efensive line was completed in 1735; described now as 'Contravallation Line' or La Linea de Gibraltar.
Thus, La Línea originated from a provisional camp made by artisans and merchants who supplied the military and their families in the vicinity of the fortifications erected to besiege Gibraltar, because as a territory in dispute, a civilian population was not allowed to settle.
The bastions of The Line of Gibraltar would remain intact for twenty years, serving the purpose for which they were built. In the early 19th century the Iberian peninsula was invaded by the Napoleonic troops, leading to the Spanish War of Independence and thePeninsular War.
Fearing that the French troops of Napoleon Bonaparte, which had already arrived in the Campo de Gibraltar, might take over the fortresses of La Linea, the British destroyed them on 14 February 1810. Gibraltar, supported by La Linea, became an important base for Spanish fighters against Napoleon's troops.
After the destruction of the physical line that blocked the passage through the isthmus, the city continued to grow with a strong dependence on Gibraltar, covering all sorts of services to the British colony (supply of food, meat, fruit, vegetables, and recreation, physical space for housing nearby and a labor force in the service of an expanding empire, etc.).
In due time, traders, merchants and workers wanted the simple line of buildings to become an independent municipality of San Roque, controlled by the military, landowners and aristocrats. On January 17, 1870 the segregation of La Linea from San Roque was approved.
Some 300 inhabitants were located at Gibraltar Line, the place being named therefore, in Spanish, La Línea. The new municipality included the current Plaza de la Iglesia, Plaza de la Constitution, called Real (Royal Street), Jardines Street and España Avenue. It had a cemetery, the command, a customs duty, guards and soldiers barracks being located beyond the
