Gibraltar Banknotes 5 Pounds banknote 1995 Queen Elizabeth II
Issued by The Government of Gibraltar
Obverse: Portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Coat of arms of Gibraltar, Ancient vase, Stone gateway and Gibraltar candytuft (Iberis gibraltarica) at left. Dated 1 July 1995. Signature of Brian Traynor (as Financial and Development Secretary). Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. as watermark. Windowed security thread on front. Two 6-digit serial numbers with double-letter prefix on front, the horizontal one with numerals of ascending size and the vertical one with numerals of the same size.
Reverse: Portrait of the Muslim general Tariq ibn Ziyad (670 - 720). Sailing ship and Moorish castle in Gibraltar.
Watermark: Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.
Original size: 135 x 70 mm.
Printer: Thomas De La Rue & Company Limited, London England.
Gibraltar banknotes - Gibraltar paper money
1995-2006 Issue
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20 Pounds 2004 "Tercentenary of British Gibraltar" Commemorative Issue
Tariq ibn Ziyad
Tariq ibn Ziyad (died c. 720), general who led the Muslim conquest of Spain. Musa bin Nusayr, the Arab conqueror of Morocco, left his general Tariq to govern Tangier in his place. Spain at this time was under Visigothic rule but was rent by civil war. The dispossessed sons of the recently deceased Visigothic king of Spain, Witiza, appealed to the Muslims for help in the civil war, and the Arabs quickly responded to this request in order to conquer Spain for themselves. In May 711 Tariq landed on Gibraltar with an army of 7,000 men, mostly Berbers, Syrians, and Yemenis. Gibraltar henceforth became known as Jabal Tariq (Mount Tarik), from which the Anglicized form of the name is adapted.
Tariq soon advanced to the Spanish mainland itself, gaining valuable support from Spanish Jews who had been persecuted by the Visigoths and from Christian supporters of Witiza’s sons. In July 711 he defeated the forces of the Visigothic usurper king Roderick at an undetermined location. He then immediately marched upon Toledo, the capital of Spain, and occupied that city against little resistance. He also conquered Córdoba. Musa himself arrived in Spain with about 18,000 more Arab troops in 712, and together the two generals occupied more than two-thirds of the Iberian peninsula in the next few years. In 714 Musa and Tariq were summoned by the caliph back to Damascus, where they were both accused of misappropriation of funds and died in obscurity.
Moorish Castle
The Moorish Castle is the name given to a medieval fortification in Gibraltar comprising various buildings, gates, and fortified walls, with the dominant features being the Tower of Homage and the Gate House. Part of the castle itself also housed the prison of Gibraltar until it was relocated in 2010. The Tower of Homage is clearly visible to all visitors to Gibraltar, not only because of its striking construction but also because of its dominant and strategic position. Though sometimes compared to nearby alcazares in Spain, the Moorish Castle in Gibraltar was constructed by the Marinid dynasty, making it unique in the Iberian Peninsula.
Gibraltar has always been of special significance to the numerous peoples and civilizations that have visited or occupied it over the ages, from the Neanderthal period, through the Classical and on to Moorish, Spanish, and the current British rule.
The Moorish occupation is by far the longest in Gibraltar's recorded history, having lasted from 711 to 1309 and then again from 1350 to 1462, a total of 710 years.
Historical importance of Gibraltar to both Muslims and Christians lies in the fact that the Moorish invasion and occupation of parts of western Europe started from Gibraltar in 711 and, through to its final recapture by Spaniards in 1462, Moorish rule was gradually undermined until, with the fall of Granada in 1492, Moorish occupation of parts of western Europe came to an end after 781 years.
The Moorish conquest of Spain was led by Tarik ibn Ziyad and Musa ibn Nusayr, who may have landed in Europe at or near Gibraltar. Gibraltar thus became the stepping-stone to the Moorish conquests of most of Spain and part of France. This spectacular feat of arms took a mere twenty-one years, no mean task considering the distances and terrain involved, and the fact that mechanical transport on land was not then in use. The strategic importance of Gibraltar rose in the last years of the Moorish rule, when, after the successful Spanish reconquest of the entire Guadalquivir valley, Gibraltar became one of the key elements in communication between the Kingdom of Granada and Moorish domains in northwestern Africa.
Construction of the Moorish Castle commenced in the 8th century AD (possibly AD 711); the date of its completion is not recorded. Its walls enclosed a considerable area, reaching down from the upper part of the Rock of Gibraltar to the sea. The most conspicuous remaining parts of the Castle are the upper tower, or Tower of Homage, together with various terraces and battlements below it, and the massive Gate House, with its cupola roof.
The Tower of Homage is the highest tower of the period of Islamic rule in the Iberian Peninsula, and the Qasbah of the Castle is the largest in the area. The Castle itself played a prominent part in the Muslim invasion of the Iberian Peninsula, with Muslim forces overrunning a large portion of it in two years - an invasion which led to Islamic domination of parts of western Europe for more than seven centuries. It is therefore of historic significance not only for Gibraltar and Iberia, but also for all of western Europe.
The present Tower of Homage, and most of what is visible today of the Castle, was rebuilt during the second Moorish period of occupation in the early 14th century, after its near destruction during a reconquest of Gibraltar by the Moors following a re-occupation by Spanish forces from 1309 to 1333.
Present day
Today the Moorish Castle is one of the major tourist attractions of Gibraltar. The name "Moorish Castle" (or "El Castillo" in Spanish) is also used locally when referring to the residential area surrounding the Castle, location of the Moorish Castle Estate. Part of the castle itself housed the prison of Gibraltar until the prison was relocated in 2010.
Gibraltar candytuft - Iberis gibraltarica
Iberis gibraltarica (Gibraltar candytuft) is a flowering plant of the genus Iberis and the family Brassicaceae. It is the symbol of the Upper Rock Nature Reserve in Gibraltar, but is actually a native of North Africa. Gibraltar is the only place in Europe where it is found growing in the wild. The candytuft grows from crevices in the limestone, and is often seen growing in abundance from the north face of the Rock of Gibraltar. Its flowers range from pale violet to almost white, and can reach up to 8 cm (3.1 in) across.