It may be said that the history of Mallorca is as long as its coastline. Were it not for the 5,547km (3,439 miles) of coast, we can be very sure that the island's past, present and future would be very different. Mallorca, like other major islands of the Mediterranean, has attracted a cornucopia of conquerors, invaders, settlers and tourists, who have all contributed to its richness and vital history.

For most Mallorcans, history didn't really begin until the Catalans retook the island from the Moors in the 13th century. On the other hand, experts date the first islanders to be between 1300 and 1000BC. Even though the earliest people obviously carried on primitive but active trade with others around the western Mediterranean, the quantity of arms found in their early dwellings shows that the island still had a long way to go before becoming the 'Island of the Calm'.

Because of the location of the archipelago, the Balearic islands found themselves on the great trading routes that criss-crossed the Mediterranean Sea. Eivissa (Ibiza) became an important commercial center first for the Phoenicians, then the Carthaginian traders. While Majorca played only a minor part in these 8th and 7th century cultures, there are references in classical texts to Mallorcan honderos (stone slingers) fighting for the Carthaginians in the Punic wars.

When the winners (the Romans) finally tired of the piracy that was rife in the Baleares, they organised an expedition to conquer and settle Mallorca. In 123BC Quinto Cecilio Metelo conquered the island, and for five and a half centuries Majorca was subject to the changes of fortune of Roman history. Historians believe that at the time there were two major centers; Pollentia (beside Alcudia) and Palma. After a few centuries more of 'ups and downs' under the successive domination of the Vandals and the Byzantines, the Muslims began 200 years of attacks on the island at the beginning of the 8th century. In 902 the entire archipelago was annexed to the Emirate of Cordoba.

Whilst Roman culture probably had the greatest impact on Mallorcan social patterns, the influence of the Moors was responsible for important advances in the island's agriculture, along with development of the island's crafts and commerce. It is also easy to pinpoint the Moorish contribution to the island's folklore, language and cuisine.