Moorish & Spanish Fortifications

The first civilisation to reside permanently on the Rock were the Moors – even today their legacy stands in the name Gibraltar a variation on Jebel Tariq or mountain of Tariq named after the Berber General Tariq ibn Ziyad whose outstanding expedition led to the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. Few Moorish structures are still present and clearly visible in Gibraltar today. The most prominent of these is the Tower of Homage, the largest surviving vestige of their fortifications and castle. The Castle itself was built in 1160AD by the Almohad Sultan Abd al-Mu’min in response to the coastal threat posed by the Christian Kings of Aragon and Castile.

Moorish rule over Gibraltar came to an end in August 1462 when a small Castilian force under the command of Alonso de Arcos, the governor of Tarifa, launched a surprise attack. It was after 1540, when Barbary Corsairs raided the town, that Charles V of Spain ordered the construction of a new defensive wall to protect the town from any attack from the South. This wall was later extended toward the ridge of the Rock and is known as Charles V Wall.