Mallorca  is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The local language, as on the rest of the Balearic Islands, is Catalan, which is co-official with Spanish.

The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Balearic Islands have been an autonomous region of Spain since 1983. There are two small islands off the coast of Mallorca: Cabrera (southeast of Palma) and Dragonera (west of Palma). The anthem of Mallorca is "La Balanguera".

Like the other Balearic Islands of Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera, the island is an extremely popular holiday destination, particularly for tourists from Germany and the United Kingdom. The international airport, Palma de Mallorca Airport, is one of the busiest in Spain; it was used by 28.0 million passengers in 2017, increasing every year since 2012.

The name derives from Classical Latin insula maior, "larger island". Later, in Medieval Latin, this became Maiorica, "the larger one", in comparison to Menorca, "the smaller one".

Mallorca is a Spanish island located in the central part of the Balearic archipelago , in the Mediterranean Sea . Its capital, and also that of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands, is Palma de Mallorca ,  followed in importance by the municipalities of Calviá , Inca and Manacor . The island of Cabrera and all its islets belong administratively to the capital.

Mallorca has 3,640.11 km² (square kilometers), which makes it the largest in Spain and the seventh largest in the Mediterranean. Its 859 289 inhabitants  ( INE 2015) make it the most populated island in the Balearic archipelago and the second most populated island in Spain after Tenerife . In addition, it is also the fourth most populated island in the Mediterranean Sea . Mallorca has a population density of 240.45 inhabitants / km² (inhabitants per square kilometer). In the past, due to its relaxed atmosphere, it was also known as "The island of calm", but now it is a tourist destinationvery important, both nationally and internationally. Mallorca has 550 km (kilometers) of coastline with more than 345 beaches of a wide variety, from small stone coves to long sandy beaches. 

The Majorcan relief is formed by the Sierra de Tramontana , with the highest mountains, the Sierra de Levante , with more modest heights, and other smaller mountains. The Sierra de Tramuntana, to the northwest, forms impressive cliffs and rocky coves that contrast with the sandy beaches of the rest of the coastline. The Llano is the fertile central plain. The island has a variety of caves , the best known being the Cuevas del Drach and the Cuevas dels Hams . Both groups of caves are located in the coastal town of Porto Cristo and contain underground lakes that allow tourists to visit. To the west of this plain and in the center of thePalma bay is located the capital, Palma .

The main mountains are:

• Sierra de Tramontana : Puig Mayor (1445 m), Masanella (1364 m), Puig Tomir (1102 m), Puig de l'Ofre (1090 m), Puig del Teix (1064 m) and Puig de Galatzó (1027 m).

• Sierra de Levante: Puig de Morell (562 m), Bec de Ferrutx (519 m) and Puig de Sant Salvador (510 m).

• Outside of the two mountains indicated, it is worth highlighting the Puig de Randa (543 m) and the Puig de Galdent (420 m).

  The most primitive remains found in Mallorca date back to 3500 BC. C. in the Neolithic era , a transition period between the Bronze Age , where the first copper objects appear. The first known settlers of the islands, (although of doubtful origin), were the Balearic slingers . 8

  In the municipality of Calviá , in the town of Santa Ponsa , there is a small mountainous elevation called Puig de sa Morisca that has an archaeological park with remains of navetas and sepulchral caves that covers an area of ​​35 hectares .

  Around 1300 a. C. lived crucial changes that resulted in the emergence of the Talayotic culture . This warrior culture lasted after Quintus Cecilio Metelo (who would later receive the nickname Balearicus ), invaded the island for the Roman Republic in 121 BC. C. with the excuse of the frequent pirate raids based on the islands, Rome decided to seize the archipelago, although the real intention of the invasion was to ensure its trade with the Phoenicians . 9Legend has it that the Roman general had to protect his boats with animal skins, because the slingers shooting with their slings prevented them from landing. 10 The Roman legions took two years to subdue the islands. After the conquest, the slingers became part of the Roman auxiliary troops fighting prominently alongside Julius Caesar in the conquest of Gaul (the defensive armor was not very effective against the projectiles of the slingers). The Romans founded a fort on a rock at the mouth of the stream now known as "sa Riera", approximately where today the Almudaina palace is located., which was the origin of the city of Palma.

  In 425 Mallorca suffered the invasion and sacking of the Vandals , a Germanic people that settled on the island until 534 , when the Byzantine general Belisario ordered the conquest of the Balearic archipelago.

  In 707 the first Muslim landing on record took place . Two centuries of permanent distress followed until, from the year 903, Mallorca came under the control of the Muslim Umayyad dynasty . The Occitan-Romance is then replaced by Arabic . This was followed by a flourishing period, during which Madina Mayurqa , today's Palma de Mallorca , was a great cultural center.

  In 1115 a Pisan-Barcelonan squad attacked Mallorca in a punitive expedition in retaliation for the piracy activities carried out from the island. Looted and destroyed for the first time Madina Mayurqa , and in the absence of Ramón Berenguer III , his men and allies fled when they spotted an Almoravid squad that was sent from Africa to confront them. The island was left in the hands of an Almoravid family, the Banu Ganiya . Later, in 1203, the Almohads seized Mallorca. In 1208, the Almohads appointed Abu Yahya governor, who formed a semi-independent principality, with little formal submission to the Almohad emir.

  Cabo del Pinar

  The troops of the Crown of Aragon of Jaime I the Conqueror , who arrived on the island from Salou in 1229 , finally conquered the island for the Christians . After definitively defeating Abú Yahya in the battle of Portopí (1229) and taking Madina Mayurqa (1230), the resistance ceased in 1231 , except for the Alaró castle , which resisted for eight years and was the last refuge of the Muslim resistance. during the Christian conquest. Jaime I created the kingdom of Mallorca in his will , comprising not only Mallorca, but the rest of the Balearic Islands -Menorca (still under the power of a Muslim sovereign, although tributary since 1231), Ibiza and Formentera -; the counties of Roussillon and Cerdanya ; and the territories that Jaime I conserved in Occitania (the dominion of Montpellier , the viscounty of Carlades and the barony of Omelas ). Upon his death ( 1276 ), his son Jaime II of Mallorca assumed the throne after the swearing in of the so-called Charter of Franchises. The independence of the kingdom was short. In 1349 he was reincorporated to the Crown of Aragon. Death of the kingJaime III of Mallorca in the battle of Lluchmayor was the end of the Kingdom of Mallorca. Although until his death in 1404 his daughter Isabel, established in the nearby Gallargues castle of Montpellier, which was granted to her by the King of France Charles VI , proclaimed herself Queen of Mallorca.

  In the time of Carlos I , in 1521 , there was an uprising similar to that of the Germanías of the kingdom of Valencia (insurrection of the forans ), the rebels arriving to surround the town of Alcudia , where the island's nobility had taken refuge. Throughout the sixteenth century , the island, like the rest of the Balearic Islands and the Spanish Levant, suffered attacks and looting by Turkish and Berber pirates . During the War of the Spanish Succession , the island opted for Archduke Carlos of Austria , against Felipe de Anjou .

• The Mallorcan climate is typically Mediterranean, with high temperatures in summer (exceeding 30 ° C) and moderately low in winter (rarely below 5 ° C). Snowfalls are common in winter in the highest peaks of the Sierra de Tramuntana but exceptional in the plain and the capital. As it is an island, the humidity level is very high.