History of Gibraltar the narrowest points in the Mediterranean, only from the coast of Morocco in North Africa. Its position on the bay makes it an advantageous natural anchorage for ships. As one writer has put it, "whoever controls Gibraltar also controls the movement of ships into and out of the Mediterranean. In terms of military and naval power, few places have a more strategic location than Gibraltar." The territory's area measures only . Most of the land area is occupied by the steeply sloping Rock of Gibraltar which reaches a height of . The town of Gibraltar lies at the base of
South African Republic superseded in 1884 by the London Convention, and in which the British suzerainty over the South African Republic, was relinquished. The British Government, in the London Convention, accepted the name of the country as The South African Republic. The convention was signed in duplicate in London on 27 February 1884 by Hercules Robinson, S.JP. Kruger, S.J. Du Toit and N.J. Smit, and later ratified by the South African Republic (Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek) Volksraad. In 1885 extremely rich gold reefs were discovered in the ZAR. The South African Republic burghers were farmers and not miners and much of the mining fell to