[8][9] The arrival of humans resulted in the rapid extinction of the three species of terrestrial mammals native to Mallorca, the dwarf goat-antelope Myotragus balearicus, the giant dormouse Hypnomys morpheus, and the shrew Nesiotites hidalgo, all three of which had been continuously present on Mallorca for over 5 million years.

[11] A non-exhaustive list of settlements is the following: The Phoenicians, a seafaring people from the Levant, arrived around the eighth century BC and established numerous colonies.

In addition, the northern town of Bocchoris, dating back to pre-Roman times, was a federated city to Rome.

Geiseric, son of Gunderic, governed Mallorca and used it as his base to loot and plunder settlements around the Mediterranean[15] until Roman rule was restored in 465.

[15] In 902, Issam al-Khawlani(es)(ca) (Arabic: عصام الخولاني) conquered the Balearic Islands, and they became part of the Emirate of Córdoba.

However, an expedition of Pisans and Catalans in 1114–15, led by Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona, overran the island, laying siege to Palma for eight months.

The Barbary corsairs of North Africa often attacked the Balearic Islands, and in response, the people built coastal watchtowers and fortified churches.

Although the Republicans heavily outnumbered their opponents and managed to push 12 km (7.5 mi) inland, superior Nationalist air power, provided mainly by Fascist Italy as part of the Italian occupation of Majorca, forced the Republicans to retreat and to leave the island completely by 12 September.

[18] Since the 1950s, the advent of mass tourism has transformed the island into a destination for foreign visitors and attracted many service workers from mainland Spain.

In the 21st century, urban redevelopment, under the so‑called Pla Mirall (English "Mirror Plan"), attracted groups of immigrant workers from outside the European Union, especially from Africa and South America.

[19] In September 2019, A 3,200-year-old well-preserved Bronze Age sword was discovered by archaeologists under the leadership of Jaume Deya and Pablo Galera on the Mallorca Island in the Puigpunyent from the stone megaliths site called Talaiot.

[21] The capital of Mallorca, Palma, was founded as a Roman camp called Palmaria upon the remains of a Talaiotic settlement.

The turbulent history of the city had it subject to several Vandal sackings during the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

It was later reconquered by the Byzantines, established by the Moors (who called it Medina Mayurqa), and finally occupied by James I of Aragon.

[22] Mallorca has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa), with mild and relatively wet winters and hot, bright, dry summers.

[30] Tectonic movements led to different elevation and lowering zones in the late Tertiary period, which is why the connection to the mainland has been severed at the current sea level.

The Serres de Llevant also contain marl, the more rapid erosion of which has resulted in the lower elevations of the island's southeastern mountains.

[33] These mountains are part of the Serra de Tramuntana range with numerous peaks over 1,000 meters, offering opportunities for hiking and exploration with views of the Mediterranean.

[45][46][47] Mallorca has been jokingly referred to as the 17th Federal State of Germany, due to the high number of German tourists,[48][49] although people from the island reject this label and deem it "an insult".

Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria (Catalan: Arxiduc Lluís Salvador) was a pioneer of tourism in the Balearic Islands.

The Polish composer and pianist Frédéric Chopin, together with French writer Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin (pseudonym: George Sand), resided in Valldemossa in the winter of 1838–39.

Apparently, Chopin's health had already deteriorated and his doctor recommended that he go to the Balearic Islands to recuperate, where he still spent a rather miserable winter.

[64] French writer Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin (pseudonym: George Sand), at that time in a relationship with Chopin, described her stay in Mallorca in A Winter in Majorca, published in 1855.

[65] The poet Miquel Costa i Llobera wrote in 1875 his famous ode, the Pine of Formentor, as well as other poems concerning old Mallorcan traditions and fantasies.

Agatha Christie visited the island in the early 20th century and stayed in Palma and Port de Pollença.

[69] Nobel Prize winner Camilo José Cela came to Mallorca in 1954, visiting Pollença, and then moving to Palma, where he settled permanently.

[72] Ira Levin set part of his dystopian novel This Perfect Day in Mallorca, making the island a centre of resistance in a world otherwise dominated by a computer.

[73] In the dance, three pairs of dancers, who are typically male, defend a "Lady," who is played by a man or a woman, from a demon or devil.

Among the foods that are typical from Mallorca are sobrassada, arròs brut (saffron rice cooked with chicken, pork and vegetables), and the sweet pastry ensaïmada.

It was said that this could lead Mallorcan Catalan to become extinct in the fairly near future, as it was being used in a situation of diglossia in favour of the Spanish language.