After Britain defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588, it gradually became the most powerful country in the world, seizing a large number of colonies around the world, from Africa to Asia, from the Americas to Oceania, all of which were widely distributed with British colonies, and after the end of World War I, Britain's colonies had exceeded 33 million square kilometers, occupying almost a quarter of the world's land area (excluding uninhabited Antarctica), known as the Empire of the Sun Never Setting.
British Empire Army
But few people know that Britain has actually occupied a lot of colonies in Europe, such as Malta, Cyprus, etc., and now it has become an independent state, and the development is not bad, but until now Britain still has two colonies in Europe, one in Spain and one in France, which can be said to really make these two traditional powers lose face, there is no way, and there has been controversy. Today, Xiaobian will introduce you to these two British colonies.
One
The colony is located on the Peninsula of Gibraltar, Spain, guarding the Strait of Gibraltar, with an area of 6.54 square kilometers and a population of 34,500 people. The earliest settlers of Gibraltar were the Phoenicians, who were conquered by the Roman Empire in the second century BC. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the land became a target for the Moors, Goths, and Iberians, but it never stabilized. In the eighth century AD, the Arabs landed from Gibraltar and eventually conquered the entire Iberian Peninsula and became part of the Arab Empire. In 1410, Gibraltar was reconquered by the Kingdom of Spain and formally incorporated into Spain in 1501.
Gibraltar location
At the beginning of the 18th century, King Carlos II of Spain had no heirs and was succeeded to the throne by the Bourbon royal family of France. After the death of Carlos II, Philippe, grandson of King Louis XIV of France, declared himself King of Spain, but Carlos's nephew, Archduke Charles of the Austrian Habsburg family, also claimed to have the right to inherit the Spanish throne, which caused the war of the Spanish succession that affected all of Europe, and Britain and the Netherlands supported Archduke Charles of Austria, launched a war with France and Spain, conquered Gibraltar in 1704, and established a fortress. The war lasted for 12 years, and finally France won the victory at great cost, and signed the Utrecht Treaty with Britain, the Netherlands and other countries, which recognized the legitimacy of Philip's Spanish throne, but in exchange, Gibraltar was ceded to Britain, and France and Spain could not be merged. Since then, Gibraltar has been a British colony.
War of the Spanish Succession
After the British occupied Gibraltar, they expelled the original Spanish residents, emigrated in large numbers from other places, many Italians and British also began to move in, and some Moroccans also returned to enrich the local population. But Spain never gave up its claim to Gibraltar, which became a disputed area between Britain and the West. Beginning in 1961, Britain and Spain began a dialogue on the gibraltar issue, but due to Gibraltar's important strategic position, Britain never relinquished its control over Gibraltar, and the sovereignty issue has not been resolved so far. Originally, Spain was also a colonial empire, once having tens of millions of square kilometers of colonies in the Americas, but its territory was colonized by britain, which is really regrettable. After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the strategic nuclear submarines of britain and the United States docked in Gibraltar to carry out strategic deterrence against Russia, which once again proved gibraltar's irreplaceable strategic position.
Gibraltar
2. Jersey
Jersey is located on the sea 20 kilometers from the Normandy Peninsula of France, with an area of 118 square kilometers, a population of 97,800 people, most of whom are descendants of French Normandians, that is, mostly French, and speak English and French. At present, Jersey is the crown territory of the United Kingdom, and it can be said that it is an equal relationship with the United Kingdom, and it is under the rule of the British King. Jersey differs from Gibraltar in that it was not occupied by war, but inherited. In 933, William, Duke of Normandy, annexed Jersey and incorporated it into the duchy of Normandy.
Location map of Jersey
Later, the heirs of the Duke of Normandy became the King of England, and with Jersey and the Normandy region became part of England, to be precise, broke away from France and became a land co-lord with Britain. In 1204, France regained normandy, but did not recover Jersey, so Jersey remained under British rule and became a British royal territory. But because Jersey is so close to France, many places have greatly affected France, especially french fishermen, and Britain and France have repeatedly quarreled over fisheries. In the most recent dispute, both sides have dispatched warships, and France has even threatened that "the next time will be war", but the dispute has never been resolved!
British warship