The British colony of Gibraltar, a rocky promontory which rises to a height of about 420 metres, is a little over six kilometres in length, about 1,200 metres wide and covers an area of some seven square kilometres. It is connected to the southern tip of Spain by a low-lying isthmus about 800 metres wide at the border crossing. Eight kilometres away across the bay to the west of Gibraltar lies the Spanish port of Algeciras, while on the other side of the Strait of Gibraltar lies Morocco, thirty-two kilometres distant.

The British have occupied the Rock since 1704, following its capture during the War of the Spanish Succession by an Anglo-Dutch force led by Admiral Sir George Rooke. Under the Treaty of Utrecht, signed in 1713, the territory was ceded to Britain in perpetuity. Less than a hundred Spaniards remained on the Rock, but they have since been joined by Britons, Genoese, Maltese, Moroccans, Portuguese, Minorcans, Sephardic Jews from North Africa and, more recently, migrants from the Indian sub-continent. The population currently numbers about 30,000, of whom some 20,000 are Gibraltarians, 5,000 are other British subjects including military personnel and their families, and 5,000 are aliens (mostly Moroccans). Despite their mixed origins, the way of life of the majority is essentially British.