ABSTRACT
Some Gibraltarians argue that Gibraltar is not a colony in the normal sense; they are not a conquered people in a country colonized by the Brilish. When the Anglo-Dulcli Heel under Admiral Sir George Rookc occupied the Rock for England in 1704, the Spanish populalion, with a Tew exceptions, left Gibraltar and moved to San Roque, some miles inside Spain. What was taken in 1704 was virtually empty territory. Those people who eventually became native Gibraltarians were in-comers of one type or another or, more precisely, the children of in-comers. They chose to come to Gibraltar. They came from a variety of places, at different limes and for a variety of reasons. They came and went, sometimes to return or to be replaced by olhers. A there is a Gibraltarian nalion today, it is the result of the assimilalion of these immigranl groups over a long period of time.
