Migration and Tentative Settlement, from 1704 to the 1770s

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Chapter Four covers Gibraltar’s history from 1704 into the 1770s. From the time of the Anglo-Dutch occupation until the end of hostilities in 1713, Gibraltar lost communication with southern Spain. Muslim and Jewish merchants supplied the occupying garrison with provisions from North Africa. In the Treaty of Utrecht, Britain promised Spain that no Jews or Muslims would be allowed to settle in Gibraltar. This agreement exacerbated tensions within Gibraltar, where Protestant settlers sought to forge a collective interest in opposition to the prominence of local Jews. Some of the most influential Jewish merchants were associates of Mulay Ismael, the sultan of Morocco, who in 1721 secured a promise from the British to allow Jewish and Muslim merchants to trade in Gibraltar. During Spain’s failed effort to retake Gibraltar in 1727, the British public rallied in support of Gibraltar, and commentators acknowledged the patriotic service of the Jews residing in the territory. Though Gibraltar was not attacked during the mid-century wars between 1739 and 1763, those conflicts highlighted the garrison’s vulnerability. Military contingencies convinced the local authorities that they needed the loyalty of the territory’s Catholic and Jewish population. Gibraltar thrived economically after 1763. Chapter Four traces the development of distinctive local cultures, with autonomous institutions developing within the Catholic and Jewish communities. Elite Protestant Britons sought to bring their own sophisticated culture to Gibraltar, but few, if any, elite Protestants stayed for long or raised families there. Unlike their Catholic and Jewish counterparts, they did not form a stable community.</jats:p>