From typicallyspanish.com
Archipiélago de Cabrera
By h.b.
Jul 9, 2007 - 7:56 PM
The Archipiélago de Cabrera National Park, named a national marine and land park in 1991, is a group of nineteen limestone islands and islets approximately one hour’s sail due south from Mallorca, in the Balearic Islands.
Its 10,021 hectare area encompasses just 1,836 hectares of land surface: the remainder of this National Park is a protected area of sea, where the seafloor is one of the best preserved along the length of Spain’s coastline. The deep, unspoilt waters of its marine ecosystem support more than 200 species of fish, meadows of Neptune Grass, and are a breeding ground for three species of dolphin, sperm and pilot whales, the loggerhead sea turtle, the Goby fish and enormous fan mussels.
Large colonies of seabirds are also established here, and more than 150 species of birds use the islands as a stop-off point on their spring and autumn migrations. Birds of prey include osprey, the Eleanor and peregrine falcon, and storm petrels.
The archipelago is home to a number of endemic species of flora and fauna which have evolved independently from species in mainland Spain or the main Balearic Islands: 30 of the 430 species of plant life found here are exclusive to the area. Ten endemic sub-species of the Balearic Lizard have evolved here.
The Archipiélago de Cabrera National Park is afforded additional protection as a European Union special protection area for birds, and a place of community interest. As such, it forms part of the Red Natura 2000.
The main island, from which the park takes its name, Cabrera, has a colourful past: many peoples have sought refuge and provisions here throughout the centuries, from the Phoenicians, to the Carthaginians and Romans. The remains of the fourteenth century castle which was built to protect the island from pirate attack, which has been torn down and rebuilt a number of times, can still be seen today. It’s now protected as a historic-artistic monument.
Thousands of French soldiers were imprisoned on Cabrera in the early nineteenth century after Spain defeated France at the Battle of Bailén in 1809: the sporadic supplies which reached the island meant that less than half of them survived their five years of imprisonment to return home when peace was signed in 1814.
An obelisk was later erected in their memory, known as, ‘el monumento a los franceses,’ – ‘the monument to the French.’