Prehistory and pre-Roman people

Archaeological research at Atapuerca indicates the Iberian Peninsula was peopled many ago. Modern humans began arriving in the Iberian Peninsula through the Pyrenees. The best known artifacts of these prehistoric human settlements are the famous paintings in the Altamira cave of Cantabria in northern Spain.

Archaeological and genetic evidence strongly suggests that the Iberian Peninsula acted as one of three major refugia from which northern Europe was vastly repopulated following the end of the last ice age.

The two main historical peoples of the peninsula were the Iberians and the Celts, the former inhabiting the Mediterranean side from the northeast side to the southwest, the latter inhabiting the Atlantic side, in the north and northwest part of the peninsula. In the most inner part of the peninsula, where both groups were in contact, a mixed, distinctive culture, known as Celtiberian, was present.

In addition, Basques occupied the western area of the Pyrenees. Other ethnic groups existed along the southern coastal areas of Andalusia. Among these southern groups there grew the earliest urban culture in the Iberian Peninsula, that of the semi-mythical southern city of Tartessos (pre-1100 BC) near the location of Cádiz. The flourishing trade in gold and silver between the people of Tartessos and Phoenicians and Greeks is documented in the history of Strabo and in the biblical book of king Solomon.

Between 500 BC and 300 BC, the seafaring Phoenicians and Greeks founded trading colonies all along the Spanish Mediterranean coast. Carthaginians took control of much of the Mediterranean coast in the course of the Punic Wars, until they were eventually replaced by the Romans.

Roman Empire and the Germanic Kingdoms: During the Second Punic War, an expanding Roman Empire captured the Carthaginian trading colonies along the Mediterranean coast from roughly 210 BC to 205 BC, leading to Roman control of almost the entire Iberian Peninsula; this lasted over 500 years, and they were bound together by law, language, and the Roman roads.

The base Celt and Iberian population remained, and local leaders were admitted into the Roman aristocratic class. Hispania served as a granary for the Roman market, and its harbours were used to export gold, wool, olive oil, and wine.

The founding of Majorca

Majorca has been inhabited ever since antiquity. Burial chambers and traces of human habitation from the Paleolithic period have been discovered. The island was then occupied by the Romans in 123 BC. It flourished under Roman Empire rule, when the towns of Pollentia (Alcúdia), and Palmaria (Palma) were founded. The local Majorca economy was driven by Olive cultivation, wine, and salt mining. Majorcan soldiers were highly valued within the Roman legions for their skill using the sling.

Then in 426, the Vandals sacked the island, and claimed it as their kingdom in 465. In 534, Majorca was then conquered by the Byzantine Empire, and administered as the province of Sardinia. Under the time of Byzantine rule, Christianity flourished and very many churches were built. From 707, the island was increasingly attacked by raiders from North Africa.

In 902, Caliphate of Cordoba conquered Majorca, bringing in a new period of prosperity for the island. With the Caliphate rule at its height, the Moors improved agriculture with rural irrigation, they developed local industries and the island benefited from prosperous times. In 1015, a new, more decadent, era started. Majorca came under the Taifa of Denia rule, and from 1087–1114 it was an independent taifa.

In 1114, the Pisans and Catalans overran the island, laying siege to Palma for eight months. When the city fell, the invaders retreated, and they were replaced by the Almoravides from Northern Africa. The Almoravides were then replaced by the Almohad dynasty until 1229. In the confusion and unrest, King James I of Aragon invaded Majorca, annexing the island to his Crown of Aragon.