A vehicle crosses from Gibraltar into Spain on Wednesday after routine border checks at the crossing were lifted. MARCOS MORENO VIA GETTY IMAGES
The thousands of people who cross daily between southern Spain and the British territory of Gibraltar will no longer be crossing a physical border, after a specific new freedom of movement deal between the European Union and the United Kingdom came into effect at midnight on Tuesday.
Gibraltar — and its strategic fortress — has been in British possession since 1713, and is at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula, close to where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean.
Over the centuries, Spain has regularly expressed territorial ambitions toward it, which has sometimes led to strained relations with Britain. In 1969, Spain's dictator Francisco Franco shut the crossing entirely, a closure that remained for 13 years, meaning the only alternative way in and out was a daylong sea crossing.
In the 2016 referendum on the UK's membership of the EU, Gibraltar, which has a population of 38,000 people, voted 96 percent in favor of remaining in the bloc.
