Gibraltar has a Jewish community dating back some 300 years and the Great Synagogue in Engineer Lane has the distinction of being one of the oldest on the Iberian Peninsula, dating back to 1724. Guided tours of the beautiful Flemish synagogue, located in Line Wall Road, can be arranged. There are a total of four synagogues in Gibraltar. The British Garrison of Gibraltar was dependent on Morocco for food and supplies, difficult to ship out from England.
That dependence became crucial whenever Spain imposed a blockade on the colony. Jewish merchants from Tetouan in Morocco came to settle soon after Gibraltar was first occupied by British forces in 1704. They were joined here by other Jews active in the Morocco trade - from London, Leghorn and Amsterdam. The modern Jewish Community of Gibraltar may date back from the eighteenth century, even though Jews had lived on the Rock in the fourteenth century and Marranos from Andalusia had also moved here later.
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