The island of

Menorca Menorca or Minorca (from la, Insula Minor, , smaller island, later ''Minorica'') is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. Its name derives from its size, contrasting it with nearby Majorca. Its capi ...

in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

has been invaded on numerous occasions. The first recorded invasion occurred in 252 BC, when the

Carthaginians The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...

arrived. The name of the island's chief city,

Mahón Mahón (), officially Maó (), and also written as Mahon or Port Mahon in English, is the capital and second largest city of Menorca. The city is located on the eastern coast of the island, which is part of the archipelago and autonomous communi ...

(now Maó), appears to derive from the name of the

Punic The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...

leader

Mago Barca Mago Barca ( xpu, 𐤌𐤂‬𐤍 𐤁𐤓𐤒‬, ; 243–203BC) was a Barcid Carthaginian who played an important role in the Second Punic War, leading forces of Carthage against the Roman Republic in Iberia and northern and central Italy. Mag ...

. The name of the island is of

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

origin, and dates from after the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

conquest, led by Quintus Caecilius Metellus in 123 BC, during a campaign which earned him the

agnomen An ''agnomen'' (; plural: ''agnomina''), in the Roman naming convention, was a nickname, just as the ''cognomen'' was initially. However, the ''cognomina'' eventually became family names, so ''agnomina'' were needed to distinguish between simila ...

''Balearicus''. The island was briefly subsumed under the Vandal kingdom of Africa around 427, but it was eventually reconquered by the Romans and incorporated in the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

. It was an obscure province increasingly outside the sphere of Byzantine influence for the next four centuries. Around 859 a

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

incursion destroyed or damaged many Byzantine churches. In 903 the island was invaded by the

Emirate of Córdoba The Emirate of Córdoba ( ar, إمارة قرطبة, ) was a medieval Islamic kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula. Its founding in the mid-eighth century would mark the beginning of seven hundred years of Muslim rule in what is now Spain and Port ...

, resulting in the introduction of Islam and renewed contacts with the Iberian peninsula. The ''taifa'' of Menorca, the last Muslim state on the island, accepted the authority of the

Crown of Aragon The Crown of Aragon ( , ) an, Corona d'Aragón ; ca, Corona d'Aragó, , , ; es, Corona de Aragón ; la, Corona Aragonum . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of B ...

in 1231–32, and was finally conquered in 1287–88; its Muslim population being either ransomed or enslaved. The island came under attack from the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

in 1535, when Mahón was sacked, and again in 1558, when Mahón and Ciutadella were plundered. During the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

, the island was taken by the French in 1707 with no military action, but in 1708 it was captured by the British, whose sovereignty was recognised in the

Treaty of Utrecht The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vacant throne o ...

(1713). The French returned in 1756, beating the British at sea, and capturing Fort St Philip. In 1763, at the end of the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754� ...

, the French ceded the island back to Britain. During the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, the French sided with Spain and invaded Menorca in 1781. It was a part of Spain until being reconquered by the British in 1798, during the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted French First Republic, France against Ki ...

. Britain handed Menorca back to Spain under the

Treaty of Amiens The Treaty of Amiens (french: la paix d'Amiens, ) temporarily ended hostilities between France and the United Kingdom at the end of the War of the Second Coalition The War of the Second Coalition (1798/9 – 1801/2, depending on perio ...

(1802), having chosen to keep

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

as a Mediterranean base instead.Sloss, Jane
Exit Britannia: Britain’s Last Conquest of Menorca 1798-1802
Tetbury UK, Bonaventura Press (2002)- accessed 2007-12-17 During the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

, the island remained loyal to the Republic, but was captured by the Nationalists in February 1939.

Main invasions

Sack of Mahón The sack of Mahon occurred in 1535, when Hayreddin Barbarossa attacked the harbour of Mahón in the Balearic Islands. The expedition followed closely the defeat of Barbarossa in the Conquest of Tunis by Charles V. Barbarossa had escaped Tunis ...

(1535) *

Ottoman invasion of the Balearic islands (1558) An Ottoman raid of the Balearic islands was accomplished by the Ottoman Empire in 1558, against the Habsburg Spain, Spanish Habsburg monarchy, Habsburg territory of the Balearic islands. Background The Ottomans had already attacked the Baleari ...

Capture of Menorca (1708) The Capture of Minorca saw the island of Menorca (called Minorca by the British) captured from Spain by British-Dutch forces acting on behalf of Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor the Austrian claimant to the Spanish throne in September 1708 during ...

* Battle of Menorca (1756) *

Siege of Fort St Philip (1756) The siege of Fort St Philip, also known as the siege of Minorca, took place from 20 April to 29 June 1756 during the Seven Years' War. Ceded to Great Britain in 1714 by Spain following the War of the Spanish Succession, its capture by France thr ...

Invasion of Menorca (1781) The Franco-Spanish reconquest of Menorca (historically called "Minorca" in English) from the British in February 1782, after the Siege of Fort St. Philip lasting over five months, was an important step in the achievement of Spain in the America ...

Capture of Menorca (1798) In November 1798 a British expedition captured the island of Menorca (historically called "Minorca" by the British) from Spain. A large force under General Charles Stuart landed on the island and forced its Spanish garrison to surrender in eigh ...

* Battle of Menorca (1939)

Notes

{{Reflist

External links

Historia de Menorca
menorca.org- accessed 2007-12-17 History of Menorca Invasions, Minorca