Portal:Gibraltar/Selected article/8



The Treaty of Utrecht that established the Peace of Utrecht, rather than a single document, comprised a series of individual peace treaties signed in the Dutch city of Utrecht in March and April 1713. Concluded between various European states, it helped end the War of the Spanish Succession. The treaties were concluded between the representatives of Louis XIV of France and Philip V of Spain on the one hand, and representatives of Queen Anne of Great Britain, the Duke of Savoy, and the United Provinces on the other.

Spain's European empire was divided by the treaty: Savoy received Sicily and parts of the Duchy of Milan, while Charles VI (the Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria), received the Spanish Netherlands, the Kingdom of Naples, Sardinia, and the bulk of the Duchy of Milan. In addition, Spain ceded Gibraltar and Menorca to Great Britain and agreed to give to the British the Asiento, a valuable monopoly slave-trading contract. (more...)