Ibiza is well known for its nightlife and electronic dance music club scene in the summer, which attract large numbers of tourists.

A shrine with offerings to the goddess Tanit was established in the cave at Es Cuieram, and the rest of the Balearic Islands entered Eivissa's commercial orbit after 400 BC.

During the Second Punic War, the island was assaulted by the two Scipio brothers (Publius and Gnaeus) in 217 BC but remained loyal to Carthage.

Under Islamic rule, Ibiza (Yabisah) came in close contact with the city of Dénia—the closest port in the nearby Iberian peninsula, located in the Valencian Community—and the two areas were administered jointly by the Taifa of Dénia for some time (11th century).

Ibiza, together with the islands of Formentera and Menorca, were invaded by the Norwegian King Sigurd I of Norway in the spring of 1110 on his crusade to Jerusalem.

The king had previously conquered the cities of Sintra, Lisbon and Alcácer do Sal and given them over to Christian rulers, in an effort to weaken the Muslim grip on the Iberian peninsula.

[18] A notable example includes the Renaissance walls of the old town of Ibiza City, which were awarded UNESCO World Heritage Status in 1999.

Summers are hot and fairly humid, which contributes to high dew points and muggy weather, increasing the heat index, although with very little rainfall.

In terms of origin, about 55 percent of island residents were born in Ibiza; 35 percent are domestic migrants from mainland Spain (mostly working-class families from Andalusia, and the remainder from Catalonia, Valencia and Castile); and the remaining 10 to 15 per cent are foreign, dual and multi-national citizens of the EU and abroad (Govern de les Illes Balears – IBAE 1996).

In decreasing order, the most commonly visiting foreigners are German, British, Latin American, French, Italian and Dutch.

The Spanish composer and music theorist Miguel Roig-Francolí was born in Ibiza,[29] as was the politician and Spain's former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abel Matutes.

[30] Notable former residents of Ibiza include: Spandau Ballet's Steve Norman, English punk musician Sid Vicious,[31] comic actor Terry-Thomas,[32] Hungarian master forger Elmyr de Hory,[33] American authors Cormac McCarthy and Clifford Irving.

Additionally, because of the influence of tourism and immigrants living in or maintaining residences on the island, other languages, such as English, French, German and Italian, are widely spoken.

[citation needed] During these, people of various nationalities sharing the hippie ethos would regroup, talk, play music and occasionally take recreational drugs.

These would most often happen on beaches during the day, with nude bathing a common sight, and in rented country estates in the evenings or at nights.

Apart from this confidential scene, which nevertheless attracted many foreigners to the island, local venues during the 1960s consisted mostly of bars, which would be the meeting points for Ibicencos, ex-pats, seafarers and tourists.

[38] During the 1970s, a decade that saw the emergence of the contemporary nightclub, several venues opened and made a lasting impact on Ibiza's nightlife.

[clarification needed] These four clubs mainly defined nightlife on the White Island, which has evolved and developed from several distinctive elements: open-air parties (Es Paradis, Privilege, Amnesia), held in isolated places, eventually old fincas (Pacha, Amnesia), that mixed in nudity and costume party (Es Paradis, Privilege, Pacha) and enabled people from various backgrounds to blend (all).

The hippie ethos served as a common factor that infused all these venues and catalyzed the experience of a certain kind of freedom, accentuated by the holiday nature of most of the stays on the White Island.

[citation needed] During the 1980s, the music played in these clubs gained in reputation and became known as Balearic beat, a precursor of the British acid house scene.

[citation needed] In recent years, during the summer, top producers and DJs in dance music come to the island and play at the various clubs, in between touring to other international destinations.

Many of these DJs use Ibiza as an outlet for presenting new songs within the house, trance and techno genres of electronic dance music.

The island has achieved fame as a cultural centre for house and trance in particular, with its name often being used as a partial metonym for the particular flavour of electronic music originating there, much like Goa in India.

[40] Bands such as Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian, The Prodigy and the Kaiser Chiefs have played in the courtyard of the Ibiza Rocks Hotel.

[41] The season now traditionally begins at the end of April, where Opening Parties take place at Ibiza's clubs over the course of a three-week period.

[50] Since the early days of mass tourism on the island, there have been a large number of development projects ranging from successful ventures, such as the super clubs at Space and Privilege, to failed development projects, such as Josep Lluís Sert's abandoned hotel complex at Cala D'en Serra,[51] the half-completed and now demolished "Idea" nightclub in Sant Antoni,[52] and the ruins of a huge restaurant/nightclub in the hills near Sant Josep called "Festival Club" that only operated for three summer seasons in the early 1970s.

[58] Ibiza has its own airport, which has many international flights during the summer tourist season, especially from the European Union and the United Kingdom.

There are also ferries to Formentera leaving Sant Antoni Harbour (normally every Wednesday), and daily from Ibiza Town, Santa Eulària, and Figueretes–Platja d'en Bossa.

[66] Books including Ibiza Bohemia,[67] which was published by Assouline, have explored the island itself with both photography and text, while other such as Memes Eivissencs have registered the traditions of their residents and their history in social media.

The island is shown as the home of notorious art forger, Elmyr de Hory, in the 1973 docudrama F for Fake by Orson Welles.