[LECTURE I]
GIBRALTAR AND MALTA
In the great land mass which is formed by Europe and Asia is included upwards of a third of the land surface of the Globe and about two-thirds of the total population. Grouped at the western end are the three hundred and fifty millions of Europe, while the majority of the seven hundred millions of Asia are crowded into the southeastern corner. Between the two, from the Red Sea coast of Arabia to the western boundary of China, lies a broad band of desert and steppe, mountain and plateau, thinly peopled and difficult to cross. On the north, the sea passage is barred by the ice of the Arctic; while the only land link between west and east is the thin line of the Siberian railway. But on the south, from 1 the Baltic to the Sea of Japan, is a broad highway, free to all and within easy reach of the great trading nations of Europe and Asia. From end to end we see it running along the coasts and through inland seas; so that ships are rarely out of sight of land for many days together. At frequent intervals are straits to be passed and corners to be turned by every ship; and here, where the sea road must touch the land, are the key points for trade in time of peace or strategy in time of war.
Britain is responsible for the government of over three hundred million Asiatics and carries on a great trade with the remainder; in fact, about two-thirds of the merchant shipping passing through the Suez Canal is under the British flag. We have important interests, too, on the eastern side of Africa, while a new Britain, British in race and political organization, is growing up in Australasia. We are the chief users of the main road to this region of the world, and are thus most interested in its condition and control.
For ships sailing from the western coasts of Europe, otherwise than round the Cape of Good Hope, the only gateway to the long passage to the East is the Strait of Gibraltar, at its narrowest a little less than half as broad as the Strait of Dover. Let us look for a 2 moment at the map. We have passed Capes St. Vincent and Trafalgar, and as we turn in from the Atlantic, far away on our right is Cape Spartel, the corner of Africa, and beside it the Moroccan port of Tangier. We had interests on this coast in times past, since Tangier was a British Possession more than two centuries ago. It came to the English Crown not by conquest but as part of the dowry of Catherine of Braganza, wife of Charles II; but after twenty years it was abandoned to the Moors as useless. Bombay also was included in the dowry: but how different is its later history!
We are now inside the Strait; on our left, just at the point where the shores of Europe approach most nearly to Africa, stands the Spanish fortress of Tarifa. Here, where it is narrowest, we might expect to find the controlling point of the gateway; but we must look beyond. Further east the Strait begins to broaden out until it loses itself suddenly in the open waters of the Mediterranean, where the coasts of Spain and Africa trend away sharply to north and south. Here, on a narrow spur running southwards, with the open sea to the east and the bay and town of Algeciras to the west, lies the Rock of Gibraltar. Fourteen miles away to the south, on another jutting point, is the town of Ceuta, which belongs to Spain. Five towns keep guard over the gateway to the Mediterranean, but only one holds the key; we may understand this better when we have learnt something of Gibraltar and its history.
We think and speak of the Rock rather than the town or bay; with good reason, since Gibraltar without the Rock would be of small value to us. As we steam in 3 from the west we see it rising from the water like an island block broken off from the mountains of Spain. 4 Now we are drawing nearer and the block begins to take shape. A long ridge, carved out into detached peaks, drops sharply to the north where the low flat isthmus, scarcely visible, links it with the mainland. On our right hand, towards the south, it descends in steps to the narrow point on which we can just see the lighthouse. With a little use of the imagination we may liken the ridge to a crouching beast keeping guard over the waters of the Strait below. Now the houses of the 5 town begin to show against the dark background of hill, and soon we pass a cruiser at anchor and enter the new harbour, with its docks and coaling wharves enclosed in protecting moles.
We have seen Gibraltar on the west from the level of the sea; let us 6 turn to the map for a moment and take a bird’s-eye glance at the whole peninsula with its surroundings.
Gibraltar.