Lots of different cultures have lived on Ibiza throghout the centuries:ibiza was turned into the center of meditarenean comerce when the Phoenicians ocupied it in 654b.c. It became a Punic metropolis, dokumented by more than 5000 graves; of rich ancient dealers.
After the second Punic war(218-208b.c.) the Islands agreed to accept roman occupation and was renamed "Ebusus" and became a confederate city within the Roman Empire.
With the decline of the Roman Empire's and the rise of Constantinople, the arabs started invading,but they definately established on the island in 711 a.c. naming it as Yebisah; in this period the arabs brought their agricultural knoledge,and the traces in the language are still detectable today. During the Arab domination, pirates regularly invaded the Island until the Catalan assault took place in 1235, and the city was conquered by them.
Ibiza joined the Catalan Empire and was bound to the spanish peninsula till today.In the forthcoming years the arabs invaded the Island several times and left behind the fortres-like country chappels that still prevail today. in 1554 Felipe II impulsed the reconstruction of the old arab stone walls that we still see today at Ibiza's old town, bit by bit the city extended inland forming the Sa Penya and La Marina quarters.
