Prehistoric settlements The Balearic Islands were first colonised by humans during the
3rd millennium BC, around 2500–2300 BC from the Iberian Peninsula or southern France, by people associated with the
Bell Beaker culture. The arrival of humans resulted in the rapid extinction of the three species of terrestrial mammals native to Mallorca, the dwarf goat-antelope
Myotragus balearicus, the giant dormouse
Hypnomys morpheus, and the shrew
Nesiotites hidalgo, all three of which had been continuously present on Mallorca for over 5 million years. The island's prehistoric settlements are called
talaiots or
talayots. The people of the islands raised Bronze Age megaliths as part of their
Talaiotic culture. A non-exhaustive list of settlements is the following: •
Capocorb Vell (
Llucmajor municipality) • Necròpoli de Son Real (east of Can Picafort,
Santa Margalida municipality) • Novetiforme Alemany (
Magaluffa,
Calvià, Miconio) • Poblat Talaiòtic de S'Illot (
S'Illot,
Sant Llorenç des Cardassar municipality) • Poblat Talaiòtic de Son Fornés (
Montuïri municipality) • Sa Canova de Morell (road to
Colònia de Sant Pere,
Artà municipality) •
Ses Païsses (
Artà municipality) • Ses Talaies de Can Jordi (
Santanyí municipality) • S'Hospitalet Vell (road to Cales de Mallorca,
Manacor municipality)
Phoenicians, Romans, and Late Antiquity The
Phoenicians, a seafaring people from the
Levant, arrived around the eighth century BC and established numerous colonies. The island eventually came under the control of
Carthage in North Africa, which had become the principal Phoenician city. After the
Second Punic War, Carthage lost all of its overseas possessions and the
Romans took over. The island was occupied by the Romans in 123 BC under
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Balearicus. It flourished under Roman rule, during which time the towns of Pollentia (
Alcúdia), and Palmaria (
Palma) were founded. In addition, the northern town of
Bocchoris, dating back to pre-Roman times, was a federated city to
Rome. The local economy was largely driven by
olive cultivation,
viticulture, and
salt mining. Mallorcan soldiers were valued within the Roman legions for their skill with the
sling (
Balearic slingers). In 427,
Gunderic and the
Vandals captured the island.
Geiseric, son of Godigisel, governed Mallorca and used it as his base to loot and plunder settlements around the Mediterranean until Roman rule was restored in 465.
Middle Ages Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages In 534, Mallorca was recaptured from the
Vandals by the
Eastern Roman Empire, led by
Apollinarius. Under Roman rule,
Christianity thrived and numerous churches were built. From 707, the island was increasingly attacked by
Muslim raiders from North Africa. Recurrent invasions led the islanders to ask
Charlemagne for help.
Medieval Mallorca In the ensuing confusion and unrest, King
James I of Aragon, also known as James the Conqueror, launched an
invasion which landed at
Santa Ponça, Mallorca, on 8–9 September 1229 with Catalan forces consisting of 15,000 men and 1,500 horses. His forces entered the city of Medina Mayurqa on 31 December 1229. In 1230, he annexed the island to his
Crown of Aragon under the name
Regnum Maioricae.
Modern era From 1479, the Crown of Aragon was in
dynastic union with that of
Castile. The
Barbary corsairs of North Africa often attacked the Balearic Islands, and in response, the people built coastal
watchtowers and fortified churches. In 1570, King
Philip II of Spain and his advisors were considering complete evacuation of the Balearic islands. In the early 18th century, the
War of the Spanish Succession resulted in the replacement of that dynastic union with a unified Spanish monarchy under the rule of the new
Bourbon Dynasty. The last episode of the War of Spanish Succession was the conquest of the island of Mallorca. It took place on 2 July 1715 when the island capitulated to the arrival of a Bourbon fleet. In 1716, the
Nueva Planta decrees made Mallorca part of the
Spanish province of Baleares, roughly the same to present-day
Illes Balears province and autonomous community.
20th century and today A
Nationalist stronghold at the start of the
Spanish Civil War, Mallorca was subjected to an
amphibious landing, on 16 August 1936, aimed at driving the Nationalists from Mallorca and reclaiming the island for the
Republic. Although the Republicans heavily outnumbered their opponents and managed to push inland, superior Nationalist air power, provided mainly by
Fascist Italy as part of the
Italian occupation of Mallorca, forced the Republicans to retreat and to leave the island completely by 12 September. Those events became known as the
Battle of Mallorca. Since the 1950s, the advent of mass
tourism has transformed the island into a destination for foreign visitors and attracted many service workers from mainland Spain. The boom in tourism caused Palma to grow significantly. In the 21st century, urban redevelopment, under the so‑called
Pla Mirall (English "Mirror Plan"), attracted groups of
immigrant workers from outside the
European Union, especially from Africa and South America.
Archaeology In September 2019, A 3,200-year-old well-preserved
Bronze Age sword was discovered by archaeologists under the leadership of Jaume Deya and Pablo Galera on the Mallorca Island in the
Puigpunyent from the stone megaliths site called
Talaiot. Specialists assumed that the weapon was made when the
Talaiotic culture was in critical decline. The sword will be on display at the nearby Mallorca Museum.
Palma The capital of Mallorca, Palma, was founded as a Roman camp called Palmaria upon the remains of a
Talaiotic settlement. The turbulent history of the city had it subject to several Vandal sackings during the
fall of the Western Roman Empire. It was later reconquered by the
Byzantines, established by the Moors (who called it Medina Mayurqa), and finally occupied by
James I of Aragon. In 1983, Palma became the capital of the
autonomous region of the
Balearic Islands. Palma has a famous tourist attraction, the cathedral, Catedral-Basílica de Santa María de Mallorca, standing in the heart of the City looking out over the sea. ==Climate==