THE MIGRATION AND COLONISATION OF BERBER AND ARAB CLAN GROUPS IN THE BALEARIC ISLANDS 10TH -13TH CE
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2021-01-14

The arrival of Berber and Arabic clans in the Balearic Islands from the 902 AD onwards led to the emergence of new kinds of settlements and agricultural areas. There is evidence for earlier Muslim expeditions and also for the pacts that these expeditionaries made with local population, but there is no trace of stable settlement until AD 902, when the occupation of the islands formally began. The scant archaeological evidence from the 8th and 9th centuries is a common feature of the three islands and it is not yet possible to describe the form of the settlement pattern at this time. Although the sources only mention the island of Majorca and barely Menorca, the immigration of tribal groups from šarq al-Andalus (eastern part of al-Andalus) took place on the three islands.
The paper will synthesise the knowledge we have on the archaeological record, the place names distribution and written evidence left by this process. The research done on agricultural areas (irrigated, dry farming and drained) will be highlighted. The homogeneity in the settlement patterns and the technology that was employed to transform the rural landscape indicates that the colonisation was completed in a brief period of time. The skills and knowledge required to colonise would have been acquired in mainland al-Andalus before the conquest of AD 902.