On September 10, 1967, Gibraltar voted in a referendum for the first time not to join Spain. Gibraltar has been under British rule since the beginning of the 18th century, meaning that by 1967 it had completed 263 years of uninterrupted British rule. Its inhabitants decided to keep this state of affairs even though they were given the opportunity to join Spain.
The territory of Gibraltar has a size of 680 hectares and has about 30,000 inhabitants. Gibraltar is one of the smallest countries in the world (smaller than San Marino and Liechtenstein, but larger than Monaco).
In the referendum, 99.64% of Gibraltar residents voted to stay under the United Kingdom. Only 0.36% of the population voted in favor of merging with Spain, which was exactly 44 people. Today, Gibraltar National Gibraltar National Day is celebrated every September 10 in memory of that referendum.
