Mallorca (in Catalan, Spanish, and English; also called Majorca in English) is one of the Balearic Islands (Catalan: Illes Balears, Spanish: Islas Baleares), which are located in the Mediterranean Sea and are part of Spain. Like the other Balearic Islands Ibiza (Catalan: Eivissa), Formentera, and Minorca ("minor island", Catalan: Menorca), the island is a popular tourist destination. In Germany and the United Kingdom, where package tourism to the island started in May 1952, Mallorca has remained a popular destination. Since the 1960s, however, it has become a synonym for mass tourism. The name derives from Latin insula maior, "larger island"; later Maiorica.

The capital of the island is Palma, which is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Cabrera archipelago is administratively grouped with Mallorca (in the municipality of Palma). The National anthem of Mallorca is La Balanguera,

Founding of Mallorca

Mallorca has been inhabited since antiquity. Burial chambers and traces of habitation from the Paleolithic period, 6000-4000 BC, have been discovered. The island was occupied by the Carthaginians before passing to the Romans in 123 BC under Quintus Caecilius Metellus. It flourished under Roman rule, during which time the towns of Pollentia (Alcúdia), and Palmaria (Palma) were founded. Olive cultivation, viniculture, and salt mining supported the economy.

The Vandals sacked the island in 426, and annexed it to their kingdom in 465. In 534, Mallorca was conquered by the Byzantine Empire, and administered as part of the province of Sardinia. Under Byzantine rule, Christianity flourished and numerous churches were built. But from 707, the island was increasingly attacked by Muslim raiders from North Africa.

In 902, the Caliphate of Cordoba conquered Mallorca, ushering in a new period of prosperity for the island. The Moors improved agriculture with irrigation, and developed local industries. In 1015, Mallorca came under rule by the Taifa of Denia, and from 1087-1114 was an independent taifa. However, in 1114, a group of Pisa-Catalans overran the island, laying siege to Palma for 8 months. After the city fell, the invaders retreated, and were replaced by the Almoravides from North Africa, who ruled till 1203. The Almoravides were replaced by the Almohad dynasty until 1229, and in the ensuring confusion and unrest, King James I of Aragon launched an invasion with 15,000 men and 1,500 horses, annexing the island to his Crown of Aragon after a 3 month campaign.

After the death of James I in 1276, his kingdom was divided between his sons. James II becomes king of the new Kingdom of Mallorca. In 1344, King Peter IV of Aragon invaded, and re-incorporated the island into the Crown.

From 1479, the Crown of Aragon was in dynastic union with that of Castile. In the early 18th century, the War of the Spanish Succession resulted in the replacement of that dynastic union with a unified Spanish monarchy. In 1716 the Decretos de Nueva Planta made Mallorca part of the Spanish province of Baleares, roughly equivalent to present-day Illes Balears province and autonomous community.

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 saw it the subject of several Vandal sackings during the fall of the Roman Empire, then reconquered by the Byzantine, then colonised by the Moors (who called it Medina Mayurqa), and finally established by James I of Aragon. In 1983, Palma was adopted as the capital of the autonomous region of the Balearic Islands.

Since the 1950s, the advent of mass tourism radically changed the physiognomy of both the city and island, transforming it into a centre of attraction for visitors and attracting workers from mainland Spain. This contributed to a huge change in the traditions, the sociolinguistic map, urbanisation and acquisitive power.

The boom in tourism caused Palma to grow significantly, with repercussions on immigration. In 1960 Mallorca received 500,000 visitors, in 1997 it received more than 6,739,700. In 2001 more than 19,200,000 people passed through Son Sant Joan airport in Palma, with an additional 1.5 million coming by sea.

In the 21st century, urban redevelopment, by the so-called Pla Mirall (English "Mirror Plan"), attracted important groups of immigrant workers from outside the European Union, especially from Africa and South America.

On November 14, 2005, the local newspaper Diario de Mallorca reported allegations that the CIA used an airport on the island for a program of covert transfers of terror suspects.

The local language is Catalan, with a great deal of dialectal variety when compared to the Catalan of other areas (Catalonia, Valencia) or even the other Balearic Islands. There is also a relatively large amount of variation between Mallorcan localities. In view of the diversity, the local language is sometimes termed "Mallorcan" (mallorquí) or Balearic (balear) rather than the general term Catalan (català).

Spanish also has the status of an official language, and many Spanish speakers moved from other parts of Spain to the island in the twentieth century. Young Mallorcans are typically bilingual in Catalan and Spanish, with some knowledge of English or German as a foreign language, especially due to the large number of tourists on the island.

[Source: Wikipedia]

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