•• • •• •• •A Brief History • A handful of Bronze Age relics has fostered an assumption that prehistoric settlers inhabited Ibiza thousands of years ago. Greater evidence of such a people is found on Mallorca and Menorca than on Ibiza, but one of the Balearics’ most important sites is actually on the island of Formentera, where the megalithic monument/tomb of Ca Na Costa has been dated to 2000 b.c. •Ibiza’s key location between Africa and ancient Iberia made it a convenient stopover for Mediterranean seafarers, such as the Phoenician traders, who called the island Ibosim. The Greeks dubbed it Ebysos, the Romans called it Ebusus, and the Moors, Yebisah. •The Carthaginians •A detailed history of the island doesn’t begin until it became a colony of Carthage in the 7th century b.c. (see also pages 14-15). The Carthaginians originally came from the area comprising present-day Lebanon, and from their bases in North Africa and what’s now Spain, they challenged the Roman Empire for domination of the Mediterranean region. Their interest in Ibiza lay partly in its vast salt flats, which to this day remain the source of a profitable industry. They capitalized on the natural resources by using the salt to cure fish, which they exported to their home country. The Carthaginians also carried out lead mining and continued to be of significance up until this century. It is believed that the lead pellets which were used by the Carthaginian general Hannibal were made on Ibiza. •The Carthaginians also considered the island a holy place, and here in great splendour they buried thousands of their citizens in a huge necropolis on the Puig des Molins (Hill of the Windmills) below the Dalt Vila (Old Town) of Ibiza. Under the gnarled olive trees archaeologists have uncovered a treasure trove of statues, jewellery, pitchers, tools, and coins, which are now displayed in the town’s two archaeological museums. •The Romans •The Romans never really infiltrated Ibiza, and even after the defeat of Hannibal in 202 b.c. during the Second Punic War their influence was restrained. Only with the fall of Carthage in 146 b.c. did they manage to make inroads, but, as local historians stress, Ibiza was neither conquered nor annexed by Rome, but confederated, retaining remarkable autonomy. For centuries to come the old Carthaginian traditions were allowed to continue on Ibiza alongside the new Roman way of life. Meanwhile on the Iberian peninsula, Rome was leaving a decisive imprint on the area’s language, culture, and government, and particularly in its engineering genius in the construction of roads, aqueducts, and monuments. •The Romans also exploited Ibiza’s natural resources. They exported salt from the southern end of the island and lead from the mines of Sant Carles, and at the same time extracted a purple dye from shellfish which was used for imperial cloaks. In addition they found a moneymaker in an exotic, aromatic sauce of decomposed fish innards. Called garum, it was considered a great delicacy by Romans and Greeks alike. (Today it is but a historical footnote; local cooks use nothing more pungent than a hint of garlic. ) •The Moors •After centuries of peace and productivity, the year a.d. 426 marked the beginning of an era of strife, violence, and destruction. Ibiza, along with the rest of what is now Spain, was invaded and sacked by the Germanic tribe of the Vandals, who occupied the island and quickly imposed their culture. Centuries of almost constant repressive foreign rule followed, with the Vandals being succeeded by the Byzantines, Saracens, and Moors. •The Moorish conquest of the Balearics was complete by a.d. 903, and except during the periodic outbreaks of violence typical of that time, the Moors devoted themselves to developing the island economy and agri­culture. However, little evidence remains of that era — some ceramics in the museum, a few fortifications, a network of irrigation ditches. For the most part, the Moorish legacy is manifested in a few local place names, some words in the Ibicenco dialect, and an indelible influence on the island’s folk music. Indeed, perhaps the most vivid reminder of the Moors are the dark, brooding eyes of so many of the islanders of today. •Christian Reconquest •The Moors were determined to carry Islam into Europe. To this end they invaded Spain itself and even reached up into France until they were beaten by the Frankish ruler Charles Martel in 732. But after the Crusade of Pisa (see page 19), Islamic power waned, and in the early 13th century Ibiza was embraced by the Christian Reconquest. King James I of Aragon authorized the occupation of the islands under forces commanded by Guillermo de Montgri, a solid Catalonian citizen with titular ecclesiastical rank. After a few skirmishes, the Catalonian troops were ready to deal the death blow. One pincer battered its way through the rebuilt city wall, while the other — so it is said — infiltrated through a secret passage revealed to the invaders by the brother of the sheik himself. According to legend the embittered traitor gave the game away because the passionate sheik had seduced his wife. •Thus, violently, in August 1235, both Christianity and the Catalonian language came to Ibiza to stay. On the mainland, the Reconquista (Reconquest) continued for another two and one-half centuries. The Moors suffered a major setback in 1212 at the battle of Navas de Tolosa in northern Andalusia, but they still clung to the kingdom of Granada and were only finally evicted from there in 1492. •Booty and Plunder •Elsewhere, great events were changing the shape of the world. Under Ferdinand and Isabella, the unity of Spain as the country we know today was finally achieved, and it was carrying their flag that in 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed westwards and discovered America. Soon Spain found itself the recipient of immense wealth in the form of gold and silver, and the Spanish rulers, eager for more, turned their attention away from the Mediterranean and Ibiza towards both the New World and the heart of Europe, where Spanish ambitions rapidly expanded. Ibiza became a mere backwater, largely forgotten but for shipwreck or plague. •The moment that the Spanish monarchs looked the other way, the daring pirates of the North African Barbary Coast — and elsewhere — moved in. The Ibicencos fortified the bulwarks and built additional towers and fortresses throughout to help shield themselves against enemy incursions. Despite their efforts, however, Ibiza was menaced by so many hostile flotillas that the locals took the unprecedented step of forming their own band of privateers. To the Berbers’ amazement the tables were turned, and it wasn’t long before the Ibicencos were boarding the enemy’s brigantines on the open seas and “liberating” the pirates’ booty —   even that of the greatly feared “Pope” (see box). Today an obelisk in Ibiza’s port honours the daring Corsairs. •Reminders of the permanent threat posed by pirates can be found everywhere on Ibiza. In the towns it is notable that the churches and other focal points from that period were built on an elevated site to provide lookout posts and early warning systems. In many isolated regions, meanwhile, last-ditch defences in the form of round stone towers were built, a few of which are still inhabited today. An unusual collection of such towers can be seen from the Sant Joan road in a hamlet with the Moorish name of Balafi, near the village of Sant Lorenç. •Political Turmoil •In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Spain was both economically weak and politically unstable. It lost its empire in America and the Pacific, and then in 1923 suffered a humiliating defeat in Morocco at the hands of local rebels. Under King Alfonso XIII neither dictatorship nor constitutional government was able to create and sustain domestic tranquillity, with the result that following anti-royalist election results in 1931 the king went into exile. •The turbulence continued under the new republic continued to be turbulent, however, with bitter ideological divisions between parties and factions, involving the church as well. Finally, in 1936, a large section of the army under General Francisco Franco rose in revolt, claiming the support of the monarchists, conservatives, the Church, and the right-wing Falange par­ty, the fascist movement which had been founded in 1933 and which Franco subsequently declared to be the only legal party in Spain. Opposing him was a collection of republicans, liberals, socialists, communists, and anarchists. •The Spanish Civil War became one of the causes célèbres of the 20th century, with support for both sides being rallied in many countries outside Spain. In Ibiza several families were torn in their loyalties between the Republican and Nationalist causes. The bloodshed lasted three years and cost hundreds of thousands of lives, and almost every family on Ibiza — not to mention the mainland — was touched by tragedy. Ibiza, Formentera, and Menorca were all captured by loyalist forces, who used the islands as a base for their naval operations. Hardship was compounded with the advent of World War II, even though Spain stayed neutral throughout the war. •The shattered Spanish economy inched forward during the post-war years. For Ibiza the breakthrough came in the 1960s, with the introduction of wide-bodied jets and a significant surge in tourism. Following the expansion of the airport, the island entered the big league of international holiday resorts. •After the death of Franco in 1975, King Juan Carlos I restored democracy to Spain. In free elections in June 1977, moderates and democratic socialists emerged as the largest parties. Ibiza’s new freedom meant the renaissance of the Ibicenco language and culture after decades of suppression, and participation in Catalonia’s newly won autonomy. Free speech and free elections were not the only innovations: gambling was legalized and nude bathing was sanctioned. Change swept through Ibiza dramatically, irrevocably, almost overnight. •Modern Times •Since then, the development of Ibiza has continued, and the island’s fortunes are now almost completely derived from tourism. Changes on mainland Spain have inevitably been felt on Ibiza also, but their effect has been largely beneficial. The Socialist Workers’ Party of Felipe González Márquez was elected in 1982 and his government committed itself to Spain’s integration into the European Union (formerly the European Community). As a precondition to admission, the border with Gibraltar was reopened in 1985 after a 16-year hiatus, and Spain was admitted to the EU in 1986. In spite of high unemployment and separatist rumblings, the country’s economic growth rate remained one of the highest in all of western Europe throughout the 1980s. Although Ibiza’s popularity as a holiday destination has never waned, the events of the past few years — Seville Expo ‘92, the Barcelona Olympics — have ensured its continued success.