Ibiza History

Little is known about the aborigines of Pitiuses. However, it is assumed that the development is on a similar path to the neighboring islands of Majorca and Menorca.
Between 2000 and 1600 BC, developed in the Balearic Islands, was the talaiot culture (from Arab. Atalayi).

The Talayots were stone towers that served as watchtowers and places of worship. In contrast to the neighboring islands, they have found in Ibiza and Formentera, no traces of such buildings. The cave paintings of Ses Fontenelle in Sant Antoni and the megaliths of Ca Na Costa in Formentera, however, indicate that the Pine Islands were already well settled at this time.

The Phoenicians

In the year 654 BC the Phoenicians founded Carthage on the east side of the harbor of Ibiza, a colony which they called Ibes Ebusim or, possibly after the Phoenician god Bes. The city of Ibiza was an important trading port. The Phoenicians exploited the rich salt deposits, and the lead mines near Sant Carles.

The necropolis of Puig des Molins (Muhlenberg) is known as the most important Phoenician burial site. In the near Sant Vicent de sa Cala, in 1907, the cave temple was discovered, Culleram, which was dedicated to the goddess Tanit. Hannibal had been born on the island of Sa Conillera at Sant Antoni. Officially, he saw the light of day in Carthage, but it is guaranteed that Hannibal’s campaign against Rome (Second Punic War, 218-201 BC, the infamous honderos Els Foners Balears) took him to the Balearic Islands.

The Romans (from 123 BC)

After the Second Punic War had begun victory for the Phoenicians, in 202 BC Hannibal’s troops were defeated at Zama, and Carthage was limited to its African territory. In 123 BC, the Balearic Islands were conquered by the Roman general Quintus Caecilius Metellus Balearicus.

The Romans called Ibiza Town Ebesus, as a confederate city could retain a degree of autonomy. They needed, for example, to pay no tribute and were allowed to continue to exercise the right of coinage. In 70 BC, Ebesus under the name Flavia Augusta, was incorporated into the Roman Empire. Emperor Vespasian ordered the economy and infrastructure to develop the island. Portus Salarius the ports in Formentera (now La Savina) and Portus Magnus (Sant Antoni de Portmany) were constructed.

The neighboring island of Ibiza in the south was called frumentaria (the kingdom of wheat) by the Romans. Because of the fertile soil and abundant fresh water reserves at that time, it served them as a granary. In 380 AD Christianity became the state religion of the Romans. Thus, the Balearic islands were Christianized. In 391 Theodosius issued prohibitation of all pagan cults. Only a few years later the Roman Empire collapsed in the Western and the Eastern Empire (Byzantium).

Invasion of the Vandals (5. century AD)

In 426, the island was completely devastated by the Vandals. Only the Eastern Roman general Belisarius succeeded the expulsion of the Vandals. Ibiza came under the suzerainty of Byzantium. From this time, however, little is known.

The Moorish domination (8.-13th century)

In 711 it was conquered by the Moors under the commander Tarik Spain, but only a few years earlier they had landed on the Balearic Islands. Ibiza was first conquered by the Moors. They called the island Yabisa (Arabic: “the Dry”). But it took until the beginning of the 10th Century, for the Moors to be able to stabilize their power in Ibiza, especially the 859 raid of the Vikings.

The Moors called the Balearic islands Las Islas Orientales de Al-Andalus (the islands east of Andalusia). They belonged to the Caliphate of Cordoba. In 1009 they became independent with the Balearic Islands located in the coastal town of Denia Kingdom. Around this time, there were also raids by Arab pirates who operated primarily out of Mallorca and Menorca. But the Islamic domination of Ibiza could still hold on for years. 1203 saw it become established in the Balearic Islands.

The Catalan conquest (from 1229)

In 1229 the Christians conquered during the Reconquista. Under the command of the King of Aragon, James I, the conqueror, besieged the Medina Yabisa by Guillermo de Montgrí, the archbishop of Tarragona. According to legend, the Christians, could play very fast, because the reigning sultan Yebusah had taken his brother’s favorite slave girl and misled her. In revenge, the brother of the Christians left the city. Ibiza was divided among the conquerors, which included the Montgri Infant (Prince) of Portugal, Don Pedro and the Count of Roussillon Don Nuno Sans. Catalan was a language introduced to the island.

The Kingdom of Majorca (from 1256)

Jaume II in 1256 called the Kingdom of Mallorca, which included the Balearic Islands, Roussillon and Montpellier. In 1299 the University was founded as, an authority to administer public affairs. The Pitiusan thus possessed limited autonomous administration, which until the 19th century, remained. The Kingdom of Mallorca in 1349 fell back to Aragon after Jaume III was killed by Pedro IV of Aragon. With the marriage of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon it finally came to the unification of Spain. In 1492 Granada fell, which was the last stronghold of the Moors in Spain.

The Ibizan Corsairs (16.-19th centuries)

Towards the end of the 15th Century, the Genoese, Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic to find a new sea route to India. With the discovery of the New World, the Mediterranean trade and thus also the Balearic Islands, lost importance. The interest of the Spanish crown to Ibiza and Formentera was abated.

Since the islands were now virtually undefended, it drew the interest of the pirates themselves, who mainly specialized in kidnapping. Formentera was completely depopulated during this period and did not resettle until the 17th Century. Historians suspect that the reason their villas were built so far apart was because large settlements attracted the attention of the pirates themselves. However, the population was decimated by the numerous wars.

To protect against pirates the Ibicencos erected watchtowers. Each tower was standing with another in sight. Through Fire signs the reports of approaching pirates could be given more rapidly and the population could take refuge in the fortified churches, which were built during this time.

Under Philip II (Spain), the son of Charles V launched in 1556, the construction of the city walls of Ibiza Town. The impressive walls still encircle the old city today and Dalt Vila was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999, as they have been carefully renovated and restored.

The continued attacks of pirates, but also the Spanish Inquisition, which persecuted unmercifully every deviation from the Catholic faith, brought the Ibicencos so much economic misery that they went into the offensive and the Mediterranean Sea on the hunt for enemy ships.

The Korsarentum flourished until the 19th Century. Only with the conquest of Algiers by the French (1830) did Mediterranean piracy end.The most famous corsair was the Ibizan Antonio Riquer Arabi. He brought more than 100 ships, including the heavily armed British brig Felicity. In his honor in the port of Ibiza town there has been an obelisk erected.