Bunyola, Mallorca - Things to do and where to stay

The history of human habitation in Bunyola dates back to c. 2,500 – 1,400 BC, in a time when people lived in caves. On the Balearic Islands, this period is known as the pre-Talayotic due to the far more significant Talayotic period, a time from around 1300-1100 BC – 123 BC.

It was the Talayotic culture that was epochal to beginning of population in the area, a culture that was characterized by megalithic constructions known as “talaiots“, hence the name. These talaiots were tower-like cyclopean constructions, either circular or quadrangular, that functioned as lookouts and could be more than 20 meters high. In Catalan “talaia” means watchtower. Some of the remains of this culture within the municipal border include Son Vidal, Son Perot and Son Palau.

However, the most remarkable talaiotic construction in the area is the one called “Comasema” named after the forest it is located in. It is situated at the foothills of the l’Ofre, na Franquesa and sa Rateta range and on the other side, the mountain of Puig de Mors. The Comasema is one of the most well-preserved talaiots found in the Tramuntana range, but also unique to other talaiots because of the platformed construction technique built on the slopes of the mountain. From the top of the talaiot, it’s easy to see the strategic point of view of the construction as you have excellent views over the area. Another curious fact about the Comasema, is that it is built fairly close to water streams which tells us about an agricultural community from that time.

Roman times

In 123 BC, Roman general Quintus Cecili Metellus and his army conquered the archipelago from the indigenous peoples and founded two cities, Palma and Pol-lèntia (Alcúdia). However, the new Roman rulers coexisted with most of the indigenous tribes, presumably used as slaves to work on cultivation of crops and trained as warriors for the Roman army. The Romans also introduced vines to the island as wine was already a popular beverage in the Roman empire. Also, the Romans knew how to extract oil from olives and used the tree for making tools and weapons. With this, the Mediterranean triad was complete (olives, vines and wheat).

However, this was not the only interesting thing about the Roman presence in Bunyola, also the galena mine of Son Creu, current Sa Mina des Moros, was exploited by the Romans who found ways to illuminate the mines by drilling holes which allowed daylight to enter. It is likely that it was the Byzantine Romans who exploited the mines during the 6th and 7th centuries when they re-conquered parts of Mallorca after a period of Vandals sacking the island when Rome fell.

Islamic period

In 902, the Balearic archipelago was annexed to the Emirate of Cordoba, when Moorish nobleman Issam Al-Khawlaní captured the islands after a series of centuries without any formal rulers.

With the Islamic conquest, the island was divided in multiple jurisdictions to make it easier to administrate and collect taxes from the new Moorish settlers, primarily clans of farmers arriving from present day Algeria, Morocco and Andalusia. Each jurisdiction was called a “Juz” and Bunyola came under the Juz d’ Bunyûla-Mûsû, which also comprised Valldemossa, Deià and the eastern parts of Esporles.

More than 16 farmsteads were erected in the area during Islamic occupation, whereof the biggest and most important was the Alfabia, Raxa, Beniadatz, Beniatzar, Beniforani, Lluch, Comasema and Aurient. The Moors continued the agricultural heritage left from Roman times and even introduced new crops like artichokes, rice and saffron to the island. What was really epochal during this time, was the creation of water pipes (quanats), cisterns for storing water and water mills, which made irrigation far more efficient and gave rise to horticultural farms.

The Aragonese-Catalan conquest

In 1229, Mallorca was officially conquered by Jaume I of Aragón, whom with an army of 21,000 soldiers completely sacked the capital of Madina (Palma). During the brutal siege of the capital, about 3,000 armed men and 15,000 women and children managed to escape and flee to the Tramuntana, Llevant and even Menorca. In Tramuntana the resistance was led by Xuaip de Xivert whom organized resistance in the rocky castles of Alaró and Pollenca (Castell d’Alaró and Castell del Rei respectively), as well as in the mountainous village of Al-Yibal, or Almallutx, present day Escorca.

As of 1231, all Moorish resistance of Mallorca had fallen to the troops of Jaume. In the following year Jaume divided the Muslim jurisdictions in eight parts and distributed them among knights, counts and church according to the pact made prior to the conquest. The area of present day Bunyola and Orient came to belong to Nunó Sanç, count of Roussillon and Cerdanya and uncle of Jaume. Following his death in 1242, his assets were transferred to Jaume and the royal heritage in which it remained until the fall of the Mallorcan kingdom in 1349.

The former Moorish farmsteads were quickly parted, given and sold to new landowners who came from Aragón and Catalonia, in order to re-populate the areas quickly. Some of the agricultural activities continued such as the production of olive oil which was the most important product of the area.

The revolts of the foreign and the Brotherhood

During the 15th and 16th century, Bunyola grew in population under the control of feudal lords and noble citizens who owned much land. In 1450, a revolt known as “Revolta Forana” meaning the revolt of the foreign, came to mark the history of the island. To simplify this rather complex situation, it was based on a big gap between the social classes of the island created by droughts, war and rights to use and administrate land, but also corruption scandals by the nobility and the Crown of Aragón. This eventually escalated in 1450 when a group of peasants and day-laborers rose against the nobility committing crimes against the families and making the countryside an insecure place. This was going on for almost three years, until the king sent Italian mercenaries to the island to stop the revolt and kill the leaders.

In 1520, corruption became the main turning point of a new conflict, this time much more violent and came to be the first civil war of Mallorca. It was the artisans guilds that, like seem on the mainland, created a parallel society to end the corruption and relieve the fiscal pressure. They put a  siege on multiple towns and villages all over the island, they even managed to siege parts of Palma, at that time Ciutat de Mallorca, where they cut off the water supply to the city and forced their way to the governor’s office. Ruthless crimes were committed and blood was shed all over the island for almost two years. The revolt ended when Carles V intervened and sent his troops to the island. The royal troops arrived in the Port of Alcúdia from where they went to Pollenca and then to Sa Pobla where they easily fought down the rebellion army.

In both cases, Bunyola suffered the consequences of hard repression causing a massive tax load that made many families poorer.

The modern age

In 1578, Bunyola had a population of about 500 inhabitants. The economy of Bunyola was linked to agricultural activities such as olive oil production and exploitation of the natural resources found in the forest. Charcoal was another great industry in the local area which was shipped off to Palma.

Hunting game such as rabbits was – and still is – a popular eat in Mallorca and the sa Comuna forest has always been a great place to catch these by using special hunting “filats” (nets) that was developed.

In 1912, the Palma – Sóller railway was inaugurated, Ferrocarril de Sóller, and with the construction of a train station in Bunyola, it contributed to the growing industrialization of the area.

Contemporary times

Bunyola is one of those areas that has remained partly agricultural and partly touristic in the contemporary history of Mallorca. Even though tourism, particularly active tourism, is the predominant factor in the local economy, olive oil production remain the third largest on the island.