Sa Dragonera
| Sa Dragonera | ||
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| Waters | Mediterranean Sea | |
| Archipelago | Balearic Islands | |
| Geographical location | 39 ° 35 '2 " N , 2 ° 19' 17" E | |
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| length | 4.2 km | |
| width | 900 m | |
| surface | 2.88 km² | |
| Highest elevation | Na Pòpia 353 msnm |
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| Residents | uninhabited | |
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Sa Dragonera ( Dragon Island ) is an uninhabited rocky island off the west coast of the Spanish Mediterranean island of Mallorca . It is separated from its westernmost point, the Punta Negra , by the Canal des Freu, which is 780 meters wide at its narrowest point . Like Mallorca, Dragonera belongs to the group of Balearic Islands . On the one hand, its name was traced back to its special appearance, which resembles a dragon, and, on the other, to the countless lizards that live there. Scientists derive it from the Latin tracones , which in the Middle Ages stood for underground water pipes and indicates the important role of the island (especially the Cova de sa Font) in supplying water to ancient ships that sailed this area.
The island of Dragonera has an area of 288 hectares, it has an extension of 4.2 kilometers in length and a width of up to 900 meters. Politically, Dragonera belongs to the municipality of Andratx . At the highest point, the 353 meter high Na Pòpia , is the former lighthouse Far de Na Pòpia , which is why the mountain is also called Puig des Far Vell .
The island was acquired by the island administration of Mallorca in 1987 and by decree 7/1995 of January 26, 1995 of the government of the Balearic Islands together with the islands of Es Pantaleu and Illa Mitjana ( 39 ° 35 ′ 8 ″ N , 2 ° 20 ′ 29.5 ″ O ) declared the Sa Dragonera Natural Park .
geography
Appearance
In a longitudinal section, for example from Sant Elm , the island actually offers the sight of a dragon: in the southwest at Cap des Llebeig, the head immersed in the water, a backbone with the “scales” Puig des Aucells (312 m) and Na Pòpia (353 m) m) and a gently tapering tail to Cap de Tramuntana in the northeast.
In cross-section, however, seen from the northeast, the island resembles a right-angled triangle: While the land rises steeply, but accessible, from the southeast, the north-west side facing the open Mediterranean forms a steep coast on which there are several hundred rocks Meters deep, mostly vertical, partly overhanging, sloping down to the sea.
National shape
A valley stretches from the natural harbor of Cala Lladó up to the edge of the island, in which the water collects and some agriculturally usable terraces have been created. The rest of the island consists of macchia interspersed with rocks or steep crags . The north-west side are inaccessible rock faces.
Today a paved road leads to the north-east of the island and a little road to the south-west. You can reach the summit of Na Pòpia on a donkey trail, which is now a designated hiking trail.
fauna
On Dragonera, an endemic subspecies of the Balearic lizard has emerged, the Dragonera lizard ( Podarcis lilfordi ssp. Giglioli ). Along with midwife toads , it is probably the only land-living vertebrate that was native to the island before humans arrived.
The Eleanor's falcon ( Falco eleonorae ) has its largest breeding colony in the western Mediterranean on the cliffs in the northwest of the island and the peregrine falcon ( Falco peregrinus ) is also native there. With around 400 breeding pairs, the island is home to one of the largest colonies of the critically endangered Balearic Shearwater . Mediterranean monk seals lived in grottos on the southeast coast until the 1950s . A cave near Cala Lladó is still called "Cova des Vell Marí" after the Catalan name of these animals.
Other typical animal species are:
- Mediterranean seagull ( Larus michahellis )
- the velvet warbler ( Sylvia melanocephala )
- the robin ( Erithacus rubecula )
flora
There are around 380 species of plants on Dragonera. A quarter of the species found in the Balearic Islands are represented here. About 5% of them are endemic. In particular, the north-western rockfalls - damp, poor in sunshine and inaccessible to the herbivores that have lived on the island for centuries - are a retreat for many plant species. A lichen also grows here , which used to be in great demand as a textile dye and was harvested by the Mallorcans at risk of death for this purpose.
Adapted plants such as sea fennel ( Crithmum maritimum ) thrive in the coastal strip exposed to the salt wind and waves . Endemic to the natural park Dragonera and the adjacent Mallorcan coastline is a Strandfliederart , Limonium dragonericum . The thorn lettuce ( Launaea cervicornis ) occurs only on Mallorca and Menorca .
Most of the island's area is dominated by Mediterranean maquis . Rosemary bushes ( Rosmarinus officinalis ), for example, are widespread here .
climate
The average rainfall is 350 mm. The months of September and December have the heaviest rainfall.
history
Apart from a small Roman burial ground near Es Lladó, no further evidence of prehistoric or prehistoric settlement was found. Ceramic shards in the Cova de sa Font (or Cova des Moro) cave date back to the 4th century BC. BC, but their typology does not correspond to the Talayot culture prevailing in Mallorca at that time . Rather, they come from Carthaginian and Roman sailors who used the freshwater source of the cave.
For centuries, Sa Dragonera was primarily a contact point and base for pirates who found shelter and hiding place in the numerous caves on the island. At the end of the 16th century, two defense towers were built on the island to protect against pirates - in 1580 the Talaia de na Guinavera on the 353 meter high Puig de na Pòpia and in 1585 the Torre de Llebeig on the bay of the same name in the south of the island. The latter has survived the centuries and was restored in 2004.
In 1852 a 12 meter high lighthouse and two apartments for the lighthouse keepers were built on the Puig de na Pòpia. However, it was never able to perform its task satisfactorily because, due to its location, especially in bad weather - when it was needed most - it was often in the clouds or in the fog. Therefore it was given up again in 1910 and replaced by two towers on the north-east (the Far de Tramuntana ) and the south-west point (the Far de Llebeig ). After that, the island was largely left to its own devices for a long time and became a home for birds and reptiles.
In 1941, Joan Flexas bought the island and started a small farm in the area of Cala Lladó. In the years that followed, Dragonera (also Flexas himself) served as a smuggler's base again. In 1974 Flexas finally sold the island to the banking consortium PAMESA , which then made plans for several allegedly natural holiday villages on the island. 1200 houses, a marina for 600 ships, helipads, a casino and other infrastructure were to be built. Although the plans had already been approved, conservationists, with broad support from the Malloquins, succeeded in repeatedly delaying the start of construction. After a ten-year process, the Audiencia Nacional de España issued a complete construction ban on the island in 1984 . In 1987 the Mallorcan island council bought Sa Dragonera to convert the island into a protected area. Since 1995 it has, together with the neighboring islands of Pantaleu and Sa Mitjana, the status of a nature park ("Parque Natural").
Touristic
Sa Dragonera can only be reached by boat from Sant Elm and Port d ' Andratx and is under nature protection . The natural harbor of Sa Dragonera is located in the bay of Cala Lladó , roughly in German: robber bay . A small ranger station is located directly at the natural harbor. The island can be explored on your own on the three existing hiking trails.
Others
- In the film adaptation of the novel Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie , the island is shown in the opening and closing credits as the fictional location of the plot (but it was actually shot on Mallorca and in a London film studio).
- In the detective novel Mallorcan Blood by Martín Solanes (actually Martine Mairal), the trail of crimes leads to the Dragonera.
cards
- Mapa Topográfico Nacional de España 1: 25000, ed. from Instituto Geográfico Nacional (Madrid), sheets 697-II and 697-IV
Web links
- Parque Natural Park de sa Dragonera (Consell de Mallorca)
- Xarxa Natura a les Illes Balears (Govern de les Illes Balears, Consellería de Medi Ambient)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Angel Ginés, Joaquín Ginés: La Cova de sa Font (o Cova des Moro) i l'origen del topònim de s'illa de sa Dragonera: una hipòtesi espeleològica . In: Endins . Volume 34, 2010, pp. 9-18 (Spanish).
- ↑ José Manuel Arcos (ed.): International species action plan for the Balearic shearwater, Puffinus mauretanicus , SEO / BirdLife & BirdLife International, 2011, ( PDF ), p. 12
- ↑ Miquel Trias: Arqueologia de les cavernes de Mallorca (PDF; 10.9 MB). In: Endins . Volume 20, 1995, pp. 171-190 (Spanish / English).
- ↑ Lighthouses of Spain: Mallorca and Menorca. Retrieved August 9, 2017 .
- ^ S. Dragonera, Natural Park - History. Retrieved August 9, 2017 .
- ↑ Consell de Mallorca - boat trips to Sa Dragonera
Main islands: Cabrera | Formentera | Ibiza | Mallorca | Menorca
Other islands: Aire | Dragonera | Espalmador | Faraió d'Aubarca | Illa Conillera | Illa d'en Colom | Illa des Conills | Illot of Porros | Pantaleu | Quarentena | Rei | Sargantana | Tagomago | Vedrà