Prehistoric and ancient times
The strategic position of the Balearic Islands has made them the crossroads of cultures and civilisations since ancient times. The first settlers date from the third millennium BC, although there are traces of a human presence on Ibiza and Formentera during the Bronze Age. Subsequently, these islands were unpopulated for several centuries. Meanwhile, on Minorca and Mallorca, the enigmatic Talayotic culture, dating back to 1,400 BC, survived until the 1st century BC, leaving numerous remains on both islands that have survived to the present day.
Between the 6th and 2nd centuries BC, Ibiza was a key city for Punic maritime trade as it was one of the most important cities in the Mediterranean. Carthaginians, Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans reached Balearic shores and founded many settlements and colonies, attracted by the fertile land, the benign climate and their exceptional position, making them an obligatory stopping-off point on ancient maritime trading routes.
The Middle Ages
In the year 455, the Vandals occupied the Balearic Islands. In 534, they were conquered by the Emperor Justinian's troops and formed part of the Byzantine Empire until the early 8th century. A serious economic and demographic crisis, worsened by repeated incursions of pirates from Al-Yalus, the southern part of the Iberian peninsula that had been dominated by a flourishing Islamic civilisation since the year 711, led to the expulsion of the Byzantines and gave way to three centuries of prosperity under Muslim occupation. During this period, Mallorca lived times of cultural splendour and religious tolerance: Muslims, Jews and a small Christian minority lived together peacefully.
The reconquest of Muslim lands by the Christian kingdoms of the northern Iberian Peninsula began in the first half of the 8th century. The Catalan-Aragonese Confederation expanded considerably towards the Mediterranean during the 12th and 13th centuries. In 1229, Jaime I, the Conqueror, captained a large fleet financed by his nobles and magnates, with the aim of taking Mallorca from the Arabs. He landed towards the end of the summer and, after winning a bloody battle with the defenders, he entered the largest city on the island, present-day Palma, on 31st December. Ibiza was conquered 8 years later, its people being sold into slavery like the Mallorcans. Jaime I, his army weakened by this long campaign, allowed Minorca to submit to vassalage, the island becoming an autonomous Taifa, where Arab religion and culture survived for half a century until Alfonso III conquered it definitively.
The Kingdom of Mallorca
On the death of Jaime I in 1276, the Catalan-Aragonese Confederation was divided between his two sons. Jaime II, the king's younger son, was left the Balearics and various lands in the south of France. The Kingdom of Mallorca was an independent country for 68 years and only two more kings belong to the House of Mallorca: Sancho I and Jaime III. This period coincides with a time of great commercial expansion and the building of some of the Islands' most significant monuments, like Bellver Castle and Palma's Cathedral, as well as the appearance of figures such as the religious philosopher, Ramón Llull.
In 1343, the Kingdom of Mallorca reverted to the Crown of Aragon and during this period, the Balearic Islands had their own self-governing institutions. The languages in common use were Latin and Catalan. Following the dynastic union under the Catholic Monarchs (Isabella I of Castile married Ferdinand II of Aragon), the Balearic Islands formed part of the new Kingdom of Spain, along with all the other Iberian kingdoms.
15th and 16th centuries
With the Christian reconquest complete and following Christopher Colombus' discovery of America in 1492, the Kingdom of Spain entered its period of splendour and became the world's major power. The Balearic Islands were not insulated from this golden age. The main sources of wealth were buoyant maritime trade, salt exports and agriculture.
The Lonja de los Mercaderes in Palma, a magnificent example of civilian Gothic architecture, whose construction began in 1429 and was completed in 1449, corresponds with this period of commercial affluence in the Balearics. Only the frequent attacks by pirates on coastal towns tarnish a period of economic and political stability. The Islands' social structure continued to be feudal: the nobility owned the land and occupied the positions representing the power of the King and the Church; a rich bourgeoisie comprising mainly merchants, businessmen and shipowners; the peasantry, who were fully subjected to the whims of the landowners; and the artisans who were based mainly in the towns.
17th and 18th centuries
The decline of the Spanish Empire from the 17th century onwards, relative to the emerging power of England and France, led to the gradual loss of the overseas colonies. In the Balearics, this was reflected by the occupation of Minorca by the British in 1708. Lost and recaptured twice, the island remained in British hands throughout most of the 18th century and suffered constant sieges and attacks by the three great powers of the time, England, France and Spain. During this period, Minorca maintained its own institutions and its Catalan language culture underwent a distinct blooming.
Modern times
In 1898, Spain lost its last overseas colonies - Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines - but received a protectorate in Morocco that became a new source of conflict. The Balearic Islands suffered similar political and social events as the Spanish mainland, but being islands, they maintained a certain distance from the great political upheavals that affected the Spanish state, although the population of the islands were directly affected by the military levies that took their men away to fight overseas.
The primary sector and trade continued to be the driving force of the Balearic economy. Being islands, industrial development was generally weak compared to other Spanish regions like Catalonia or the Basque Country. Textile, shoe-making and metalworking industries could only be established in those places where artisans and the commercial sector were more enterprising and this led to the formation of a small working class.
Up until the mid 20th century, pronounced population growth alongside limited economic development led to a great many islanders emigrating to Central and South America.
On the Spanish mainland, there were stormy social and political struggles involving, on the one hand, the privileged social classes - nobles, landowners and the upper middle-class along with the church and the army - and, on the other hand, the emerging workers and peasants' social movement organised around socialist and anarchist trade unions. The Balearics were no strangers to the social and political movements of these times, although they did not reach the intensity and extremes here that they did in the rest of the country.
Under the Regency of Queen Maria Cristina and subsequently her son, King Alfonso XIII, governments of various shades succeeded each other until the 2nd Spanish Republic was proclaimed in 1931. In 1936, General Francisco Franco's coup d'etat led Spain into a bloody Civil War. The islands suffered the consequences of the war like the rest of the country and afterwards, Franco's dictatorship (1936-1975) led to extreme political centralisation and the persecution of the Catalan language in the Balearic Islands.
During the 1960s, the advent of mass tourism led to the economy being restructured towards the service sector and the construction industry, causing, among other things, increasing prosperity on the Islands and as a result, a sizable influx of immigrants from other parts of Spain.
The restoration of democracy under the Spanish Constitution of 1978 has led to a period characterised by stability and economic growth.
At first, this meant the disappearance of the Balearic Islands provincial council in 1978 and the approval of the pre-devolutionary structure consisting of the Inter-islands General Council and the Island Councils of Mallorca, Minorca and Ibiza and Formentera. The Balearic Islands statute of regional self-government was approved in 1983 and has been subsequently extended by the devolution of power over education, health and other fields. Balearic Islands regional institutions consist of the President, the Parliament and the Government. The Island Councils are the governing body on each island. The new statute of regional self-government for the Balearic Islands was approved on 28th February 2007, granting more finance and increased powers to the regional government.