"Magnificent City of Palma de Mallorca " a Palma de Mallorca Travel Page by dlytle

La Ciutat, as the Mallorquines call their capital, will impress you from the moment you arrive to its port: yachts, palms, the cathedral... History and modernity melt together with the deep blue of Mediterranean sea. The capital city of Palma de Mallorca has many historic sights worth seeing, and a surprising number of villages and rural areas still have much of the charm that attracted visitors and expatriates to the island in the days before resort hotels and charter flights.

Palma de Malorca is part of the Balearic Islands' archipelago which is situated southeast of Europe, off the coast of Spain, in the central part of the western Mediterranean basin. Mallorca is the largest of the five Balearic Islands and Palma is the capital. The island covers 2,200 square miles (3,640 sq. km). The landscape varies from the wild panorama of the Sierra Tramontana to beautiful valleys full of orange and lemon grooves to serene plains of almond and olive trees. About 300,000 people live in the bustling port of Palma. About a third of the population consists of native Chuetas who are originally of Jewish descent. The City spans about 12 miles (20 km) around the Bahia de Palma (Bay of Palma).

The present position of the city of Palma is believed to have been originally occupied as a prehistoric settlement of people closely associated with the sea. Later invaded by the Romans and then by the Arabs who named it Madina Mayurqa, the city conserves evidence of those periods in monuments such as the Almudaina Palace and the Arab baths.

In 1229 King Jaime I, who founded a municipality that encompassed the whole island, hence its name Ciutat de Majorca, conquered Palma. As a result of the singular layout of the city, intersected by a river, there were two urban centers "Vila de Dalt" and "Vila d'Avall" situated on either side of the river's banks.

Because of its privileged geographic position, Palma was able to have important dealings with traders from the Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia), Italian domains and the Turkish Empire and they helped to make this a golden era for the city. In La Lonja there was a busy commodity exchange market supervised by the Consolat de Mar to ensure that all commercial transactions complied with the laws in force at the time.

At the beginning of the 16th century, plague, foreign rebellions and frequent attacks by Turkish pirates and the Berbers led to a slump in trading and the city entered a period of decline which lasted until the end of the 17th century.

In the 18th century, the Decree of Nueva Planta by Philip V completely changed the island's governmental regime and Palma became the capital of the new province of Baleares. Also in this century, under Charles III, freedom to trade with the Indies was established, leading to an increase in commerce in Majorca and for the city's port.

The French occupation of Algeria in the 19th century brought an end to the danger of Maghrebi attacks in Majorca, resulting in the expansion of sea traffic and shipping lines. With this economic growth the city underwent great development in population and size.

The beginning of the 1950's marked the prelude of the tourist phenomenon that was to change the physiognomy of the city and the entire island, transforming it into a centre of attraction for visitors with a sociological interchange of cultures.

Since then the growth of tourism in the Balearics has been spectacular: the 500,000 visitors to the island in 1960 rose to about 7,000,000 tourists per year by the end of the 20th century.

You will find Palma de Mallorca to be a magnificent and proud city with Spanish elegance, august historical monuments and sights, swarming crowds and laid back tranquility. It's also a city that is true to its Catalan roots, with pride and confidence in its own history and culture - a pride that is only otherwise found in Catalonia's capital, Barcelona. Palma is basically like a miniature Barcelona - even the main street in the two cities has the same name, La Rambla.