Ibiza History

Pre 20th Century

Ibiza is part of the Balearic Islands, on which human habitation dates from at least 5000 BC. The Balearics were on Phoenician trade routes, and later the Carthaginians founded Ibiza City, which became one of the region's major ports. Then came, in turn, the Romans, Visigoths and Muslims - the latter leaving their imprint in the shape of the island's traditional costumes and architecture. They were turfed out during the Christian Reconquista in the 13th century. The islands became Catalan colonies but faded in importance, and Ibiza was under Bourbon control for much of the 18th century.

Modern

The decline of the Balearic Islands had dragged on for centuries, and brief periods of recovery proved illusory. The advent of jet propulsion in the 1950s turned things around once and for all. Ibiza's beaches and laid-back attitude first became a major drawcard in the flower-power heyday of the 1960s. While North America's hippies were 'California dreaming', their European counterparts were heading for Ibiza to tune in, turn on and drop out. It's hard to believe that in 1956 the island boasted 12 cars! Initially hip and fashionable, Ibiza soon discovered the financial rewards of bulk tourism and started shipping in sunseekers by the thousand.

Recent

Nowadays the small island populace watches more than a million visitors a year - a strange blend of hippies, fashion victims, nudists, nightclubbers and package tourists - pour through their home. Construction and hotel mafias have made a killing on the costas while farming and most other pillars of the economy have fallen by the wayside. Islanders now enjoy a good standard of living, although property prices are so inflated many of them can't afford to buy an apartment, even in inland villages.