Prehistory

The area of the current day municipality has been inhabited by humans for more than 3,000 years. About 42 archaeological sites scattered over the municipal border testifies the human activity all the way back from pre-Talayotic times (2,400 – 1,100 BC). From this period, the caves of Sa Font Gata, Es Rafal Baix and Ca s’Hereu gives us some of the best ideas about how life was back in the early days.

From the Talayotic culture (1,100 – 100 BC), Pula, Sa Pleta, Son Gener, des Puig, Mestre Ramon and Ca s’Hereu shows us the life on the island in the early villages and fortifications.

Islamic period

Mallorca was officially annexed to the Emirate of Cordoba in 902-3, when Issam al-Khawlaní conquered the archipelago. The capital was named Madina Mayurqua, while most of the communities outside the city were grouped in small farmsteads and hamlets (alquerias) if not just in huts (rafals) scattered all over. However, the Muslim settlers did divide the island in multiple jurisdictions, the ajzà (singular: juz), whereof this area belonged to Juz d’ Yartan, which also included current day municipalities of Ártà and Capdepera.

Some of the biggest and most important farmsteads was those of Benu-Quinena Algarbia and Benu-Quinena Exarquia, belonging to the tribes of Quienena as the names suggests. These two farmsteads or hamlets was undoubtedly the most important of the community, and located where the current village is today. The Muslims irrigated the soil, started cultivating crops and built water transportation systems. Some of these elements are still part of the physical presence of Son Servera, such as the fountain of Sa Jornada and the water mills of Son Comparet and Son Sard – but indeed also in the cultural heritage of the island. Another important remain from the Islamic period, was the one of Banyeres, a villa located close to the Port Vell where remains of a bath has been discovered. This could have been a public washing house or the property of a high standing tribe leader.

The Aragonese conquest

In September 1229, King Jaume I of Aragón and his 27,000 men landed at the shore of Santa Ponca. The campaign was a part of the reconquista and to extend the territories of the Crown of Aragón. At the end of the same year, the Aragonese troops had already triumphed in Madina Mayurqua, and soon after renamed it to “Ciutat de Mallorca”. About 20,000 Moors had fled to the Tramuntana and Llevant areas during the battles, some had fled to the neighboring island of Menorca. The upcoming spring, the king set off to capture and conquer the rest of the island and those Moors that had fled. The Muslims living outside the capital were farmers and not warriors, and the resistance was easy to overcome for the trained Almogavars. One of the most notable battles in the Llevant area, was in March 1230, when the troops faced a resistance of about 2,000 Moors hiding in caves in the area of Ártà, The Llibre del Fets (Book of Acts) describes the battle in detail how the soldiers camped at the feet of the mountains next to a river entrapping the Muslim resistance in the caves of the mountains. Another anecdote from the Llibre del Fets, from these areas, is the signing of the Treaty of Capdepera on June 17th, 1231. This event took place in the neighboring area of Capdepera, when the king pretended to prepare for battle against Menorca, and scared the Moors to come to him to negotiate a peaceful surrender.

The lands of Mallorca was divided amongst participators and supporters of the conquest, this was written in the Llibre del Repartiment de Mallorca (Book of Division of Mallorca). The lands of the Yartan district was partially granted men of Marseilles, while the king kept some of the lands himself. In the time following, the manor of Benicanella, which was the Catalan name of the farmstead, was sold to a noble family of Porreres, namely the Cervera family. It is here we find the origin of the name of the village.

The Cervera family, along with the Ferri family, were two of the major landowners in this area renting out land to small peasants. There are also documents stating that some farms named Beni-Dahom and Beni-Alfamah was knights of Sant Jordi d’Alfama (Knights of Saint George), and some lands were given to the infant Pere of Portugal.

The disperse of the population

Until the late 15th century, there was no urban nucleus of the area, only the lands of the Benicanella farmstead. However, with the death of Salvador Cervera in 1474, the farmstead was divided among his two sons and became the possessions of Son Frai Garí and Ca S’Hereu respectively. This also resulted in the disperse of the small population of the area which now settled outside the lands of the farmsteads.

During the 16th century, the threat from the Ottoman empire made life by the coast unsafe. The Ottomans were looking to capture the Balearic archipelago, and as a part of the strategy, they paid Berber privateers to interrupt maritime commerce of the Mediterranean. To better protect and guard the lands and population, the tower of de la Vicaria was erected between the two lands, in what is now the current village of Son Servera and the parish church.

In 1560, another great partition of the lands happened. It was the lands of Ca S’Hereu that was once again divided among children of the Cervera family, which gave rise to new possessions such as la Plana, Son Esquerrà, Son Corb and Son Floriana. Documents from 1580 and 1596 indicate a small urban nucleus surrounding the Torre de la Vicaria.

The foundation of Son Servera

The 17th century gave rise to the current village of Son Servera. The two brothers, Salvador and Sebastià Cervera, owners of the Son Frai Garí possession had accumulated a massive debt which they could not pay. As a consequence of this, the possession was confiscated by the Royal Hearing of Mallorca and sold on a public auction in 1666. The buyer was the University of Ártà looking to divide the lands of the possession and sell it to new landowners. The terms of the sale was based on two major factors; 1. each plot could not exceed 0.71031 ha (7,103.01 m²), 2. only children of the municipality of Ártà (current day Árta, Capdepera and Son Servera) was allowed to purchase.

Between 1666 and 1684, the lands of former possession Son Frai Garí had been converted to 71 new houses. The new houses faced a public road, the current Carrer del Doctor Servera, which divided the lands of Son Frai Garí and Ca S’Hereu.

The intense growth of the population and congregation led to an expansion of the former primitive chapel located by the tower of Vicaria in 1741. In 1750, the population almost reached 1,000 inhabitants, and in 1755, Bishop Llorenç Despuig Cotoner made the temple a vicarage.

The independent municipality

The Constitution of Cádiz (1812) proclaimed the creation of city councils for all those population centers with more than 1,000 inhabitants. In 1813 the population was counted, with a result of 1,651 inhabitants in January of this year: 1,233 in the town itself and 418 outside the town. On January 18, 1814, Son Servera is segregated from the municipality of Ártà for the first time. However, with the suspension of the constitution already in August the same year, Son Servera lost its newly gained independence again.

With the Trienio Liberal between 1820 and 1823, Son Servera once again acquired independence as a municipality. It was, however, not until 1837 that Son Servera was definitively segregated from Ártà.

A terrible chapter in the history of Son Servera is the 1820 bubonic plague, which killed more than half of the population. The town was seized by the military disallowing anyone from leaving or entering the town borders, completely in quarantine.  The inhabitants went from 1,808 people in 1820 to 768 by the end of the year. The bubonic plague also affected Ártà, Capdepera, Sant Llorenç des Cardassar and Manacor.

The change in economy

Throughout the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, Son Servera remained a predominantly agricultural area mainly dedicated to the cultivation of dry land. The neighboring municipalities of Ártà and Capdepera had expanded their economical activities to also include sewing and palm-leaf crafts respectively. Son Servera was also raising livestock, mainly cattle and sheep. In 1921, the railway connecting Manacor and Ártà too arrived here, a sign that it was an important economical center.

With the tourism boom in the 1960’s, the economy of Son Servera really started to take off. The development of Port Vell, Cala Bona, Cala Millor and Costa del Pins, gave rise to a new and primary economy of the municipality. In 1987, there was already about 77 hotels with about 6,800 beds