Coordinates: 36°7′51.91″N, 5°23′45.63″W Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...

The Bay of Gibraltar as seen from the Rock of Gibraltar

The Bay of Gibraltar (also known as Gibraltar Bay, Algeciras Bay or the Bay of Algeciras; Spanish: Bahía de Algeciras) is a bay at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula. It is around 10 km long by 8 km wide, covering an area of some 75 square kilometres, with a depth of up to 400 m in the centre of the bay. It opens to the south into the Strait of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean Sea. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The bay at San Sebastián, Spain A headland is an area of land adjacent to water on three sides. ... The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe, and includes modern day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar. ... The Strait of Gibraltar as seen from space. ... Composite satellite image of the Mediterranean Sea. ...

Map of the Bay of Gibraltar

The shoreline is densely settled. From west to east, the shore is divided between the Spanish communities of Algeciras, Los Barrios, San Roque, La Línea de la Concepción and the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The majority of the shoreline and most of the bay's surface area are Spanish territory, with part of the eastern bay being claimed by Gibraltar. The east and west entrances to the bay are marked respectively by the lighthouses of Europa Point in Gibraltar and Punta Carnero to the west of Algeciras. Image File history File links Bay_of_gibraltar. ... Image File history File links Bay_of_gibraltar. ... Algeciras is a port city in the south of Spain, near the British colony/Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, slightly to the north from Tarifa, which is the southernmost town of the peninsular Spain and Europe (, ). Both cities are situated on the Strait of Gibraltar; Algeciras also faces the Mediterranean. ... Los Barrios is a small town in the south of Spain. ... San Roque is a 5th class municipality in the province of Northern Samar, Philippines. ... La Línea de la Concepción (generally known as La Línea) is a town in Spain, in the province of Cadiz in Andalucia. ... A United Kingdom overseas territory (formerly known as a dependent territory or earlier as a crown colony) is a territory that is under the sovereignty and formal control of the United Kingdom but is not part of the United Kingdom proper (Great Britain and Northern Ireland). ... A HDR image of a traditional lighthouse For other uses, see Lighthouse (disambiguation). ... Europa Point is the southernmost point of Gibraltar. ...

The area around the bay is heavily industrialised with extensive petrochemical installations near San Roque and working ports in both Algeciras and Gibraltar. The bay's waters are used by a considerable quantity of heavy shipping, notably oil tankers and freighters. Due to this and the heavy industries along the shoreline, airborne and marine pollution are serious problems in the area. Environmental groups have raised concerns about the risks of oil spills and other types of pollution, particularly in the light of the bay's ecological importance (see below). Petrochemicals are chemical products made from raw materials of petroleum (hydrocarbon) origin. ... Seaport, a painting by Claude Lorrain, 1638 The Port of Wellington at night. ... The Oil Tankers are tankers featured in the Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends TV Series. ... Cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship that carries goods and materials from one port to another. ...

Ecology

The bay is a breeding area for several dolphin species, notably the Common Dolphin, Striped Dolphin and Bottlenose Dolphin, and is also visited by migratory whales. It is a popular destination for tourist whale-watching trips from Algeciras or Gibraltar. Genera See article below. ... It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles accessible from a disambiguation page. ... Binomial name Stenella coeruleoalba (Meyen, 1833) Striped Dolphin range The Striped Dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) is an extensively studied dolphin that is found in temperate and tropical waters of all the worlds oceans. ... Binomial name Montagu, 1821 Bottlenose Dolphin range (in blue) The Bottlenose Dolphin is the most common and well-known dolphin, recent molecular studies showing it is in fact two species, Common Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), and Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin (). It inhabits warm and temperate seas worldwide and may be... A Fin Whale The term whale is ambiguous: it can refer to all cetaceans, to just the larger ones, or only to members of particular families within the order Cetacea. ... Whale watching off the coast of Bar Harbor, Maine. ...

The other major draw for tourists is scuba diving: the area is rich with wrecks and historical artifacts such as crashed Avro Shackleton aircraft and Sherman tanks from the Second World War, and ancient anchors from Phoenician and Roman ships. Scuba diving is swimming underwater while using self-contained breathing equipment. ... The Shackleton was a Royal Air Force long-range patrol bomber developed from the Avro Lincoln bomber with a new fuselage. ... General characteristics Length: 5. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... Phoenician sarcophagus found in Cadiz, Spain; now in Archaeological Museum of Cádiz. ... Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. ...

History

Spanish map from the 18th century.

The area around the Bay of Gibraltar has been inhabited for millennia and the bay itself has been used by merchant shipping for at least 3,000 years. The Phoenicians are believed to have had a settlement near Gibraltar and the Romans established the town of Portus Alba ("White Port") on the site of modern Algeciras. Later peoples, notably the Moors and the Spanish, also established settlements on the shoreline during the Middle Ages and early modern period, including the heavily fortified and highly strategic port at Gibraltar, which fell to England in 1704. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 403 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1565 × 2330 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 403 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1565 × 2330 pixel, file size: 1. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... The Moors were the medieval Muslim inhabitants of the western Mediterranean and western Sahara, including: al-Maghrib (the coastal and mountain lands of present day Morocco and Algeria, and Tunisia although Tunisia often is separately called Ifriqiya after the former Roman province of Africa); al-Andalus (the former Islamic sovereign... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem No official anthem - the United Kingdom anthem God Save the Queen is commonly used England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto)1 Unified  -  by Athelstan 927 AD  Area  -  Total... Events Building of the Students Monument in Aiud, Romania. ...

The bay's strategic position at the mouth of the Mediterranean has made it a much-contested body of water over the centuries. It has been the site of several major sea battles, notably the Battle of Gibraltar (1607) and the Battle of Algeciras Bay (1801). During the Second World War, Italy launched human torpedoes in the bay on several occasions in attempts to sink British ships moored off Gibraltar, with mixed success. Combatants United Provinces Spain Commanders Jacob van Heemskerk † Juan Álvarez de Ávila † Strength 26 warships 4 merchant ships 21 warships Casualties 100 dead 60 wounded 4,000 dead 21 ships destroyed The naval Battle of Gibraltar took place on 25 April 1607 during the Eighty Years War when a Dutch... Year 1607 (MDCVII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ... HMS Hannibal (left foreground) lies aground and dismasted at the Battle of Algeciras Bay. ... The Union Jack, flag of the newly formed United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. ... // CGI image of two frogmen with Siebe Gorman CDBA rebreathers riding a human torpedo. ...

More recently, there has been (and remains) a persistent dispute between Spain and Gibraltar over British sovereignty in the Bay of Gibraltar. Spain has never officially recognised British sovereignty in the area save for a small portion around the Port of Gibraltar, but the UK has claimed sovereignty over an extensive area stretching to approximately the middle of the bay. This has caused tensions between the two sides, especially over the issue of Spanish fishermen operating in what the Gibraltarians regard as their territorial waters.^[1]

References

1. ^ Gerry O'Reilly, "Gibraltar: Sovereignty Disputes and Territorial Waters", in The Hydrographic Journal No 95, January 2000

External links

• High resolution navigational map of the Bay of Gibraltar
• Mapa Interactivo del Puerto Bahía de Algeciras (in Spanish)
• Photo: Dolphins playing by the oil refinery