Rock of Gibraltar

Rock of Gibraltar
Western face of the Rock of Gibraltar, in April 2006
Highest point
Elevation	426 m (1,398 ft)
Prominence	423 m (1,388 ft)[1]
Coordinates	36°07′28.1″N 05°20′35.2″W / 36.124472°N 5.343111°W / 36.124472; -5.343111[2]
Geography
Location of the Rock of Gibraltar's summit
Location	Gibraltar
Parent range	Betic Cordillera
Geology
Age of rock	Jurassic
Climbing
Easiest route	Gibraltar Cable Car, Road, Hike

The Rock of Gibraltar (from the Arabic name Jabal Ṭāriq جبل طارق, meaning "Mountain of Tariq") is a highly strategic monolithic limestone mountain 426 m (1,398 ft) high dominating the western entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. It is situated near the end of a narrow 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) long promontory stretching due south into the Mediterranean Sea and is located within the British territory of Gibraltar, and is 27 km north-east of Tarifa, Spain, the southwestern tip of Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.^[3] The rock serves as an impregnable fortress and contains a labyrinthine network of man-made tunnels known as the Tunnels of Gibraltar. Most of the Rock's upper area comprises a nature reserve which is home to about 300 Barbary macaques. It is a major tourist attraction.

The Rock of Gibraltar, the northernmost of the two historic Pillars of Hercules, was known to the Romans as Mons Calpe ("Mount Calpe"), the other southern pillar on the African side of the Strait of Gibraltar being Mons Abila, identified today as either Monte Hacho or Jebel Musa, with a distance of about 27 km between the two "pillars". According to ancient legend fostered by the Greeks and the Phoenicians,^[3] and later adopted by the Romans,^[4] the two pillars marked the western limit of the known world, although the Phoenicians had sailed beyond this point into the Atlantic Ocean, both northward and southward.^[4]