Mallorca is the largest of the four Balearic Islands, the others being Ibiza, Menorca and Formentera.

January 12, 2023

The strategic location of Mallorca in the western Mediterranean has meant it has been occupied and fought over by many invaders, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Arabs and Romans.

All of this history and heritage is woven into present day Mallorca and can be traced in its architecture, music, art, culture, food and, of course its people.

Settlers on Mallorca can be traced back to 6000-4000 BC when it was occupied by Neolithic peoples. Next came the Phoenicians, seafaring traders from the east. Later the Carthaginians gradually expanded their power base across the Mediterranean including Mallorca. But that was not to last. The Romans invaded in 123 BC and stayed for over 600 years.

What followed was 400 years of rule by Arab Moors. Not very much remains of Medina Mayurka, the Muslim name for Palma, except the Arab Baths which have been preserved. This 10th-century bathhouse, probably once the property of a wealthy citizen, contains pillars which were salvaged from older Roman ruins.

When King James I of Aragón arrived in 1229 to recapture Mallorca from the Moors, he wrote of the prosperous town of Medina Mayurka, “It seemed to me and to those who had accompanied me the most beautiful city we had ever seen”.

Mallorcan history can be seen in its blend of Arabic and Gothic architecture, and nowhere is this more evident than in the buildings in and around Palma.

Palma’s Gothic cathedral – La Seu -occupies the site of the former mosque of Medina Mayurka. Construction began around 1300 and continued until 1601. The Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí lent a hand in the redesign of the interior of the cathedral at the beginning of the 20th century.

Another Gothic landmark, though actually just outside the city, is Bellver Castle. This is the only circular castle in Spain, commissioned by Jaume II, the son of James I, in the 14th century.

Almudaina Palace is another of Palma’s iconic monuments. This was the alcazar or castle of the emir during Muslim rule, later adapted to serve as the royal palace of the Mallorcan kings.

During the 1500s the island suffered decades of attacks from the Barbary corsairs of North Africa, a period which has left an indelible mark on Mallorca to this day including numerous coastal watchtowers, fortified hilltop towns and churches and fiestas such as Es Firo in Sóller.

In the 1700s, after the War of the Spanish Succession, Mallorca came under the rule of a unified Spanish monarchy, the Bourbons.

During the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930’s, Mallorca was a nationalist stronghold but was subject to an amphibious landing by Republican troops which was repulsed by nationalist air power mainly provide by Facist Italy. Indeed the Italians maintained a substantial force on Mallorca until 1939 and there were even hints that Italy harboured intentions of annexing Mallorca!

Since the 1950s there has been an invasion of a different kind, namely mass tourism with some 30 million visitors recorded in 2019.

The Balearic Islands have been an autonomous region of Spain since 1983.

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