De Haven en Straat van Gibraltar.

Title

De Haven en Straat van Gibraltar.

Description

Map shows the Bay of Gibraltar with many upstream sailing ships and three partial maps: the Strait of Gibraltar, Gibraltar from a bird's eye view and from the sea with upstream ships.

ca. 1725

Artist

Covens/ Mortier (1685-1740)

Jean Covens und Corneille Mortier where brothers in law, who continued the bussines, founded of Pierre Mortier in 1685 in Amsterdam. They called it Covens & Mortier. They extended their buissines in buying the company of De Witt.

Historical Description

Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula. In 1704, during the War of the Spanish Succession, a combined Anglo-Dutch fleet, representing the Grand Alliance, captured the town of Gibraltar on behalf of the Archduke Charles of Austria in his campaign to become King of Spain. The occupation of the town by Alliance forces caused the exodus of the population to the surrounding area of the Campo de Gibraltar.As the Alliance's campaign faltered, the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht was negotiated and ceded control of Gibraltar to Britain to secure Britain's withdrawal from the war. Unsuccessful attempts by Spanish monarchs to regain Gibraltar were made with the siege of 1727 and again with the Great Siege of Gibraltar (1779 to 1783), during the American War of Independence. Gibraltar became a key base for the Royal Navy and played an important role prior to the Battle of Trafalgar.