Ibiza

Eivissa or Ibiza is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea, and belonging to Spain. With Formentera, it is one of the two Illes Pitiüses. Major cities are Ibiza Town, Santa Eulària des Riu and San Antonio.

History

In 654 BCE Phoenician settlers founded a port in the Balearic Islands, as Ibossim, later known to Romans (as "Ebusus") for its wine, marble, and lead. The Greeks who came to Ibiza during the time of the Phoenicians were the first to call the two islands of Ibiza and Formentera the Pitiusas ("pine-covered islands"). With the decline of Phoenicia after the Assyrian invasions, Ibiza came under the umbrella of Carthage, also a former Phoenician colony. The island produced dye, salt, fish sauce (garum), and wool. A shrine with offerings to the goddess Tanit was established in the cave at Es Cuyram, and the rest of the Balearic Islands entered Eivissa's commercial orbit after 400 BCE. Ibiza was a major trading post along the Mediterranean routes. Iberia began setting up its own trading stations along the nearby Balearic island of Mallorca, from which great quantities of the reknowned Balearic slingers were hired as mercenaries for the diverse wars Carthage was fighting.

Related Topics:
654 BCE - Garum - 400 BCE

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During the Second Punic War the island was assaulted by the two Scipio brothers but remained loyal to Carthage. With Carthaginian military luck running out on the Iberian mainland, Ibiza was last used by the fleeing Carthaginian General Mago to gather supplies and men before sailing to Menorca and then to Liguria. Ibiza managed to negotiate a favorable treaty with the Romans, who spared Ibiza from further destruction and allowed it to survive with its Carthaginian-Punic institutions well into the Empire days, when it became an official Roman municipality. This survival made Ibiza an excellent place to study Carthaginian-Punic civilization in later years, but also turned the island into a sleepy imperial outpost as it became more and more detached from the important trading routes of the time. The island was conquered by James I of Aragon in 1235.

Related Topics:
James I of Aragon - 1235

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