The Balearic Islands

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t Looking down on the seafront from Ciutadella’s Plaça des Born

Experience The Balearic Islands

The very early history of the Balearic Islands remains shrouded in uncertainty, but the huge stone structures that the Bronze-Age Talayotic people left behind on Mallorca and Menorca offer some insight into the islands’ earliest inhabitants.

The Balearics’ position in the Mediterranean sea made them a prime target for invasion. The Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans and Vandals each stormed the shores to take advantage of the islands’ strategic location and used them as a trading port. In the 10th century, the Moors took possession of the islands, but were driven out by Jaime (Jaume) I in the 13th century during the reconquista. Catalan settlers soon flocked to the Balearics, bringing their language with them, a dialect of which is still widely spoken. Following the Spanish War of Succession, Menorca was ceded to the British in 1713, who occupied the island for nearly a century, albeit interrupted by a French occupation during the Seven Years’ War.

In the mid-20th century, the rest of Europe rushed onto the islands once again, but this time as sun-seeking visitors, largely from the UK and Germany. Today, tourism is the main pillar of the archipelago’s economy.

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