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Ibiza History
In the seventh century BC some Phoenician settlers who had been in the region for some time set up a port on the island which they called Ibossim. Later, when the Phoenician rule declined the Carthaginians took up the mantle and began their time in power. It was at this point that the island became a major trading post in the Mediterranean and that Ibiza Town was first formed.
By 209 BC and with the onset of the second Punic War Ibiza came under attack and was forced to surrender. This led to its installation as a Roman municipality and so it became a fairly subdued imperial outpost. After the fall of the Roman Empire the Vandals and then the Byzantines experienced relatively brief periods of rule before the Moors began their time of power.
It stayed this way for a good five centuries before James I of Aragon moved in and reclaimed the island for Spain and installed its own form of self-government until it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Spain in 1479. This situation remained until Philip V abolished any concept of self-rule for Ibiza in 1715. However, around 270 years later self-government was re-established when the new Spanish Constitution offered the Balearic Islands a statute of autonomy in 1982.