There's far more to Mallorca than the holy triumvirate of sun, sea and sand. Fight your way past the army of tan-seeking tourists, and you'll discover Gothic architecture, hilltop villages, olive groves and hidden beaches. If you're after something a bit crazier, there are 24-hour parties galore.
History
The first settlers: Until recently it was believed that Mallorca was uninhabited until the Neolithic, that is, between 4,000 and 3,000 years B.C. However, the discovery of carbon remains in the cave of Canet, in Esporles, has led prehistorians to speculate on the existence of an original settlement around 7200 B.C.
Megalithic Tombs
The period between 3000 and 1300 B.C. receives the name of pretalayotic. Mallorca was inhabited by small communities of farmers and herdsmen organized into tribes. This is time of the megalithic tombs, mortuary tumuli of gigantic stones, around which religious rites and rituals were celebrated. From this period come the naviforms, constructions in the shape of an upside-down ship, which in Mallorca served as dwellings
Warriors and Talayots
Around 1300 B.C., Mallorca saw the arrival of the first waves of talayotic peoples ("talayot" has its origins in the word "atalaya" or watchtower), whose warrior cultures lasted until Quintus Caecilius Metellus conquered the island for the Roman Empire. Helmets, swords, and breastplates are some of the valuable relics that survive from this era, together with walled settlements and the different types of talayots, monumental stone constructions about whose function various hypotheses vie for acceptance, ranging from those that maintain that they were used for cremation and burial to others that see them as symbols of power and defence towers.
The Roman Conquest
In 123 B.C. Mallorca was conquered by Rome, with the pretext of freeing imperial ships from attacks by pirates based in the Illes Balears. The Roman armies were received with a shower of stones from the slingsmen, experts with slings who still live on in the island's collective mythology, and whose tradition has even been recovered in the sport of slinging. Although this was how they welcomed the Roman ships, just twelve years later they formed part of the Roman armies on their African campaign. Under Roman rule cities came into being, impressive remains of which can be seen in Pollentia (in the modern township of Alcúdia).
The Vandalic and Byzantine Invasions
It was in the year 425 A.D. that Mallorca suffered invasion and sacking by the Vandals, a Germanic people who settled on the island. In the absence of material evidence, historians have not been able to shed much light on this decadent period, which opened with the destruction of Pollentia. Its end came in 534, when the Byzantine general Belisarius ordered the conquest of the Balearic archipelago.
The Great Moorish Influence
Byzantine rule was also brief, as the first known Muslim landing of which we have evidence occurred in 707. Two centuries of constant anxiety ensued, until in 903 Mallorca came under the power of the Muslim Umayyad dynasty. According to the chronicles, the Castle of Alaró, perched on rugged crags, was the last redoubt of Christian resistance. What followed was a flourishing era, in which Medina Mayurka, now Palma, was a free-flowing source of cultural development. Unfortunately, remains from those times are scarce, with the Arab Baths, in the middle of the historic old quarter, as the most outstanding architectural feature
The Beginning of Seven Hundred Years of Christendom
If any particular year is fixed in the Mallorcan people's collective memory, it is 1229. On September 12th of that year the armies of the Kingdom of Aragon, under the command of Jaume I, retook the island for Christianity. They took the city of Palma on December 31st, after progressively gaining ground and advancing from their landing place in what is now Santa Ponça, in the municipality of Calvià.
Until 1276 Mallorca was part of the Kingdom of Aragon. In that year, when the latter was divided, Mallorca became an independent kingdom, together with the Catalan territories in southern France, when Jaume II swore to the Carta de las Franquicias (Charter of Franchises). Its independence was short-lived, as it was reincorporated into the Kingdom of Aragon in 1349. The death of king Jaume III in the Battle of Llucmajor, defending the island's sovereignty, is another of the episodes inscribed in red letters in Mallorca's history
These first centuries of Christian re-establishment (13th, 14th, and 15th) were those that made Mallorca cartography famous the world over. The most highly regarded studios in Europe drawing up nautical charts were Mallorcan. Abraham and Jafudà Cresques, authors of the famous Atles Català (1375), preserved in the Bibliothèque de Paris, are two of the most widely known names. Since the union of Castile and Aragon, Mallorca's history had been in step with the vicissitudes of Spain's. Uprisings were not lacking, such as the germanies of 1521-1522, when part of the Mallorcan people rebelled against the economic and tax system imposed by Carlos I.
In 1715 King Felipe V abolished the island's own institutions and decreed the suppression of Catalan, a language whose insular dialects have been spoken in Mallorca for seven centuries. With the restoration of democracy in 1977 came the recovery of the island's language and symbols of identity as well. By virtue of the 1983 Statute of Autonomy, the Illes Balears have their own regional government and each island has its own instruments of management and administration: the Consells Insulars.
Geography
The island's privileged location, in the centre of the western Mediterranean, offers maximal climatic, cultural and scenic advantages, as well as guaranteeing rapid, comfortable communications; the farthest point in Europe is only four hours away.
Geographical facts of interest
- Area: 3,640 km2
- Coastline: 554.7 km
- Highest point : 1,432 m (Puig Major)
- Average annual temperature: 18.7 ºC
- Average annual hours of sunshine: 2,958.7
- Population: 702,122 inhabitants
- Language: Spanish, Catalan & Castilian
- Religion: 99% Roman Catholic
Art & Culture
For centuries Mallorca has been a refuge chosen by good number of artists. The island keeps itself at just the right distance to inspire creation: it offers the solitude required for making works of art and at the same time it lives immersed in contemporary cultural life.
Travellers who love getting into the creative arteries of the places they visit will come away from Mallorca with the feeling of not having managed to capture all the cultural pulse that powers it, such is the range of what is on offer. In the centre of the capital Palma alone, there are some ten large cultural centres, public and private. This is only an appetizer, because there remains hardly a town or village that has not made culture and art a seal of distinction in recent years. The proliferation of spaces dedicated to creative activity will astonish any who head for the island expecting to find an enormous solarium quite removed from constant cultural innovation.
Any attention to artistic innovation is usually accompanied by a deep concern to preserve the relics of a tumultuous past. Mallorca, because of its strategic location in a sea of culture and commerce such as the Mediterranean, has had so agitated a history that it cannot but delight those seeking echoes of other times.
From megalithic art to the once-flourishing urban Gothic, from the traces of Italianising neoclassicism in seigneurial houses and stately homes to enchanting Modernism with its organic architectural forms, Mallorca is a showcase of all the civilizations that once possessed part or all of the Mediterranean
Useful Information
Driving
The speed limits on the motorways are 120 km/h and driving is on the right hand side.
The speed limits on main roads is 100 km/h, on minor roads it is of 90 km/h and 60 km/h in urban roads.
Seat Belts: Must be worn at all times at the front and rear of the car.
Drink Driving: Random breath test exist anytime of the day and there are many especially at night.
Taxis
Taxis can be hired from ranks, on the streets, or you can call them up for them to pick you up from your hotel / villa. The taxi driver will always have a pricelist with him, so if you are not sure of the amount, please ask to see that list. Taxis aren't expensive within the city but becomes quite expensive on long distances.
Personal Safety
La Policia Nacional (national police) keep law in order in the urban areas. If you need to get to a police station, ask directions to “comisaria”, otherwise, you can call Police Assistance by dialing “1091” from any phone boxes, this call is free of charge.
Time
Like the rest of Spain, Mallorca is one hour ahead of London time (GMT +1).
Electricity
The power supply in Mallorca is 220-225 volts. Sockets accept two-rouund-pin style plugs.
Currency
The currency used in Mallorca is the euros (€). |
