The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Balearic Islands have been an autonomous region of Spain since 1983.[4] There are two small islands off the coast of Mallorca: Cabrera (southeast of Palma) and Dragonera (west of Palma). The anthem of Mallorca is "La Balanguera".
Like the other Balearic Islands of Menorca, Ibiza, and Formentera, the island is a highly popular holiday destination, particularly for tourists from the Netherlands, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The international airport, Palma de Mallorca Airport, is one of the busiest in Spain; it was used by 28 million passengers in 2017, with use increasing every year between 2012 and 2017.[5]
Etymology
The name derives from Classical Latininsula maior, "larger island". Later, in Medieval Latin, this became Maiorca, "the larger one", in comparison to Menorca, "the smaller one". This was then hypercorrected to Mallorca by central Catalan scribes, which later came to be accepted as the standard spelling.[6]
History
Prehistoric settlements
Example of prehistoric talaiot in MallorcaArcheological evidence indicates the presence of the porc negre (black pig) in pre-Roman settlements.[7]
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.[8][9] 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.[10] 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.[11] A non-exhaustive list of settlements is the following:
The Phoenicians, a seafaring people from the Levant, arrived around the eighth century BC and established numerous colonies.[12][self-published source?] 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.[citation needed]
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.[13] 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).[14]
In 427, Gunderic and the Vandals captured the island. Geiseric, son of Gunderic, governed Mallorca and used it as his base to loot and plunder settlements around the Mediterranean[15] until Roman rule was restored in 465.
From 707, the island was increasingly attacked by Muslim raiders from North Africa. Recurrent invasions led the islanders to ask Charlemagne for help.[15]
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.
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.[17]
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 12 km (7.5 mi) inland, superior Nationalist air power, provided mainly by Fascist Italy as part of the Italian occupation of Majorca, forced the Republicans to retreat and to leave the island completely by 12 September. Those events became known as the Battle of Majorca.[18]
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.[19]
Archaeology
In September 2019, A 3,200-year-old well-preserved Bronze Agesword 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.[20] Specialists assumed that the weapon was made when the Talaiotic culture was in critical decline. The sword will be on display at the nearby Majorca Museum.[21]
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.[22]
Climate
Mallorca has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa), with mild and relatively wet winters and hot, bright, dry summers. Precipitation in the Serra de Tramuntana is markedly higher. Summers are hot in the plains, and winters are mild, getting colder and wetter in the Tramuntana range, where brief episodes of snow during the winter are not unusual, especially in the Puig Major. The two wettest months in Mallorca are October and November. Storms and heavy rain are not uncommon during the autumn.[23]
Climate data for Palma de Mallorca, Port (1991–2020), extremes since 1978 (Satellite view)
Mallorca and the other Balearic Islands are geologically an extension of the fold mountains of the Betic Cordillera of Andalusia. They consist primarily of sediments deposited in the Tethys Sea during the Mesozoic era. These marine deposits have given rise to calcareous rocks which are often fossiliferous. The folding of the Betic Cordillera and Mallorcan ranges resulted from subduction of the African Plate beneath the Eurasian Plate with eventual collision.[30] Tectonic movements led to different elevation and lowering zones in the late Tertiary period, which is why the connection to the mainland has been severed at the current sea level.
The limestones, which predominate throughout Mallorca, are readily water-soluble, and have given rise to extensive areas of karst. In addition to limestone, dolomitic rocks are mainly present in the mountainous regions of Mallorca; the Serra de Tramuntana and the Serres de Llevant. The Serres de Llevant also contain marl, the more rapid erosion of which has resulted in the lower elevations of the island's southeastern mountains. Marl is limestone with a high proportion of clay minerals. The eroded material was washed into the sea or deposited in the interior of the island of the Pla de Mallorca, bright marls in the north-east of the island and ferrous clays in the middle of Mallorca, which gives the soil its characteristic reddish colour.[31]
Mountains of Mallorca
Mallorca features a landscape characterised by a series of mountain ranges. The highest peak, Puig Major, stands at approximately 1,445 meters (4,741 feet) above sea level.[32] Other notable peaks include Puig de Massanella, Puig Tomir, Puig de l'Ofre, and Puig des Teix, all exceeding 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) in elevation.[33] These mountains are part of the Serra de Tramuntana range with numerous peaks over 1,000 meters, offering opportunities for hiking and exploration with views of the Mediterranean. While not towering in comparison to some mountain ranges globally, the Mallorcan mountains provide visitors with diverse outdoor experiences and panoramic views of the island's rugged terrain and coastline.
Mallorca is the largest island of Spain by area and second most populated (after Tenerife in the Canary Islands).[34][35]
Mallorca has two mountainous regions, the Serra de Tramuntana and Serres de Llevant. Both are about 70 km (43 mi) in length and occupy the northwestern and eastern parts of the island respectively.
The highest peak in Mallorca is Puig Major, at 1,445 m (4,741 ft), in the Serra de Tramuntana.[36] As this is a military zone, the neighbouring peak at Puig de Massanella is the highest accessible peak at 1,364 m (4,475 ft). The northeast coast comprises two bays: the Badia de Pollença and the larger Badia d'Alcúdia.
The northern coast is rugged and has many cliffs. The central zone, extending from Palma, is a generally flat, fertile plain known as Es Pla. The island has a variety of caves both above and below the sea – two of the caves, the above sea levelCoves dels Hams and the Coves del Drach, also contain underground lakes and are open to tours. Both are located near the eastern coastal town of Porto Cristo. Small uninhabited islands lie off the southern and western coasts; the Cabrera Archipelago is administratively grouped with Mallorca (in the municipality of Palma), while Dragonara is administratively included in the municipality of Andratx. Other notable areas include the Alfabia Mountains, Es Cornadors and Cap de Formentor. The Cap de Formentor is one of the places where the tourists can enjoy the pleasure of its beach which is golden and very thin.[37]
Municipalities of MajorcaEnlargeable, detailed map of Mallorca and outlying islands
The island (including the small offshore islands of Cabrera and Dragonera) is administratively divided into 53 municipalities. The areas and populations of the municipalities (according to the Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Spain) are:
Mallorca is the most populous island in the Balearic Islands and the second most populous island in Spain, after Tenerife,[39] in the Canary Islands, being also the fourth most populous island in the Mediterranean after Sicily, Sardinia and Cyprus.[40] It had a Census population of 920,605 inhabitants at the start of 2021,[41] and an official estimate of 940,332 at the start of 2023.[1]
Economy
The beaches in the southeast of Mallorca are popular tourist attractions.The main base of the economy of Mallorca is tourism. Escorca (Serra de Tramuntana).
Since the 1950s, Mallorca has become a major tourist destination, and the tourism business has become the main source of revenue for the island.[42]
The island's popularity as a tourist destination has steadily grown since the 1950s, with many artists and academics choosing to visit and live on the island. The number of visitors to Mallorca continued to increase with holiday makers in the 1970s approaching 3 million a year. In 2010 over 6 million visitors came to Mallorca. In 2013, Mallorca was visited by nearly 9.5 million tourists, and the Balearic Islands as a whole reached 13 million tourists.[43] In 2017, ten million tourists visited the island.[44] The rapid growth of the tourism industry has led to some locals protesting the effects of mass tourism on the island.[45][46][47]
Mallorca has been jokingly referred to as the 17th Federal State of Germany, due to the high number of German tourists.[48][49]
Due to a high number of expats choosing to settle down in the area, Mallorca has recently also become a business hub economy of its own, due to a high number of particularly foreign enterprises choosing to either relocate, or expand, to the island.
Attempts to build illegally caused a scandal in 2006 in Port Andratx that the newspaper El País named "caso Andratx".[50] A main reason for illegal building permits, corruption and black market construction is that communities have few ways to finance themselves other than through permits.[51] The former mayor was incarcerated in 2009 after being prosecuted for taking bribes to permit illegal house building.[52][53]
Top 10 arrivals by nationality
Data from Institute of Statistics of Balearic Islands[54]
Results of the elections to the Council of Mallorca
Elections are held every four years concurrently with local elections. From 1983 to 2007, councilors were indirectly elected from the results of the election to Parliament of the Balearic Islands for the constituency of Mallorca. Since 2007, however, separate direct elections are held to elect the Council.
Island Councilors of the Council of Mallorca since 1978
Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria (Catalan: Arxiduc Lluís Salvador) was a pioneer of tourism in the Balearic Islands. He first arrived on the island in 1867, travelling under his title "Count of Neuendorf". He later settled in Mallorca, buying up wild areas of land in order to preserve and enjoy them. Nowadays, a number of hiking routes are named after him.[59]
Ludwig Salvator loved the island of Mallorca. He became fluent in Catalan, carried out research into the island's flora and fauna, history, and culture to produce his main work, Die Balearen, a comprehensive collection of books about the Balearic Islands, consisting of 7 volumes. It took him 22 years to complete.[60]
Nowadays, several streets or buildings on the island are named after him (i.e., Arxiduc Lluís Salvador).
The Polish composer and pianist Frédéric Chopin, together with French writer Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin (pseudonym: George Sand), resided in Valldemossa in the winter of 1838–39. Apparently, Chopin's health had already deteriorated and his doctor recommended that he go to the Balearic Islands to recuperate, where he still spent a rather miserable winter.[61][62]
Nonetheless, his time in Mallorca was a productive period for Chopin. He managed to finish the Preludes, Op. 28, that he started writing in 1835. He was also able to undertake work on his Ballade No. 2, Op. 38; two Polonaises, Op. 40; and the Scherzo No. 3, Op. 39.[63]
Literature
French writer Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin (pseudonym: George Sand), at that time in a relationship with Chopin, described her stay in Mallorca in A Winter in Majorca, published in 1855. Other famous writers used Mallorca as the setting for their works. While on the island, the Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío started writing the novel El oro de Mallorca, and wrote several poems, such as La isla de oro.[64]
Jorge Luis Borges visited Mallorca twice, accompanied by his family.[66] He published his poems La estrella (1920) and Catedral (1921) in the regional magazine Baleares.[67] The latter poem shows his admiration for the monumental Cathedral of Palma.[68]
Nobel prize winner Camilo José Cela came to Mallorca in 1954, visiting Pollença, and then moving to Palma, where he settled permanently.[69] In 1956, Cela founded the magazine Papeles de Son Armadans.[70] He is also credited as founder of Alfaguara.
Grave of Robert Graves
The English writer and poet Robert Graves moved to Mallorca with his family in 1946. The house is now a museum. He died in 1985 and his body was buried in the small churchyard on a hill at Deià.[71]Ira Levin set part of his dystopian novel This Perfect Day in Mallorca, making the island a centre of resistance in a world otherwise dominated by a computer.
Music and dance
The Ball dels Cossiers is the island's traditional dance. It is believed to have been imported from Catalonia in the 13th or 14th century, after the Aragonese conquest of the island under King Jaime I.[72] In the dance, three pairs of dancers, who are typically male, defend a "Lady," who is played by a man or a woman, from a demon or devil. Another Mallorcan dance is Correfoc, an elaborate festival of dance and pyrotechnics that is also of Catalan origin. The island's folk music strongly resembles that of Catalonia, and is centered around traditional instruments like the xeremies (bagpipe) and guitarra de canya (a reed or bone xylophone-like instrument suspended from the neck).[73] While folk music is still played and enjoyed by many on the island, a number of other musical traditions have become popular in Mallorca in the 21st century, including electronic dance music, classical music, and jazz, all of which have annual festivals on the island.[74]
Art
Joan Miró, a Spanish painter, sculptor, and ceramicist, had close ties to the island throughout his life. He married Pilar Juncosa in Palma in 1929 and settled permanently in Mallorca in 1954.[75] The Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró in Mallorca has a collection of his works. Es Baluard in Palma is a museum of modern and contemporary art which exhibits the work of Balearic artists and artists related to the Balearic Islands.
Film
The Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival is the fastest growing Mediterranean film festival and has taken place annually every November since 2011, attracting filmmakers, producers, and directors globally. It is hosted at the Teatro Principal in Palma de Mallorca.[76][better source needed]
Mallorca has a long history of seafaring. The Majorcan cartographic school or the "Catalan school" refers to a collection of cartographers, cosmographers, and navigational instrument makers who flourished in Mallorca and partly in mainland Catalonia in the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries. Mallorcan cosmographers and cartographers developed breakthroughs in cartographic techniques, namely the "normal portolan chart", which was fine-tuned for navigational use and the plotting by compass of navigational routes, prerequisites for the discovery of the New World.
In 2005, there were over 2,400 restaurants on the island of Mallorca according to the Mallorcan Tourist Board, ranging from small bars to full restaurants.[citation needed] Olives and almonds are typical of the Mallorcan diet. Among the foods that are typical from Mallorca are sobrassada, arròs brut (saffron rice cooked with chicken, pork and vegetables), and the sweet pastry ensaïmada. Also Pa amb oli is a popular dish.[77]
The two official languages of Mallorca are Catalan and Spanish,[78] a dialect of the former being the indigenous language of Mallorca.[79] The local dialect of Catalan spoken in the island is Mallorquí, with slightly different variants in most villages. Education is bilingual in Catalan and Spanish, with some teaching of English.[80]
In 2012, the then-governing People's Party announced its intention to end preferential treatment for Catalan in the island's schools to bring parity to the two languages of the island. It was said that this could lead Mallorcan Catalan to become extinct in the fairly near future, as it was being used in a situation of diglossia in favour of the Spanish language.[81] However, following a May 2015 election that swept a pro-Catalan party into power, this policy was dropped.[82]
One of Europe's most popular cycling destinations, Mallorca cycling routes such as the popular 24 km cycle track (segregated cycle lane) which runs between Porto Cristo and Cala Bona via Sa Coma and Cala Millor are must rides.
Renowned Mallorcans
Ars magna, by Ramon Llull
Some of the earliest famous Mallorcans lived on the island before its reconquest from the Moors. Famous Mallorcans include:
Eaktay Ahn (1906–1965), founder of the Balearic Symphony Orchestra and composer of the Korean national anthem, lived in Mallorca from 1946 until his death in 1965.[84]
Jorge Lorenzo professional motorcycle road racer, won the world 250cc Grand Prix motorcycle title in 2006 and 2007, and the 2010, 2012 & 2015 MotoGP World Championships.
^Emblematic objects for societies in transition. An archaeological and archaeometric study of the sword of Serral de ses Abelles (Puigpunyent, Mallorca). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports Volume 40, Part A, December 2021, 103201
^Margottini, Claudio; Canuti, Paolo; Sassa, Kyoji (2013). Landslide Science and Practice. Vol. 7: Social and Economic Impact and Policies. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 105. ISBN9783642313134. Archived from the original on 25 October 2023. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
^Emilio Rappold (29 July 2014). "Mallorca ist das 17. Bundesland" [Mallorca is the 17th federal state]. HuffingtonPost.de (in German). Archived from the original on 6 December 2015. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
^"Camí de l'Arxiduc" [Path of the Archduke]. Mallorca Aventura (in Catalan). Archived from the original on 28 January 2013. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
^"Die Balearen in Wort und Bild" [The Balearic Islands in words and pictures] (in German). Archived from the original on 29 December 2014. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
^"Rubén Darío en Mallorca"(PDF). Centro Virtual Cervantes (in Spanish). Archived(PDF) from the original on 30 December 2014. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
^Carlos Meneses. "Borges y España — Mallorca en Borges" [Borges and Spain — Mallorca in Borges]. Centro Virtual Cervantes (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2 May 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
^"Joan Miró en Mallorca". Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró a Mallorca (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 1 November 2012. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
^"Restaurants". Infomallorca. Consell de Mallorca. Archived from the original on 25 October 2023. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
^Article 4 of the "Estatut d'autonomia de les Illes Balears" [Statute of Autonomy of the Balearic Islands] (PDF) (in Catalan). 2007. Archived(PDF) from the original on 30 May 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2014. Catalan language, Balearic Islands' own language, will have, together with the Spanish language, the character of official language.
^"Mallorca". www.illesbalears.es. Archived from the original on 8 October 2016. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
^Emma Wells (31 October 2010). "It's Archer's best plot yet". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
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