Balearic Islands

“ The annexation of the Balearic islands with their thirty thousand inhabitants [558] may have been regarded as a geographical necessity, and certainly resulted in a military advantage. Although the Carthaginians had had frequent intercourse with these islands and a Port of the smaller of the two still bears a Punic name, [559] they had done little to civilise the native inhabitants. ”

“ Still, however, though the Romans now began to be sensible of the value of commence, they did little to protect it; for soon after the termination of the third Punic war, the Mediterranean swarmed with pirates, who plundered the merchant ships of all nations. These pirates belonged principally to the Balearic islands, to Cilicia and to Crete. In one of the Balearic islands, called Minor by the ancients, the present Minorca, there were two cities built near the mouths of convenient harbours; the inhabitants of these carried on a considerable commerce, and at the same time engaged in piracy. ”

“ Then comes the little harbour and tower of Portopi and round the next promontory the lovely bay of Palma, with the capital of the Balearics smiling a welcome to the stranger. The walls that once surrounded the city have been demolished: the turrets that rise above the house-tops are those of the Cathedral and the Exchange (Lonja) . We enter the town through the Water Gate, a building not without majesty, and crowned by a statue of the Blessed Virgin. ”

“ As the Pyrenees are fringed on the east, on the frontier of Spain and France (near Port Vendres) , with a deeply indented coast, so too the Andalusian range is strongly marked by transverse fissures, the eastmost of which have severed the Balearic Islands from the mainland. Still more striking is the great westmost fissure or cleavage, where the girdle of mountains takes a sharp turn from west to east, where the action of tides and waves has hollowed out the Straits of Gibraltar, and has further widened them within the historic period. ”

“ Ibiza, the third largest island of the group, is one of those spots which can afford no sort of justification for its existence. It is a mere backwater, a stagnant pool of humanity, interesting, though, as a place buried beneath prejudices and customs hundreds of years old. How should they be blown away in so out-of-the-way an island? The town stands on a fine harbour and reminds one rather of Guernsey. The collegiate church, formerly a cathedral, was founded by the Archbishop of Tarragona, in the thirteenth century, at the time the island was granted to him by{105} Jaime the Conqueror. ”

“ THE term Maiolica, or Majolica, as has been often explained, came from the island of Majorca, whence came to Italy, in the twelfth century, some of those peculiar potteries already described under the name of Hispano-Moresque.
The Balearic Islands, lying in such convenient proximity to the mainland, were then possessed by the active and enterprising Moors—that most daring and doing race, who had planted the standard of the Prophet in Southern Europe. From these convenient islands they could organize pleasant surprises upon the coasts of Italy, and gratify themselves with much plunder. ”

“ Here and there are picturesque spots, notably the Barranco of Algendar; but speaking generally the island is the Holland of the Mediterranean. Cleanliness, well-being, industry and good conduct are the characteristics of the inhabitants, who live farther outside the world of romance even than most Latin people. We flatter ourselves of course that they learned their good qualities from our ancestors, when they ruled the island, and certainly there are frequent reminders of our influence to be traced in the daily life of Menorca. ”

“ Land boundaries: 1,899 km
WATER Limits of territorial waters (claimed) : 12 nm (fishing 200 nm; 200 nm exclusive economic zone)
Coastline: 4,964 km (includes Balearic Islands, 677 km, and Canary Islands, 1,158 km)
PEOPLE Population: 37,940,000 (July 1982) , including the Balearic and Canary Islands and Ceuta and Melilla (two towns on the Moroccan coast) ; average annual growth rate 0.7%
Nationality: noun—Spaniard (s) ”

“ Nor does Palma want for wide breathing-spaces and promenades. It has the fine Paseo del Borne and the Boulevards constructed round the bay and on the site of the old fortifications. Close to the landing-stage the new-comer’s attention is first attracted by the Exchange or Lonja. Charles V. on visiting the island for the first time hastened at once to see it, eagerly demanding if it belonged to the Church or to the State, and was visibly relieved on hearing that it was a civil edifice. ”

“ The character of the people is in exact harmony with their surroundings. They are polite and hospitable, crime is unknown, and their hygienic condition being so favourable they are healthy and long-lived. If is difficult to write of them without exaggeration and using too many terms of admiration for the good and wholesome life they lead.”
To the economist, then, the island of Menorca must be of interest, but it is infinitely more so to the archæologist. From end to end it is strewn with the works of prehistoric man, whose record in stone is hard to read. ”

“ The only other church worthy of mention at Palma is that of San Francisco de Asis, remarkably like the cathedral for the span of its nave and for the tomb of the famous Raymond Lull, Mallorca’s most illustrious son. This famous philosopher was born in 1235 and is said to have been converted from evil courses in his youth by finding that his mistress was devoured by cancer—such reasons for a change of life being frequent in the Middle Ages. ”

“ The flower of the island youth became then absorbed in the Roman armies, and it was mainly to the Balearic slingers that Rome herself owed many a victory.
As time passes on, we find the Moors holding the islands in subjection for a space of four hundred years. On the last day of the year 1229, however, Don Jayme, King of Aragon, having, with his fleet, weathered a fearful storm—an event most trying to the faith of his crusaders, and critical to the future of Majorca—landed with his Christian host, and encamped a few miles from the city. ”

“ The streets, as in most Spanish towns, are narrow and shady, often rewarding the curiosity of the passer-by with glimpses of Renaissance patios, graceful balconies, and turret windows. Among the most interesting houses of the Butifarras (big sausages) , as the nobility of the island used to be called, are the Casa de Vivot and the palace of the Counts of Montenegro. But Palma is a living city, and side by side with these{91} dignified memories of the past we find handsome modern buildings such as the Bank of Spain and the Hall of Provincial Deputation. ”

“ It is little better than a bare rock, incapable of affording subsistence to more perhaps than two or three score of men, yet here during the Peninsular War the Spaniards were thoughtless enough to confine 5500 French soldiers, the victims of Dupont’s surrender at Bailen. Their sufferings were more severe than those of many a shipwrecked mariner. Each man was allowed only 24 ounces of bread and a few beans every four days. There was but one spring in the island and the thirst-maddened men would fight each other desperately to get a drink from this. ”

“ Just this last word before we lose sight of Spain. Why do women at home [Pg 29] not adopt Spanish dancing? I am quite sure it is the secret of the Andalusian's poise and walk.
There is a very distinct swell, and people say it will blow in the Gulf of Lyons, and think they had better have gone overland to Marseilles. We pass the Balearic Isles, and at the distance they much resemble other islands.
Before lunch we saw an extraordinary marine effect. Along the coast the blue sea appeared to be covered with a veil or mist of grass green colour, the green of a duck pond ”

“ Bale, John, bishop of Ossory, in Ireland; born in Suffolk; a convert from Popery, and supported by Cromwell; was made bishop by Edward VI.; persecuted out of the country as an apostate from Popery; author of a valuable account of early British writers (1495-1563) .
Balearic Isles (312) , a group of five islands off the coast of Valencia, in Spain, Majorca the largest; inhabitants in ancient times famous as expert slingers, having been one and all systematically trained to the use of the sling from early childhood; cap. ”

“ The Baleares are small in area, but favoured by climate, productiveness, and natural beauty. They are the “Happy Islands” of the ancients, and, compared with many of the coast lands, are indeed a favoured region. War and pestilence have been no strangers to them, but continual troubles have not interfered with their development. ”

“ It is thought that this Englishman came especially to explore the channels of Bale, whence these men said that he would sail in March of this year to the island of Sant Lorenzo, from which place he would lay his course to the island of Santa Helena, following the course taken by the Portuguese vessels. Pray God he come not hither again, as an example for the daring of others—although the interest they have in doing so is so great, that I fear this navigation cannot be stopped without much trouble, and the prohibition of navigation by Castilians and Portuguese to Nueva España. ”

“ One can, in fact, lie on his back, with face upturned to the soft blue skies and almost go to sleep. Indeed, the astonishing thing seems to be how anyone can sink in this heavy medium. It is so transparent at the entrance of the Bay of Palma, that, during a calm, weeds can be distinctly seen at the depth of forty fathoms, waving at the bottom among the stones and shells.
In the Middle Ages, Majorca suffered much from the inroads of the Barbary pirates. Even now the old custom is kept up of lighting beacons every night all round the island. ”

“ The eastern and larger group, corresponding with the ancient Insulae Baleares, comprises the two principal members of the archipelago, Majorca (Spanish, Mallorca) and Minorca (Spanish, Menorca) , with seven islets:—Aire, Aucanada, Botafoch, Cabrera, Dragonera, Pinto and El Rey. The western group, corresponding with the ancient Pityusae or Pine Islands, also comprises two relatively large islands, Iviza (Spanish, Ibiza or, formerly, Ivica) and Formentera, with the islets of Ahorcados, Conejera, Pou and Espalmador. Majorca, Minorca and Iviza are described in separate articles. ”

“ Man, or Mayda, is frequently a more southern and western companion of Brazil Island on the old maps and may stand for Bermuda or for some jutting point, like Cape Cod, on the American coast. Some indications connect it with the Bretons, some with the Arabs. It has borne divers names. We cannot tell who first found and reported it.
The Island of the Seven Cities derived its name from a very credible Spanish and Portuguese tradition of escape from the Moors by sea early in the eighth century. It may first have been localized as St. Michaels of the Azores, where a valley still bears the name. ”

“ Spain, whose flag floated every Sunday over the few houses embraced within each parish, scarcely gave a thought to this bit of soil lost in the sea. Many countries of far-away Oceanica were in more frequent communication with the great centers of civilization than this island, in former times scourged by war and rapine, and now lying forsaken off the beaten track of ocean steamers, surrounded by a girdle of small, barren islets, reefs, and shallows. ”

“ The wind had subsided and the weather was clear, so that the Balear lost her playful character of a shuttlecock of the waves and drove rapidly and proudly eastward with the seriousness and measured movements of a great liner, carrying us close to the sandy shores, behind which we saw for a moment Mar Chica, a small landlocked arm of the sea, separated from it by a long, sandy spit. ”

“ Every one agrees that La Palma is almost the most beautiful of the group of seven Fortunate Isles, so it is all the more deeply to be deplored that there is not better communication between the little port of Santa Cruz de la Palma and Teneriffe or Grand Canary. ”

“ Martin Hillyard continued to draw fine straight lines westwards from the northern coast of Mallorca to the mainland of Spain, some touching the shore to the north of Barcelona, some striking it as far south as Almeria and Garrucha. When he had finished his map-making he handed the result to José Medina.
"See, señor! Your feluccas cut across all the trade-routes through the Mediterranean. Ships going east or going west must pass between the Balearics and Africa, or between the Balearics and Spain. ”

“ The view of the town as we skirted the harbour was extremely striking. The great sails of the merchantmen lying at anchor in the bay shone white against the deep blue sea beyond, and the low sun was catching the angles of the fortifications and casting cobalt shadows upon the snowy, irregular houses clustering upon the hill crowned by the campanile of the cathedral. Market folk were coming into town—countrywomen in broad be-ribboned hats of palmito plait, mounted on mules and donkeys with laden panniers—a sight never seen in Majorca. ”

“ This island is thickly populated and large. The greater and better part of it is still to be conquered, I would say from what I have seen of the villages and land. It does not seem to me that there will be any more resistance from any of them when they learn of the advantages of friendship with the Spaniards; for they have already been informed of the way in which those are treated who resist. To the present time, all that has been explored in this island is about fifty or sixty leagues along the coast from Manilla to Yvalón, [7] which is the landing-place for the ships sailing to Nueva Spaña. ”