Everything about Minorca totally explained
Minorca (
Menorca both in
Catalan and
Spanish; from
Latin Balearis Minor, later
Minorica "minor island") is one of the
Balearic Islands (
Illes Balears Catalan official name,
Islas Baleares in Spanish) located in the
Mediterranean Sea and belongs to
Spain. It takes its name from being smaller than nearby island of
Majorca.
Minorca has a population of approximately 88,000. It is located around 39°47' to 40°00'N, 3°52' to 4°24'E. Its highest point, called
El Toro or Monte Toro, is 358
m/1174
ft above sea level.
History
The island is known for its large collection of
megalithic stone monuments:
navetes,
taules, and
talaiots, which speak of a very early
prehistoric human activity. Some of the earliest culture on Minorca was influenced by other
Mediterranean cultures, including the
Minoans of ancient
Crete. For example the use of inverted plastered timber columns at
Knossos is thought to have influenced early peoples of Minorca in imitating this practice.
The end of the
Punic wars saw an increase in piracy in the western Mediterranean. The
Roman occupation of
Hispania had
meant a growth of maritime trade between the
Iberian and
Italian peninsulas. Pirates took advantage of the strategic location of the Balearic Islands to raid Roman commerce, using both Minorca and Majorca as bases. In reaction to this, the Romans sent an army to the islands in order to put an end to such activities (
NB: for a full list of invasions of the island, see Invasion of Minorca). By 121 BC both islands were fully under Roman control, later being incorporated into the province of
Hispania Citerior.
In
13 BC Caesar Augustus reorganized the provincial system and the Balearic Islands became part of the
Tarraconensis imperial province. The ancient town of
Mago on Minorca was transformed from a
Carthaginian town to a Roman town.
The
Letter on the Conversion of the Jews by a fifth century
bishop named Severus tells of the
conversion of the island's
Jewish community in AD 418.
Vandals conquered it on the 5th century. Following the
Moorish conquest of peninsular Spain, Minorca was
annexed to the
Caliphate of Córdoba in
903 and given the Arabicized name of
Manûrqa. In 1231, after Christian forces reconquered Majorca, Minorca became an independent Islamic state, albeit one tributary to King
James I of Aragon. The island was ruled first by
Abû 'Uthmân Sa'îd Hakam al Qurashi (
1234–
1282), and following his death by his son,
Abû 'Umar ibn Sa'îd (1282–
1287). An Aragonese invasion, led by
Alfonso III came on
January 17, 1287, now celebrated as Minorca's national day. Most of the Muslim inhabitants of the island were enslaved and sold in the slave markets of
Ibiza,
Valencia and
Barcelona. Until
1344 the island was part of the
Kingdom of Majorca, also an Aragonese vassal state, which was itself annexed to
Aragon, and subsequently to the unified kingdom of Spain. During the
16th century,
Turkish naval attacks destroyed
Maó, and the then capital,
Ciutadella.
Captured by the
British navy in
1708 during the
War of the Spanish Succession, Minorca became a British possession. Under the governorship of
General Richard Kane, this period saw the island's capital moved to Maó, and a
naval base established in that town's harbour. During the
Seven Years' War, however, the failure of a British naval squadron to lift a French siege of Minorca on
20 May 1756 later led to the
court-martial and execution of Admiral
John Byng. This naval engagement, the
Battle of Minorca, represented the outbreak of the Seven Years' War in the European theatre. Despite this defeat, British resistance persisted at Maó, but the garrison was forced to capitulate under honourable terms, including free passage back to Britain, on
29 June of that same year. The
Treaty of Paris (1763), however, saw British rule restored, since Britain and its allies largely prevailed in the war. During the
American Revolutionary War, the British were defeated for a second time, in this instance by a combination of French and Spanish forces, which
captured the island after a long siege of
St. Philip's Castle on
February 5,
1782. Minorca was recovered by the British once again in
1798, during the
French Revolutionary Wars, but it was finally and permanently ceded to Spain by the
Treaty of Amiens in
1802. The British influence can still be seen in local
architecture with elements such as sash windows.
During the
Spanish Civil War, Minorca stayed loyal to the Republican Spanish government, while the rest of the Balearic Islands supported the Nationalists. It didn't see combat, except for aerial bombing by the Italians of
Corpo Truppe Volontarie air force. Many Minorcans were also killed when taking part in a failed invasion of Majorca. After the Nationalist victory in
1939, the British navy assisted in a peaceful transfer of power in Minorca and the evacuation of some political refugees.
In October
1993, Minorca was designated by
UNESCO as a
biosphere reserve.
In July
2005, the island's application to become the 25th member of the
International Island Games Association was approved.
Language
Most locals are bilingual in
Spanish and the variety of
Catalan called
Menorquí. Between Menorquí and Catalan proper, as with most
Balearic dialects, the most distinctive difference is the different word used for the article "the", where
Menorquí uses "es" for masculine and "sa" for feminine. Menorquí thus shares the source of its article with many Sardinian varieties (masc. sing.
su, fem sing.
sa), rather than the Catalan "el" and "la", common to many Romance languages (for example Spanish
el,
la, Italian
il,
la), corresponding to a form which was historically used along the
Costa Brava of
Catalonia, from where the islands were repopulated after being conquered from the
Moors. Menorquí also has a few
English loan words dating back to the British occupation such as "grevi", "xumaquer", "boinder" and "xoc" taken from "gravy", "shoemaker", "bow window" and "chalk", respectively.
Food and drink
Lingering British influence is seen in the Minorcans' taste for
gin, which during the local
festes (holidays dedicated to a town's
patron saint), the islanders mix with bitter lemon to make the popular
Pomada. Also famous is
Formatge de Maó, a cheese typical of the island.
It is thought that the concept of Mayonnaise was brought back to France from Mahon, Minorca, after Louis-François-Armand du Plessis de Richelieu's victory over the British at the city's port in 1756.
Municipalities
The major towns are
Maó and
Ciutadella. The island is administratively divided into these municipalities:
References in popular culture
Minorca (Port Mahon) is where Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin first meet in the Patrick O'Brian novel Master and Commander, the first in his Aubrey/Maturin series.
In the 1995 made-for-television film Persuasion (set in the historical period of the War of the Spanish Succession), Captain Frederick Wentworth asks his friend Captain Benwick "do you remember what we ate in Minorca?"
In the novel Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank, numerous characters, including Pete Hernandez and Rita Hernandez are identified as being Minorcans. They are descendents of colonies of New Smyrna Beach, Florida, established in Florida in 1765.
In the movie, "The Madness of King George," the mad King George III charges his physician with a secret mission to offer Gibraltar to Spain in exchange for Minorca.Further Information
Get more info on 'Minorca'.
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