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Neolithic pastoral societies have formed by at least 4000 BC. They live in the island’s caves and keep domesticated animals. As bronze-working is introduced around 1400 BC, the Talayot period begins (seeSes Paisses, Capocorb Vell).

Various peoples, including the Greeks, use the island as a trading post. However, the absence of metal ores deters further colonization until the Carthaginian Empire spreads to this part of the Mediterranean in the 7th century BC.

In the third century BC, Carthage comes into conflict with the expanding Roman Empire. Rome is victorious in 146 BC and establishes order for the next 500 years. Roads and towns are built and, in AD 404, Mallorca and its neighbouring islands are established as the province of Balearica.

No sooner is the new province officially recognized, however, than the Vandals sweep across the Balearics in about AD 425, swiftly ending Roman rule. So destructive is their takeover that few traces of the Romans are left.

In 533, the Byzantines defeat the Vandals and bring the Balearics under their rule, restoring prosperity and also an orthodox form of Christianity. From faraway Constantinople, Emperor Justinian rules the islands as part of the province of Sardinia. They enjoy this Byzantine connection until the end of the 7th century, then become more or less independent, with close ties to Catalonia.

In 902, the Moors occupy the islands and turn them into a fiefdom of the Emirate of Córdoba. Through a succession of dynastic changes, they hold on for the next 327 years and forcibly convert all the inhabitants to Islam.

In 1229, King Jaume I of Aragón rises to oppose the Balearic Moors. His forces first land on the western coast of the island at Santa Ponça, from where he marches eastwards to lay siege to Medina Mayurqa (the Moorish name for Palma). The city falls to him on 31 December, after three months.

Despite Jaume’s liberal treatment of islanders, and his laws embodied in the Carta de Població, the territory descends into turmoil after his death, due to rivalry between his sons. Eventually, his son Jaume II is restored and succeeded by his son Sanç and Sanç’s nephew Jaume III.

In 1344 the islands are once again thrown into chaos when united with Aragón by Pedro IV. Jaume III is killed during a feeble attempt to retake his kingdom. In 1479, with the marriage of Fernando V of Aragón and Isabella I of Castile, Aragón is in turn absorbed into a new Spanish superstate. The islands become an outpost of little importance, ushering in centuries of decline.

Generalissimo Francisco Franco instigates the development of mass tourism, which brings a much-needed influx of foreign money. This transforms Mallorca from a backwater to one of the 21st century’s choicest venues of international stardom.