The Balearic Islands have been inhabited since 5,000 BC. At different points in their history, the Phoenicians, Romans and Vandals/Visigoths occupied the islands, but they came under Moorish domination in the eighth century. After Jaume I of Aragon drove out the Moors in 1232, the islands were occupied numerous times by the Spanish and the British. Britain ceded Majorca to Spain with the Treaty of Amiens in 1803.
The economies of the Balearic Islands depend on tourists, who come for the fine-sand beaches and 300 days of sunshine per year. Majorca and Ibiza attract millions of tourists annually, especially from the United Kingdom, whose tally of 3.5 million visits every year makes them the largest national group of visitors.
Majorca is the largest island and site of the capital city of the Balearic Islands, Palma de Mallorca. Visitors can pick from a huge selection of beach resorts, with the greatest concentration of development and most active nightlife around Magaluf in the south. Aside from beaches and nightlife, Palma de Mallorca has historic sites, including a Gothic cathedral. Construction started in 1230 and was completed only in 1600. Away from the beach and city, Majorca contains the Serra de Tramuntana mountain range that is popular among hikers. Its highest point is Puig Major at 4,741 feet.
The island of Ibiza bills itself as the "Party Capital of the World," and has a huge number of clubs and other nightlife entertainment venues to prove it. Reputation notwithstanding, Ibiza attracts many holidaymakers who would never dream of setting foot in a club with activities that include sailing, snorkeling, windsurfing and scuba diving.
Minorca and Formentera have a generally much slower pace of life and low-key approach to vacationing than Majorca and Ibiza. Minorca has managed to avoid the concentrated tourist development that characterizes much of Majorca and Ibiza. Because there are fewer hotels than on the other islands, visitors tend to be day-trippers. Formentera is laid-back too, but this island's personality has roots in the hippie invasion of the 1960s and 1970s, which remains a factor in the local lifestyle today. At the hippie markets, one of the most famous being the weekly in Es Canar, vendors sell local crafts, clothing and jewelry.
