The Rock of Gibraltar. As a British Territory (since 1713), Gibraltar sits on a small peninsula on the southern portion of Spain. It is now a popular tourist site that contains the only wild monkey population on the European continent. Interesting enough, these Barbary Macaques monkeys are not originally from this area. As their name suggests, they come from the Berber areas of Morocco, in North Africa. However, these monkeys aren’t the only Berbers that still have a link in Gibraltar. Berbers were and are the indigenous people from North and West Africa. In the 7th century and only a few decades after the creation of Islam, the Muslims (led by Musa Bin Nusayr) conquered and enslaved the Berber people of North Africa. After submitting and converting to Islam, a Berber chieftain named Tarek was tasked by Nusayr to invade Spain. In the year 711, Tarek and his Berbers set off to Spain. Upon touching European soil he instructed his men to burn the boats, signaling that retreat was not an option. The landing location in Spain is now known today as Gibraltar. The name Gibraltar stems from the Arabic “Jabel-al-Tarek” (Tarek’s Hill) and has maintained the name of its invader ever since. In addition to the invasion and conquering of Spain, this helped set up the future Barbary Slave Trade of Europeans in which an estimated 1.25 million Europeans were traded as slaves in North Africa.
Only 9 miles separates the two continents
Wilks Wroasting 