History of Ibiza

With thanks to the many sources this is gleaned from

Ibiza's history dates back to the Phoenicians (around the 7th century BC), although there is evidence of earlier human occupation. It was the Phoenicians who began to build settlements and to communicate with the outside world. The excellent location of Ibiza in the Mediterranean made communications easy, allowing it to trade with the whole of the Mediterranean region. Ibiza city was founded, under the name of IBSM (Ibosim), in 654 BC. The Carthaginians took over from the Phoenicians, and the island became a real trading post, where money was minted and various industries were established. After the fall of Carthage, Ibiza became close to Rome, and in the 1st century AD the island became a Roman municipality.

Ibiza did not have a peaceful history, however. It was ideally placed for controlling Mediterranean routes, which actually resulted in lack of peace. The island suffered successive invasions, from the Vandals, Byzantines and Arabs. The Arabs were the people who made the most impact, and their heritage is reflected in place names and farming methods, as well as the ruins of Ibiza Castle.

Ibiza suffered another historical catastrophe in 1235. King James I, known as 'The Conqueror', consented an attack on the island to take it from the Arabs. The Christian expedition was led by Guillem de Montgrí (whose monument stands next to Ibiza Town Hall), the Archbishop of Tarragona, and the noblemen Nunó Sanç and Peter of Portugal. They won the attack, and divided the island into four districts, known as "quartons". Once occupied, the island had to be reorganised, and so the parish of Santa Maria, (whose first church made way for the present Ibiza Cathedral, which is located in the upper part of the old town, the "casco antiguo", known as Dalt Vila) was established.

Despite its conquest, Ibiza continued being besieged by pirates and privateers. Their repeated attacks on the island made defence important for religious buildings (which is why so many churches on Ibiza are fortified), and resulted in the construction of a wide network of towers on the coast (some inland), which acted as a lookout point as well a refuge. Many of these towers are still there.

In 1782 Ibiza was named a city. Three years later it was divided into parishes, and in 1830 it became part of the Balearic Province (created that same year) which incorporated the five municipalities which it now comprises: San Juan de Labritja, San José de sa Talaia, San Antonio de Portmany, Santa Eulalia del Río, and Ibiza town.

The last "invasion" Ibiza has undergone in its recent history is from tourism, which has become the island's main industry. The 1970s marked the start of a transformation that is still going on. The arrival of many hippies in the 1970s was part of an important cultural change to the island which had begun with the arrival of a large number of refugee artists from Central Europe during the Second World War. All these factors have given Ibiza the cosmopolitan and multi-ethnic character that it continues to develop nowadays, and have played a part in shaping the island's history.

More Info

The first known description of Ibiza was by Diodorus Siculus (approx. 340-250 B.C.), taken from Timeus in SCHULTEN: "Fontes Hispaniae Antiquae II" (Barcelona, 1925):

"Diod., V, 16. Having already said sufficient concerning Sardinia, we shall now speak of the islands situated close by. After the aforementioned island is the one called Pitiusa, named thus by virtue of the many pines growing there.

It is in the middle of the sea and is three days and as many nights' distant from the Pillars of Hercules; a day and a night are sufficient to reach Libia, and one day's journey separates it from Iberia.

Its extension is the same as that of Corfu and it is moderately fertile: there are a few vineyards and oleasters grafted with olive-sprigs. And the wools produced there are of great renown, remarkable for their softness.

It is crossed by pleasant meadows and hills and it has a city named Ebusos, and it is a colony of the Carthaginians. It also has ports worthy of mention and great walls as well as a considerable number of admirably built houses. It is inhabited by barbarians of all types, principally Phoenicians.

The colonization of this island took place more than one hundred and seventy years after the founding of Carthage."

The islands of Ibiza and Formentera were known to the Greeks by the names of Pytioussa and Ophioussa. The Carthaginian colonizers gave Ibiza the name of Ibosim, Aibusim, or Ebusim, which means Island of Bes -a mischievous Egyptian god celebrations, fire and fertility, which the Carthaginians adopted- and on coins the name appeared under the abbreviation IBSM. Many of these coins have been found on Ibiza.

Variations of the name Ibosim: Iberian - Ebeso. Greek - Ebysos. Latin - Ebusus. Arab - Yebisah. Catalan - Eivissa. Castilian - Ibiza.

More Historical Info

Prehistory

Except for the Dolmen of Ca Na Costa on Formentera (2nd millennium B.C.), the few remains of this period are based on animal skeletons which are not native to Ibiza.....leading to the conclusion that that these domesticated animals were imported. No human Palaeolithic remains have been discovered.

Punic Period

146 B.C. The fall of Carthage. Ibiza made a pact with Rome after the fall of Carthage and obtained the greatest degree of autonomy allowable under Roman law. Ibiza coinage was issued with the head of Tiberius, Caligula or Claudius on the reverse side, and on the obverse the figure of the god Bes. The salt and mining industries continued, and industry and commerce were maintained.

Roman Period

70 A.D. The Roman Emperor Vespasian grants Roman Law to all Hispanic peoples; Ibiza loses her autonomy, exchanging her confederate situation for that of a municipality.

IVth Century

Ibiza and Formentera become part of the Balearic province created by Theodosius around the Balearic Islands, (Ginnesias in Greek). Mallorca and Menorca

V th to XI th Centuries

425 The Vandal gunderic devastates the Balearics. Ibiza and Formentera once again depend upon Carthage.

484 The Arian Vandal Huneric summons to Carthage the Catholic bishops, and among those who defend the Catholic Faith is Opilion, bishop of Ibiza.

535 Belisarius conquers the islands for the Byzantine Empire.

693 Islam seizes Carthage. The Arab invasions begin.

682-712 Theodoric defeats the Byzantine squadron. This possibly marks the moment when the islands become incorporated into Visigothic Spain.

707 Abdallah, firstborn son of Muza, conquers Mallorca. A period of more than five centuries of assaults and changing powers begins.

798 Probable date of Charlemagne's rescue expedition. The Caliphate of Cordova, the Emirs of Denia, the Almoravids, the independent Dynasty of the AbenGanyas and the Almohades succeed each other in domination of the islands, against Arab incursions. In the middle of the ninth century 300 of the Emir of Cordova's warships take control of the islands.

859 Invasion and devastation of the islands by the Normans.

901-902 The islands are finally annexed to Islam.

1087 A period of independence begins.

XII th Century

1114 The combined armadas of Pisa and Aragon under the command of the Count of Barcelona Ramon Berenguer III, tired of the pirating of their commercial traffic from Ibiza, and with a fleet of 500 ships, 300 of them Pisan, leave Salou on St John's day and land on Ibiza between 21 July and 10 August, 1114 - the three precincts of the Arab wall were take in succession, the city was destroyed and the fortifications demolished. The Arabs were still in power during this period.

XIII th Century

1235 Catalan conquest. Granted as fiefs by Jaime I on Saint Ciriaco's day, August 8, the town and country of Ibiza are conquered by the troops of Guillermo de Mongrí, Nuño Sans and Pedro, Prince of Portugal. The five Arab districts -Alhauet, Xarc, Benizamid, Algarb, and Portmany- are reorganized and divided into the "quartons" Pla de la Vila, Santa Eulalia or Del Rey Balanzat, Portmany, and Las Salinas. The first was divided into four parts which were added to the rest forming the four fiefs to be divided among the conquerors. Mongrí was given two districts. Benizamid and Algarb for having provided twice as many troops as the others, while Xarc fell to the Prince of Portugal, and Portmany to the Count of Rosselló (Nuño Sans). The island of Formentera was also divided into four "quartons": Es Cap, Porto Saler, Carnatge, and La Mola.

1242 On the death of the Count of Rosselló, his executors sold his "cuartón" to the king who, in turn, sold it to Montgrí; thus all three domains came under the Archbishopric of Tarragona. The Prince of Portugal's "quartón", was also either sold or given in exchange to the king and, for this reason, was given the name "cuartón" Del Rey.

1286 Ibiza and Formentera are annexed to the kingdom of Mallorca.

1554 Prince Felipe commissions the Roman engineer Juan Bautista Calvi to construct the walls.

1555 The same engineer is commissioned to fortify the church of Santa Eulalia and the tower of the salt pans (today the tower of Sal Rosa).

1797 Ibiza now has 15.496 inhabitants.

Geological, Geographical & Fauna

As the continental plates of Africa and Eurasia moved towards each other, the stress in the Earth's crust resulted in the folding of these rock layers. A mountain range arose. One component of this is Ibiza. Further movements in the earth's crust repeatedly produced new folding, folding over and fracturing. Ibiza was once part of a high mountain, then it sank again.

Fifteen million years ago, in the Tertiary era, the Pitiusas emerged for the last time; with that began the history of life we now find on the island. Wind, driftwood, insects and birds brought seeds and small animals from the European and African mainlands and from neighbouring islands. As a consequence of the new upward folding, the connections from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic were broken and the Mediterranean gradually dried out.

Six million years ago Ibiza and Formentera together formed a mountain which rose 4000m out of the former seabed. At that time the high level of the vegetation zone shifted, so that alpine flora could also colonise Ibiza. Then, about 5 million years ago, the natural dam that separated the Atlantic from the Mediterranean basin broke and the Mediterranean in its present form arose. From this time on the Pitiusas were finally separated form the mainland islands and began to develop their own flora and fauna. Two million years ago the Quarterary era began: warm and extreme dryness, very rainy periods and cold alternated with each other.

The rain eroded the higher mountains, rounded the hills, formed the beds of rocky mountain streams, built rivers and extensive inland lakes, and filled the valleys with earth and deposits, for example, Ibiza's fertile red earth is coloured by iron. The movements of the earth's crust are, even today, not complete. At some sites the sandy seabed is raised or exposed by the sinking sea level and banks have become part of the main island while the wind has built up dunes.

The variety of landscape and the vegetation of the island trace back, not least, to the eventful geological history of Ibiza and Formentera, and also to the fact that the Pitiusas are totally composed of sedimentary rocks. Virtually all the sedimentary gravel originating from the sea is very rich in calcium, and many of the plants prefer the lime beds.

The flora of Ibiza was also enriched by the wave of immigration, not only by seeds brought in by accident from the whole Mediterranean, but also the various cultivated plants which today form the landscape.

The fact that Ibiza's landscape appears, even today, so beautiful and unspoilt can be attributed to a fortunate coincidence of circumstances coming together as a result of a variety of factors.