BRIEF HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION

Pre-historians have recently speculated on the existence in Mallorca of an original settlement around 7200 B.C. Between 3000 and 1300 B.C. this blessed island was inhabited by small communities of farmers and herdsmen organized into tribes. This is the 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. Around 1300 B.C. our Isle of Calm saw the arrival of the first waves of talayotic persons (“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. In 123 B.C. Mallorca was conquered by Rome, with the pretext of freeing imperial ships from attacks by pirates based in the ÇBalearic Islands. 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. This tradition has even been recovered in the sport of slinging. In the year 425 A.D. Mallorca suffered invasion and sacking by the Vandals, a Germanic race who settled on the island. Its end came in 534 when the Byzantine general Belisarius ordered the conquest of this archipelago. The first known Muslim landing occurred in 707. Two centuries of constant anxiety ensued, until in 903 Mallorca came under the power of the Muslim Umayyad dynasty. 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. The most important date for Mallorcans is September 12 of year 1229, when the armies of the Kingdom of Aragon, under the command of Jaume I, retook the island for Christianity. They conquered the city of Palma on December 31 st, after progressively gaining ground and advancing from their landing place in what is now Santa Ponça, in the municipality of Calviá. Mallorca was part of the Kingdom of Aragon until 1276, when our beloved island becaqme an independent kingdom. 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 feat in Mallorca’s history. Between the 13 th and 15 th centuries Mallorcan cartography became famous the world over. The most highly regarded workshops in Europe drawing up nautical charts were Mallorcan. This island’s own institutions were abolished by King Felipe V in 1715. Also he 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. Through the 1983 Statute of Autonomy, the Balearic Islands have their own regional government and each island has its own instruments of management and administration.

NATURE AND GEOGRAPHY

Our nature is our treasure. And we are proud of it. Authorities have chosen to make protection of the environment a top priority, enabling it to be offered up to the visitor’s attentive and delighted gaze. Mallorca’s landscapes are so varied as to enthral the human eye. From the long sandy beaches of the southeast, crowned by the paradisiacal Es Trenc, to Formentor and the cliffs that profile the Serra de Tramuntana range of mountains. Around 40% of Mallorca’s surface area is protected territory, including the Nature Reserves of s’Albufera, sa Dragonera and Mondragó, as well as the maritime-terrestrial National Park of Cabrera. Furthermore, the whole Serra de Tramuntana which runs the length of the island from north (Pollensa) to south (Sóller), enjoys very strict protective measures. This island’s privileged location, in the centre of the western Mediterranean, offers maximum climatic, cultural and scenic advantages. Also it affords rapid, comfortable communications. The most distant point in Europe is only four hours away if you can believe it. The island’s area is 3,640 km2, with a coastline of 555 km. Our highest point is the Puig Major (1,432 m) and the average yearly temperature is 18.7ºC. We enjoy almost 3,000 hours of sunshine annually! Our population is a bit over 700,000 souls.

ARTIST’S PARADISE

Art is nothing new to Mallorca. For centuries this island has been a refuge chosen by innumerable artists, offering the solitude required for making works of art and at the same time an immersion in contemporary cultural activities. Visitors 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. Around Mallorca there are dozens of cultural centres, public and private. There remains hardly a town or village that has not made culture and art a seal of distinction in recent years. The abundance of spaces dedicated to creative activity (please see “Our Region” to acquaint yourself with art in Pollensa) will astonish anyone who heads for the island expecting to find an enormous solarium quite removed from artistic endeavours.

EATING AND DRINKING

As a result of the complex history of ancestral civilizations, Mallorcan cuisine offers a taste of all the cultures that have shaped its personality. Variety thus is one of its hallmarks. Island cuisine abounds in rich vegetable courses, exquisite seafood creations, and splendid meat dishes. You have a choice of over 1,200 restaurants with practically any kind of cuisine imaginable. We suggest that you try the typical regional creations such as tumbet (Mallorcan version of ratatouille), trempó (Mediterranean salad with tomatos, green peppers and onion) coca amb verdura (delicious local version ofpizza), panades (meat and/or vegetable pie), cocarrois (folded vegetable pie), frit (fried pork, lamb or seafood with vegetable and herbs), arròs brut (rice soup with assorted meats and vegetables), sopes mallorquines (casserole with brown bread topped with pork and vegetables), escudella fresca (vegetable soup), fava parada (lime beans soup), conill amb seba (stewed rabbit with onion), porcella rostida (roast suckling pig), braç de mérostit (roast lamb shoulder) or escaldums (chicken stew) to name just a few. And please do not forget the different kinds of fresh delicious Mediterranean fish creations. Also make sure to try our two main charcuterie products: sobrasada (red spicy sausage) and the tasty botifarrons (black sausage). Best places to find Mallorcan typical dishes are the restaurants called Cellers. Local wines combine beautifully with the island dishes. Mallorca has a deep-rooted winemaking tradition. A growing number of interesting vineyards (Binissalem, Felanitx, Petra, Porreres, Artá and lately Pollensa) produce high quality wines, especially red and rosé. As to local spirits, the two most famous kinds (with or without ice cubes) are an aperitif called palo (black and sweet) and a liqueur known as herbes (dry, medium or sweet).

FUN AND SPORTS

Because of a climate that favours open-air actitivities all the year round, Mallorca offers an exciting array of choices to fill every single moment of your holiday. The island’s nautical potential has an international renown with almost 20,000 moorings. So are diving, water-skiing, game fishing, windsurfing or any other sport related to the sea. You cannot fail to find occasions to enjoy your favourite pursuits or schools in which to sharpen and perfect your marine skills. Golf (almost 20 courses), equestrian sports, aerial activities (from hang-gliding and skydiving to flying ultra-lights). Trekking, mountain climbing, hiking –you name it.

 SHOPPING

Visits to the craft studios and workshops all over the island can plunge you into a quandary about which pieces to select from the myriad offered by the numerous artisans (leather goods, textiles, ceramics, shoes, pottery, artistic glass, embroidery, etc.) Needless to say, thousands of boutiques display virtually any object and trademark name you can find in major international cities.