apes are a rare, endangered species. They are supposed to have come from Africa when the Strait of Gibraltar didn't exist and Europe and Africa were still together.

On sunny days you can see the coast of Africa from the rock. Surely you are going to enjoy

your time there.

AFTER READING: EXERCISES

    1. Write the following verbs in the past tense, complete the sentences and then complete the timeline below:

        invade        plan      recapture          sign        expell      settle        inhabit

        1. Tarik Ibn Zeyad _____________ the rock.
        2. Phoenicians _______________ in Gibraltar.
        3. Hitler ______________ to capture Gibraltar.
        4. Neanderthals already _______________ the rock.
        5. Spain and Britain _________________ the Treaty of Utrech this year.
        6. King Ferdinand IV ______________ the Arabs.
        7. In this year Spain ______________ the rock.

-25000            -5000               711        1309        1462           1713            1940
 _______       ______            _____        _____        ______         ______            _____

2. Read the sentences below and write True (T) o r False (F). Then write the sentence that helped you decide:

                                                                                              TRUE     FALSE

1. Carteia was the Phoenician name of Gibraltar                           _____    _____
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
2. The name “Gibraltar” comes from Gibel Tarik, which means
“Tarik's Mountain” in Arabic                                                     _____    _____
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
3. 1704 is the year of the Treaty of Utrecht                              _____   _____
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
4. Hitler invaded Gibraltar during World War                              _____   _____
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
5. The apes of Gibraltar are not a common species                  _____   _____
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________