The capital of Majorca, Palma, was founded as a Roman camp called Palmaria upon the remains of a Talaiotic settlement. The turbulent history of the city saw it subject to several Vandal sackings during the fall of the Roman Empire. It was later reconquered by the Byzantine, colonised by the Moors (who called it Medina Mayurqa), and finally established by James I of Aragon. In 1983, Palma became the capital of the autonomous region of the Balearic Islands.

Population growth of Palma de Majorca (1900–2005)
 

A Nationalist stronghold at the start of the Spanish Civil War, Majorca was subjected to an amphibious landing, on August 16 1936, aimed at driving the Nationalists from Majorca and reclaiming the island for the Republic. Although the Republicans heavily outnumbered their opponents and managed to push 12 kilometres inland, superior Nationalist air power mainly provided byFascist Italy forced the Republicans to retreat and to leave the island completely by September 12. Those events became known as the Battle of Mallorca.

For the rest of the Civil War the island was used as a base for the Nationalist navy and airforce, who mounted raids on the Spanish mainland.

Since the 1950s, the advent of mass tourism radically changed the physiognomy of both the city and the island, transforming it into a centre of attraction for foreign visitors and attracting workers from mainlandSpain. This contributed to a huge change in the traditions, the sociolinguistic map, urbanisation and acquisitive power.

The boom in tourism caused Palma to grow significantly, with repercussions on immigration. In 1960 Majorca received 500,000 visitors, while in 1997 it received 6,739,700. In 2008, 22,832,865 passengers passed through Son Sant Joan Airport in Palma, with an additional 1.5 million arriving by sea.

In the 21st century, urban redevelopment, under the so-called Pla Mirall (English "Mirror Plan"), attracted important groups of immigrant workers from outside the European Union, especially from Africa and South America.

On November 14, 2006, the local newspaper Diario de Mallorca reported allegations that the CIA used an airport on the island for its controversial extraordinary rendition program.