Show THE sri 8 gibraltar its sieges and centuries of bloods bloodshed hed sacred to the god of war ancient regarded tt it as aa one of pillars of hercules stood many invest ments in BOO yeara Years london thero there are certa certain in places on tile the surface of the earth which aro are ono one may say bay sacred or perhaps r rather ather unsacred to ma ars the war god tho the history of which has been but a record of battle murder and sudden death they are the danger spots and powder magazines ot of civilization among these the rock of gibraltar stands standa preeminent pre eminent in the course ot of years yeara it stood some eleger boine 0 tile ot of them mong among a the most moat notable in history with the a an clenta it was calpe ono one ot of the pillars ot of hercules the other being the hill called abala near ceuta ceata on the african Afric apt coast these marked the boundaries of the world except for the phoenicians Phoenicia ns tor for centuries later the greeks ventured beyond them although always greek intercourse ter tor course with ancient britain what there was waa ot of it was mainly by way ot ol Mi laRilla and through gaul but neither phoenicians Phoenicia ns greeks nor romans appear to have understood the true import ot of gibraltar or surely tho the cae sars ears would have crowned its heights with a great temple to mars its ita military value first made itself manifest to the arabs who when they crossed over froth from africa in the eighth century selected it as aa the site of a for tress they gave it two names gebel gebe at af futach by 0 the hill ot of the entrance because it was the place where they first set toot foot on spanish soil and G eb el the ifie 1111 of T lk from rom their leader tarik ibn feyad it la in of f course this second name that has baa remained 1 however it was vaa not until th the e begin bagi ning of the fourteenth century that gibraltar became the cockpit of europe in the year 1309 the first siege alego took place the rock was taken by alonzo perez do tor for ferdl fi 31 avi A alo X VAT 1 x T ur N X p f how rain li Is collected on the rock 1 nand cand IV who in order to attract in habitants to a spot otherwise somewhat uninviting proclaimed it an maylum asylum to murderers swindlers lers and thieves and prom lEwd to levy no taxes on imports and exports la in 1315 the second siege took place when the arabs under ismall ben ferez attacked it and were defeated in 1333 however the governor vasco paes do de melm having allowed the defenses defens ea to decay was obliged to capitulate to Mabom med IV tho the fourth siege elege began under alfonsa XI of castle the avenger ilia attempts though heroic and pertinacious cious berela were in vain and he be was ob llred to content himself witha tribute for the rock from abdul melek of granada in 1840 1340 october 29 as leader of the allied armies of the christian kingdoms of spain he be won the great victory of the salado over the kings of granada and Io lorocco rocco after which the booty was so BO great that the value of gold tell fell one six he followed up his in 1343 1342 by laying siege to algeciras where tor for the first time in europe cannon were used by the moors defending after a two year siege they capitulated on condition of 0 a ten year truce but the king of castile broke his word in 1349 by again besieging gibraltar this the fifth siege resulted buted in the transference of gibraltar from the possession of the king of 0 morocco to that of yusuf III of 0 granada the seventh undertaken by enrico da guzman count ot of lilo niebla bla proved fatal to the besieger and his forces in success attended the efforts of 0 the spaniards under alonso do de A arcos acos and in august of that year the rock was lost to the arabs forever during the war of 0 the spanish succession it was taken by a combined english and dutch fleet under sir george rooks |