Gibraltar

On April 27, 711, Tariq-ibn-Zayad, the Berber leader of a Moorish army, sailed from North Africa and landed on the sandy isthmus connecting a 1,300-foot mountain with the southern shore of Spain. Within a few months, the Moslem invasion of Christian Spain was complete and, in order to secure his line of communication across the 15-mile strait at the entrance to the Mediterranean sea, Tariq constructed a castle overlooking the isthmus on the north-western slope of the massive rock. This rock was named Tariq's mountain — Gibel Tariq — later to be corrupted to Gibraltar.
Four hundred and forty one years later, a town was founded below the castle which the Moslems occupied until 1309 when it was captured by a Spanish army only to be recaptured by the Moors 24 years later. Gibel Tariq remained in Moorish hands for a further 129 years until Spain finally drove out the invaders on August 29, 1462.
Once in Spanish hands, Gibraltar was enlarged and fortified until it was regarded as impregnable.