"People of the Rock: The Llanitos of Gibraltar" (2009)

I created this documentary in 2009 for my Honors program thesis at university. I own the full rights to all of the content, and nothing has been used without permission.
For more information please visit: / peopleoftherock
More Llanito and Gibraltar culture videos here: • Gibraltar Documentary
Copyright Aderyn Productions, LLC, 2009, 2013
All rights reserved
00:00 Intro
00:50 Llanito language mixing in Gibraltar
13:20 The monkeys of Gibraltar
17:39 World War II Evacuation from Gibraltar to the UK, Madeira and Jamaica
25:45 Decolonization and Self-declaration of Gibraltar
37:30 Ongoing conflict regarding Spain, UK and Gibraltar
43:07 Nationality vs Identity

[@sil328]

Having been here for just a couple of months now, I have to say that this documentary, even though it is 12 years old and obviously we have now left the EU, has taught me more about the history of Gibraltar than I had picked up through any other medium. Very professionally done, as good as anything you would see on TV.

[@garrettgibbons]

Thanks so much! I made this as a student, with very little film training, with a budget of about $1200 for everything (most of it went into my plane ticket alone). Sometimes I'm a bit embarrassed of its quality, but I'm happy that I was able to help tell the story of the Llanito people.

[@Languagesnfs]

@@garrettgibbons man you did amazing, your work is an important piece of history. I’ve been sharing this with a bunch of friends it’s really amazing, you did an increíble job at telling the story and keeping the timeline and facts flowing smoothly. Thank you for your work

[@Tali5899]

@@garrettgibbons Nothing to be embarrassed about.We have been to Gibralter last week and being history geeks have found your video deeply interesting,very informative and well done!

[@ob2187]

Thanks, amazing documentary. Really happy I found it and look forward to go through your other Gibraltar videos as I try to understand Gibraltar from the other side of the world but hoping to go to the rock once the pandemic is over.

[@garrettgibbons]

It’s a fascinating and beautiful place with a very unique and wonderful population. I hope you get a chance to go!

[@TodayFreedom]

Absolutely superb documentary. The archivist’s comment about English being the intellectual/academic language of Gibraltar is very interesting. That’s the classic pattern of conquest. In Iran, academic and “serious” conversation uses much more Arabic loanwords, whereas everyday conversation is native Persian. In fact, the exact same thing exists in English- if you wish to have an intellectual conversation you rely far more on Norman-French words, but when expressing strong emotions or basic statements you’ll tend to use far more Old English. Even the word “intellectual” is obviously Norman-French. Whereas “I hate your guts” is entirely Old English/Germanic.

[@bustamovetengokumix]

I loved, this documentary. Greetings from Latin America!!

[@dmitryl-electronicmodules754]

People, salutation to all who comprehends Iberian-Romance languages!

[@paulsalazar858]

Heard Tito Vallejo Smith on BBC radio last month.

[@danidejaneiro8378]

You can see the influence of Spanish even when the man is speaking only English and he uses the word "frontier" _(frontera)_ instead of the more appropriate "border".

[@deno3689]

I left Gibraltar at the age of 17 and moved to England in 1973, and I've only just found out why Gibraltar can not be independent. Thank you

[@JJ-bg4yx]

Puerto Rico has a similar situation being the oldest american colony with Spanish and North American influences, specially the daily use of spanglish.

[@jp----]

En puerto rico se impuso el inglés.

[@alandavis9160]

en puerto rico meno del 10% habla ingles

[@muhammetboy6574]

🇹🇷❤️ amazing documentary

[@angelicaprodev]

same thing happens in Chile we ate garbanzo and we take once which is te with sweet cake or cookies...etc

[@hectormanuel8360]

¡Hermosa nación bilingüe y multicultural! 🇬🇮❤️

[@la7079]

Calamita in Italian means magnet

[@garrettgibbons]

Yeah, I learned that after making that sequence. It’s interesting to hear Tito’s folk etymology of the word, and to think about how communities construct narratives around terms. Even though his description isn’t accurate to where the word came from, it does reveal quite a bit about the history and culture of the people.

[@mictlanozomatl]

@@garrettgibbons It is the same case as with the term aliquindoi, which is not exclusively llanito but used along the coast of Cádiz and Málaga provinces. Actually, in Málaga they are proud of their "unique" word, that they explain as originated from the British ships docked in the port of Málaga. According to this explanation, when they employed locals for minor tasks and it was difficult to understand each other due to ignorance of the respective languages, the British employer would say: "Look and do it" while performing the due task, that the locals adapted phonetically as aliquindoi, meaning to observe closely, to have a watchful eye.

[@ivanuzzo81]

Calamita is magnet in Italian and Minestra is soup.

[@robertto1ify]

Many genovese people arrived to Gibraltar and Cádiz in 1700 - 1800´s

[@p710]

And now, after watching this excellent film, I understand a bit more about what must happen to Gib now after Brexit. As an example of how Gib will change due to Brexit, I moved to Gib (from the UK) beginning of June this year, just after the EU parliament ratified the TCA (I thought one or more countries would veto it actually, causing a Hard Brexit, disastrous for Gibraltar, but no. it passed!), Completely surprised, days later I started looking for a (difficult to find) apartment in Gib and have now become a resident. Brexit has ruined my business, freelance engineer-designer providing a service to EU companies, I have built up 15 steady clients in the last 25 years. Now suddenly I can’t just hop over and provide a service at my clients’ places in 5 different EU countries. Complete and utter ruination and disaster for me. So I opened in Gibraltar in the hope they go ahead with being in Schengen. (Doing ‘business’ is allowed if in Schengen the whole year round.) Seeing this film and hearing the opinions in it has now convinced me the chance the Schengen Deal will happen is more real that I had thought an hour ago. The 3+1 options explained in the film have suddenly turned into 5 options, the 5th being a member of Schengen (that’s why I moved here), but still British (with my -now suddenly worthless due to Brexit- UK passport). Brexit is certainly earth shaking for Gibraltar too, that is clear. I had thought the Eton-ERG types who hijacked the UK government would have an apoplexy if their imagined ‘British Empire’ lost Gibraltar (in their heads places like Gibraltar should be the very essence of their imaginary ‘Empire’). But now hearing the opinions in this film, it is more clear to me why they are not having a heart attack in Westminster. Thanks for this information. Last week La Linea council fulfilled its electoral promise last Thursday by beginning the process to declare the independence of the municipality with respect to Andalusia, with what would become an Autonomous City, as Ceuta and Melilla. Next they will have to hold a referendum. They depend more on Gibraltar than Spain, considering they grew up with Gibraltar. Suddenly our world changes (Brexit), scary, but full of opportunities. Thank goodness the EU is going to get involved. Can you please research and do a video about Gib now, after Brexit?

[@sae136]

La gente del peñón

[@laeequenadvi4746]

Gibraltar an independent nation.

[@dalton7695]

When will Spain hand back Ceuta and Melilla back to Morocco?

[@Jaimitis86]

Ceuta and Melilla have never belonged to Morocco 😉

[@sweethearts7064]

Pienso que Gibraltar debería independizarse y ser una República independiente y soberana.

[@carlesmassiaurko7761]

Nada q ver con ingleses 🇬🇮

[@duckbizniz663]

The issue is imperialism. The separation of Gibraltar from the Iberian Peninsula was due to the Anglo-Dutch military alliance which in 1704 invaded with their navy and marines and took Gibraltar. The Spanish wrote the book on imperialism. The Spanish used violence to conquer and take many territories all over the world and claimed rightful ownership. The British Empire is the largest empire in the world. All of its European and non-European territories were taken by conquest. During Brexit in 2016 (and ultimate separation in 2021) Gibraltar left the EU happily with Britain. Gibraltar officials followed England out of the EU with no objections or questioning its status as a British colony. So many of the Gibraltar officials complaints in this documentary is mute. I do not know why this video was even made other than some Gibraltar government official was angry with the UK in the same manner as the Ulster Unionist in Northern Ireland. I am confused why one of the Gibraltar officials interviewed actually argued for tribalism over nationalism. Tribalism is at the root of the savage conflict in the Balkans. Yugoslavia split into a bunch of tiny little countries who continue to fight each other, further fracturing into even tinier countries. Many of these tiny countries are vulnerable, because they are so small they cannot protect themselves from stronger neighboring countries. One of the Gibraltar officials interviewed used monkeys as an analogy for the situation in Gibraltar. When two dominant alpha male monkeys fight and one loses, then the loser and his supporters have to leave and find somewhere else to live. I guess he saying that human beings are just like monkeys. The strong vanquishes the weak. That is what imperialism is. Isn't it? Everything is as it was in 1704. Nothing to complain about. Thank you for this informative program.

[@yabugarcia5945]

Algún día veré Gibraltar español de nuevo

[@danielharo2284]

En tus sueños, Gibraltar will always be British! 🇬🇧🇬🇮

[@Jaimitis86]

¡¡Gibraltar Español!! 🇪🇸🇬🇮

[@williamevans7454]

British

[@aelfar7533]

This place has clearly been going through a really bad case of cultural and political schizofrenia haha, you look spanish, your heavy accent is the same as that of a spaniard speaking english, you speak spanish, you dress spanish, your arquitecture is spanish, "llanito" is not a language, it's like oil and water in a human brain desperately trying to mix them in an attempt to identify culturally with whatever political circumstances happen to be more favourable at a specific moment. This whole documentary, as amazinly interesting as i've found it to be left a bad taste in my mouth, the feeling of being a kid heavily affected by a turbulent marriage where the parents divorced but still fool around once in a while.

[@jvictor77]

Wrong on all counts!

[@FriedrichBarb]

It isn't that complicated and I don't know why you over exaggerate, I don't see whats so hard to understand that its a mix of two cultures

[@danidejaneiro8378]

No, they do not have typical Spanish accents. They were clearly native British accents with a sunny twist. Dressed Spanish? You mean dressed for subtropical climate.....

[@phillybulphillybul4319]

Fraudulent narratives