The Pillars of Hercules is a name given to the two rocks that form the entrance to the Mediterranean at the Strait of Gibraltar. The Greeks thought they were erected by Hercules. The pillars are not mentioned by Homer, Though he speaks of Ulysses' passage out of the Mediterranean and back into it, which shows he had a knowledge of the strait. The first author to mention them is Pindar, who places them at Gades (Cadiz). The most general opinion, however, identifies them with Calpe (now Gibraltar).
The Strait of Gibraltar is about nine miles wide at its narrowest point. At its widest point it measures about 24 miles. It is a part of one of the most traveled sea-ways in the world. Ships go through this strait on their way from western Europe and the Americas to southern Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia. The building of the Suez Canal to join the Mediterranean with the Red Sea made the Strait of Gibraltar also a part of the shortest water route from western Europe and eastern North America to the Far East.
The Spaniards and the Moors fought for the Rock of Gibraltar for several centuries. But in 1704 the British and Dutch seized it. A few years later, in 1713, Britain was given full possession of it by the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht. The Rock of Gibraltar still belongs to Britain.
