It is situated near the end of a narrow 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) long promontory stretching due south into the Mediterranean Sea and is located within the British territory of Gibraltar, and is 27 km north-east of Tarifa, Spain, the southwestern tip of Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.

The Main Ridge has a sharp crest with peaks over 400 metres (1,300 ft) above sea level, formed by Early Jurassic limestones and dolomites.

The Catalan Bay Shale Formation contains unidentifiable echinoid spines and belemnite fragments and infrequent Early Jurassic (Middle Lias) ammonites.

The fossils found in the Gibraltar limestone include various brachiopods, corals, echinoid fragments, gastropods, pelecypods, and stromatolites.

The Rock's central peak, Signal Hill and the top station of the Gibraltar Cable Car, stands at an elevation of 387 m (1,270 ft).

St. Michael's Cave, located halfway up the western slope of the Rock, is the most prominent and is a popular tourist attraction.

[9] The Eastern Face of the Rock comprises steep cliffs and scree slopes descending to the sea, allowing little space for human habitation.

Towards the south-east end of the Rock close to sea-level is located Gorham's Cave, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

It was built in the year AD 711, when the Berber chieftain Tariq ibn-Ziyad first landed on the rock that still bears his name.

General Elliot, afterwards Lord Heathfield, who commanded the garrison throughout the siege, was anxious to bring flanking fire on the Spanish batteries in the plain below the North face of the Rock.

On the suggestion of Sergeant-Major Henry Ince of the Royal Engineers, he had a tunnel bored from a point above Willis's Battery to communicate with the Notch, a natural projection from the North face.

When World War II broke out in 1939, the authorities evacuated the civilian population to Morocco, the United Kingdom, Jamaica, and Madeira so that the military could fortify Gibraltar against a possible German attack.

In February 1997, it was revealed the British had a secret plan called Operation Tracer to conceal servicemen in tunnels beneath the Rock in case the Germans captured it.

The Rock of Gibraltar, at the head of the Strait, is a prominent headland, which accumulates migrating birds during the passage periods.

The vegetation on the Rock, unique in southern Iberia, provides a temporary home for many species of migratory birds that stop to rest and feed before continuing migration for their crossing over the sea and desert.

[14] The Rock has been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International, because it is a migratory bottleneck, or choke point, for an estimated 250,000 raptors that cross the Strait annually, and because it supports breeding populations of Barbary partridges and lesser kestrels.