Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
The greatest fortification in Europe
ST PHILIP'S CASTLE, MINORCA, 1754
For more than five centuries, the history of the Balearic Islands in the western Mediterranean
Sea has been closely linked with that of mainland Spain, with one notable exception.
Minorca, the second largest island in the archipelago, passed much of the 18th century as
a British colony. The island was captured by a joint Anglo-Dutch force in 1708, during the
War of the Spanish Succession. Work to improve its fortifications began almost immediately,
even before British sovereignty was regularised under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. These
defence works were concentrated on the eastern side of the island, around the port of Mahon,
which under British rule replaced the old city of Ciudadela as Minorca's capital.
Chief among the fortifications was St Philip's Castle, designed to protect Mahon's fine har-
bour, which lies off this map to the right. The diamond-shaped core of the fortress had been
