Ancient history The earliest known evidence of habitation of the Balearic Islands dates to the
3rd millennium BC (around 2500–2300 BC) from the Iberian Peninsula or southern France, by people associated with the
Bell Beaker culture. Little is recorded about the inhabitants of the islands during classical antiquity, though many legends exist. The story, preserved by
Lycophron, that certain shipwrecked
Greek Boeotians were cast nude on the islands, was evidently invented to account for the name Gymnesiae (). In addition,
Diodorus Siculus writes that the Greeks called the islands Gymnesiae because the inhabitants were naked (γυμνοί) during the summer time. Also, a tradition holds that the islands were colonized by
Rhodes after the
Trojan War. The Phoenicians took possession of the islands in very early times; a remarkable trace of their colonisation is preserved in the town of Mago (
Mahón in
Menorca). After the fall of
Carthage in 146 BC, the islands seem to have been virtually independent. Notwithstanding their celebrity in war, the people were generally very quiet and inoffensive. The Romans, however, easily found a pretext for charging them with complicity with the Mediterranean pirates, and they were conquered by
Q. Caecilius Metellus, thence surnamed Balearicus, in 123 BC. Metellus settled 3,000 Roman and Spanish colonists on the larger island, and founded the cities of
Palma and
Pollentia. The islands belonged, under the
Roman Empire, to the conventus of
Carthago Nova (modern Cartagena), in the
province of
Hispania Tarraconensis, of which province they formed the fourth district, under the government of a praefectus pro legato. An inscription of the time of
Nero mentions the PRAEF. PRAE LEGATO INSULAR. BALIARUM. (Orelli, No. 732, who, with Muratori, reads for .) They were afterwards made a separate province, called
Hispania Balearica, probably in the division of the empire under
Constantine. The two largest islands (the Balearic Islands, in their historical sense) had numerous excellent harbours, though rocky at their mouth, and requiring care in entering them (Strabo, Eustath.;
Port Mahon is one of the finest harbours in the world). Both were extremely fertile in all produce, except wine and olive oil. They were celebrated for their cattle, especially for the mules of the lesser island; they had an immense number of rabbits, and were free from all venomous reptiles. Amongst the snails valued by the Romans as a diet was a species from the Balearic Isles called because they were bred in caves. Their chief mineral product was the red earth, called , which was used by painters. Their resin and pitch are mentioned by
Dioscorides. The population of the two islands is stated by Diodorus at 30,000. The part of the
Mediterranean east of Spain, around the Balearic Isles, was called , or .
Medieval period Late Roman and early Islamic eras The
Vandals under
Genseric conquered the Islands sometime between 461 and 468 during their war on the
Roman Empire. However, in late 533 or early 534, following the
Battle of Ad Decimum, the troops of
Belisarius reestablished control of the islands for the Romans. Imperial power receded precipitately in the western Mediterranean after the fall of
Carthage and the
Exarchate of Africa to the
Umayyad Caliphate in 698, and in 707 the islands submitted to the terms of an Umayyad fleet, which allowed the residents to maintain their traditions and religion as well as a high degree of autonomy. Now nominally both Byzantine and Umayyad, the
de facto independent islands occupied a strategic and profitable grey area between the competing religions and kingdoms of the western Mediterranean. The prosperous islands were thoroughly sacked by the
Swedish Viking King
Björn Ironside and his brother
Hastein during their Mediterranean raid of 859–862. In 902, the heavy use of the islands as a pirate base provoked the
Emirate of Córdoba, nominally the island's overlords, to invade and incorporate the islands into their state. However, the Cordoban emirate disintegrated in civil war and partition in the early eleventh century, breaking into smaller states called
taifas. In 903, the
Muslims under the
Arab Commander
Issam al-Khawlani defeated the
Franks and captured the Balearic Islands.
Mujahid al-Siqlabi, the ruler of the
Taifa of Dénia, sent a fleet and seized control of the islands in 1015, using it as the base for subsequent expeditions to
Sardinia and
Pisa. In 1050, the island's governor Abd Allah ibn Aglab rebelled and established the independent
Taifa of Mallorca.
The Crusade against the Balearics , by the
sefardi Cresques Abraham For centuries, the Balearic sailors and pirates had been masters of the western Mediterranean. But the expanding influence of the Italian
maritime republics and the shift of power on the Iberian peninsula from the Muslim states to the Christian states left the islands vulnerable. A crusade was launched in 1113. Led by
Ugo da Parlascio Ebriaco and
Archbishop Pietro Moriconi of the
Republic of Pisa, the expedition included 420 ships, a large army and a personal envoy from
Pope Paschal II. In addition to the Pisans (who had been promised suzerainty over the islands by the Pope), the expedition included forces from the Italian cities of
Florence,
Lucca,
Pistoia,
Rome,
Siena, and
Volterra, from
Sardinia and
Corsica. Catalan forces under
Ramon Berenguer,
Hug II of Empúries, and
Ramon Folc II of Cardona came from Spain and
Occitan forces under
William V of Montpellier,
Aimery II of Narbonne, and
Raymond I of Baux came from France. The expedition also received strong support from
Constantine I of Logudoro and his base of
Porto Torres. The crusade sacked Palma in 1115 and generally reduced the islands, ending their period as a great sea power, but then withdrew. Within a year, the now shattered islands were conquered by the
Berber Almoravid dynasty, whose aggressive, militant approach to religion mirrored that of the crusaders and departed from the island's history as a tolerant haven under Cordoba and the
taifa. The Almoravids were conquered and deposed in North Africa and on the Iberian Peninsula by the rival
Almohad Dynasty of
Marrakesh in 1147. Muhammad ibn Ganiya, the Almoravid claimant, fled to Palma and established his capital there. His dynasty, the
Banu Ghaniya, sought allies in their effort to recover their kingdom from the Almohads, leading them to grant Genoa and Pisa their first commercial concessions on the islands. In 1184, an expedition was sent to recapture
Ifriqiya (the coastal areas of what is today Tunisia, eastern Algeria, and western Libya) but ended in defeat. Fearing reprisals, the inhabitants of the Balearics rebelled against the Almoravids and accepted Almohad suzerainty in 1187.
Reconquista (
furthest right) during his conquest of Mallorca in 1229. On the last day of 1229, King
James I of Aragon captured Palma after a three-month siege. The rest of Mallorca quickly followed. Menorca fell in 1232 and Ibiza in 1235. In 1236, James traded most of the islands to
Peter I, Count of Urgell for Urgell, which he incorporated into his kingdom. Peter ruled from Palma, but after his death without issue in 1258, the islands reverted by the terms of the deal to the
Crown of Aragon. (1229–1715), which encompassed all Balearic Islands. James died in 1276, having partitioned his domains between his sons in his will. The will created a new
Kingdom of Mallorca from the Balearic islands and the mainland counties of
Roussillon or
Montpellier, which was left to his son
James II. However, the terms of the will specified that the new kingdom be a vassal state to the
Crown of Aragon, which was left to his older brother
Peter. Chafing under the vassalage, James joined forces with the Pope
Martin IV and
Philip III of France against his brother in the
Aragonese Crusade, leading to a 10-year Aragonese occupation before the islands were restored in the 1295
Treaty of Anagni. The tension between the kingdoms continued through the generations until James' grandson
James III was killed by the invading army of Peter's grandson
Peter IV at the 1349
Battle of Llucmajor. The Balearic Islands were then incorporated directly into the Crown of Aragon.
Early modern period de Palma, 15th century In 1469,
Ferdinand II of Aragon (
king of Aragon) and
Isabella I of Castile (queen of
Castile) were married. After their deaths, their respective territories (until then governed separately) were governed jointly, in the person of their grandson, the Emperor
Charles V. This can be considered the foundation of the modern Spanish state, albeit a decentralized one wherein the various component territories within the united crowns retained their particular historic laws and privileges. The Balearic Islands were frequently
attacked by Ottomans and
Barbary pirates from North Africa;
Formentera was even temporarily abandoned by its population. In 1514, 1515 and 1521, the coasts of the Balearic Islands and the Spanish mainland were raided by
Turkish privateers under the command of the
Ottoman admiral,
Hayreddin Barbarossa. The Balearic Islands were
ravaged in 1558 by Ottoman corsair
Turgut Reis, and 4,000 people were taken into
slavery.
Menorca The island of
Menorca was a
British dependency for most of the 18th century as a result of the 1713
Treaty of Utrecht. This treaty—signed by the
Kingdom of Great Britain and the
Kingdom of Portugal as well as the
Kingdom of Spain, to end the conflict caused by the
War of the Spanish Succession—gave
Gibraltar and Menorca to the Kingdom of Great Britain,
Sardinia to
Austria (both territories had been part of the Crown of Aragon for more than four centuries), and
Sicily to the
House of Savoy. In addition,
Flanders and other European territories of the Spanish Crown were given to Austria. The island
fell to French forces, under
Armand de Vignerot du Plessis in June 1756 and was occupied by them for the duration of the
Seven Years' War. The British re-occupied the island after the war but, with their military forces diverted away by the
American War of Independence, it fell to a Franco-Spanish force after a
seven-month siege (1781–82). Spain retained it under the
Treaty of Paris in 1783. However, during the
French Revolutionary Wars, when Spain became an ally of France, it came under French rule. Menorca was finally returned to Spain by the
Treaty of Amiens during the French Revolutionary Wars, following
the last British occupation, which lasted from 1798 to 1802. The continued presence of British naval forces, however, meant that the Balearic Islands were never occupied by the French during the
Napoleonic Wars.
20th century The islands saw limited fighting in the 1936–1939
Spanish Civil War, with Menorca and Formentera staying loyal to the
Republican Spanish Government, while the rest of the Balearic Islands supported the Spanish
Nationalists. The Republican forces recaptured Ibiza early in the conflict, but were unable to take control of Mallorca in the
Battle of Majorca in August 1936, an amphibious landing aimed at driving the Nationalists from the island and reclaiming it for the Republic. After the battle, Nationalist forces re-took Ibiza in September 1936. Menorca would be occupied by the Nationalists in February 1939 after the
Battle of Menorca. == Culture ==