The Balearic Islands

The islands' first well-known culture is the Talayotic, which from the late Bronze Age raised stone towers called talaiots, boat-shaped tombs known as navetas, and, on Menorca, the T-shaped taulas whose purpose is still debated; Menorca's Talayotic sites are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The islanders were famous slingers who fought as mercenaries for Carthage. Phoenicians settled Ibiza, which the Romans called Ebusus, and Rome conquered the archipelago in 123 BC, founding Palma and Pollentia on Mallorca.

After the Vandals and the Byzantines, the islands were taken by the Muslim rulers of Córdoba in 903 and became an important Mediterranean trading and corsair base. James I of Aragon conquered Mallorca in 1229, and Ibiza and Menorca followed within decades. Settlers from Catalonia brought their language, and for part of the 13th and 14th centuries the islands formed the independent Kingdom of Majorca before being reabsorbed by Aragon. The Mallorcan scholar Ramon Llull and Palma's cartographers made the islands a medieval centre of learning.

In the 18th century Menorca was held by Britain for most of the period from 1708 to 1802, which left Mahón a naval port and a taste for gin. The islands remained poor and agricultural until the 1950s, when mass tourism began to transform Mallorca, and Ibiza drew hippies in the 1960s and clubbers from the 1980s. The Balearics became an autonomous community in 1983, and recent years have seen large protests against overtourism.

The islanders speak Catalan in local forms — Mallorquí, Menorquí and Eivissenc — which use a distinctive article, es and sa, rather than el and la. Catalan is co-official with Spanish and is the language of schooling, though Spanish, English and German are heard constantly in resorts. Each island has its own identity, and rivalry between them is gentle but real.

Traditional festivals mark the calendar. In January the eve of Sant Antoni brings bonfires, dancing devils and blessings of animals, especially in Sa Pobla and other Mallorcan towns. Sóller re-enacts a 16th-century battle against pirates each May, and in Ciutadella the Sant Joan festival in June is dominated by horses rearing up among dense crowds. Ball de bot, the traditional folk dance, is still performed in village squares, and summer fairs in Menorca's towns centre on horses.

Crafts include siurells, small painted clay whistles from Mallorca, the patterned cloth called roba de llengües, Menorca's leather avarca sandals, and glass and artificial pearls. Many writers and artists have been drawn to the islands, from Chopin, who spent the winter of 1838–39 in Valldemossa, to Joan Miró, who lived in Palma, and the poet Robert Graves, buried in Deià.

About 1.2 million people live in the Balearics. Mallorca holds most of them, and Palma alone has about 420,000; Ibiza has about 150,000, Menorca about 100,000 and Formentera about 12,000. Foreign residents, particularly German and British, are numerous, and the population swells many times over in summer with millions of visitors a year across the islands.

Tourism dominates the economy, making the islands among Spain's wealthier regions per head but also exposing them to seasonal swings, with winter unemployment in resort towns. Housing has become a critical issue: holiday lets and foreign purchases have driven prices beyond the reach of many workers, and seasonal staff sometimes live in caravans or shared rooms. Water scarcity and pressure on beaches and seagrass meadows are other concerns. Farming, once the islands' mainstay, survives in almonds, carob, olives, wine and cheese.

Island life follows the season. Summer brings long working days in tourism and crowded roads, while winter is quiet, local and slower, with village festivals and family meals.

The best-known Balearic products come from the pig and the oven. Sobrassada is a soft cured sausage of pork seasoned with paprika, spread on bread; the ensaïmada is a spiralled, lard-enriched pastry dusted with sugar, sold plain or filled and carried home from Palma in octagonal boxes. Pa amb oli, bread with olive oil, tomato and toppings such as cheese or ham, is a staple snack. Mallorcan cooking also includes tumbet, layers of fried aubergine, potato and pepper with tomato sauce, frit mallorquí, a fry of pork offal or lamb with vegetables, arròs brut, a soupy rice with meat, and coca, a flatbread with vegetables.

Menorca is known for caldereta de llagosta, a rich lobster stew associated with Fornells, and for Mahón-Menorca cheese, a cow's-milk cheese with a protected designation, often rubbed with paprika and oil. Gin distilled in Mahón since British times is drunk as pomada, mixed with lemonade, at festivals. Ibiza has bullit de peix, fish stewed with potatoes and served with rice cooked in the broth, and flaó, a sweet cheese tart flavoured with mint. The herb liqueur called hierbas is drunk across the islands.

Mallorca also makes wine, with protected designations at Binissalem and Pla i Llevant.

Mallorca is the largest and most varied island. Palma has the seafront cathedral known as La Seu, the Almudaina palace, the old town's patios and Bellver castle above the bay. The Serra de Tramuntana, a UNESCO World Heritage cultural landscape, holds Valldemossa, Deià, Sóller with its old railway and tram, the winding road to Sa Calobra and the Torrent de Pareis gorge, and ends at Cap de Formentor. Elsewhere are the Coves del Drac near Porto Cristo, the Roman town of Pollentia near Alcúdia, and the dune beach of Es Trenc.

Menorca, a UNESCO biosphere reserve, has the long natural harbour of Maó, the old capital of Ciutadella, coves such as Macarella and Mitjana linked by the Camí de Cavalls coastal path, and prehistoric monuments including the Naveta des Tudons.

Ibiza combines the walled Dalt Vila and its Phoenician necropolis, a UNESCO World Heritage Site together with the island's seagrass meadows, with the sunsets of Sant Antoni, the rock of Es Vedrà and the salt pans of Ses Salines natural park. Formentera, a short ferry ride south, has the beaches of Ses Illetes, the Cap de Barbaria lighthouse and the plateau of La Mola.