For centuries the Mediterranean Sea has been the cradle of diverse cultures. Among these, Ibiza held a prime position in the Roman ‘Mare Nostrum’. This made it a vital cross-roads for several different civilisations. Before being conquered by the Romans, the Punics inhabited the island, leaving their mark on the land which became known under Islam as Xarc – Levant in Arabic, and then Santa Eulària, under Christian rule.
In 1235, the army, led by nobles, integrated the Pitiüses Islands into the Catalan-Aragonese Kingdom of Jaime I. The Muslims who had lived there since around the tenth century were defeated, their lands distributed among soldiers and the Catalan families which were drawn to the island seeking better prospects than at home (Tarragona, Barcelona, Ampurdán...).
From the beginning of the 14th century, Arab names were replaced with others: Quartó del Rei, because he was the monarch who held sway and received taxes from his people, or Santa Eulària, after a chapel was built in worship of this saint, and for the river of the same name.
Both referred to the land situated between the port of Benirràs in the north and Cala Llonga in the south. This area was important not so much for its size but due to its continuous water flow allowing the construction of flourmills, at a time in which bread was an almost universal food staple.
The river and the mills were the seed of the future town of Santa Eulària, and the whole island used the area for milling. Nearby, on a hill that dominated the area, a fortified church was built to defend against attacks from corsairs and the Maghreb, and later the Turks. This first church was destroyed in one of these attacks at the beginning of the 16th century. Shortly afterwards, in the middle of the century, was built what we now know as the church of the Puig de Missa.
Little had changed in centuries – the people continued to live scattered across the countryside, and the town did not yet exist, although the mills continued to be vital for the island. Trains of farm animals made the construction of a good bridge over the river necessary, the Pont Vell. The area of the mills was a crucial zone, and, like the salt pans of Sant Josep, was the target of violent attacks in which both people and goods were stolen, despite the presence of the fortified church, in which millers, labourers and the general population would seek refuge after hearing warning bells and horns, or smoke and fire signals.
From the second half of the 17th century, danger from the sea subsided, and it was the Ibizans who began to lay siege to the North African coast. The church of Santa Eulària grew in the 17th and 18th centuries, and chapels decorated in the baroque style of the time were added, along with magnificent arched porches where parishioners would gather before and after mass on Sunday. This was a centre of social life for a people who gathered infrequently. Here, official pronouncements were read, parliaments were held, notices were circulated, but it was also a place for stolen glances, romantic assignments, the whispers of women and muffled laughter. New additions managed to reduce the fortress-like appearance of the temple dedicated to Santa Eulària.
The 17th and 18th centuries were bad ones for Ibiza. The Mediterranean was no longer the centre of the known world, with America taking its place along with much of the trade which had been its lifeblood. The union of the Catalan and Castilian crowns left Ibiza further from the seat of power than it had been when it was in Barcelona, Valencia or Majorca. Finally, the age of enlightenment gave the area a new lease of life.
The enlightenment was forged by intellectuals seeking reform. The granting of city status to the former town of Ibiza allowed for the election of an Archbishop in 1782. The chapel of Santa Eulària, previously a vicariate, was elevated to a parish. One of the first Archbishops, Eustaquio de Azara, tried to persuade the dispersed population to gather in towns in line with the thinking of the enlightenment, which encouraged the creation of urban centres. He acquired land around the church and paid for the construction of towns, where the first families soon set up home. This was the first urban centre of Santa Eulària.
Meanwhile, the new monarchs from the change in dynasty in the Spanish crown – from the Austrians to the Bourbons, following a war in which Ibiza, Catalonia, Valencia and Majorca were on the losing side, developed former hamlets into a municipality. The still nascent town of Santa Eulària became the capital of the municipality which bore its name. The municipality was not to attain its definitive form until 1833.
The efforts of Archbishop Azara were only partially successful, with the development of new houses around the Puig de Missa church causing serious problems with overcrowding and services. However, at the beginning of the 19th century the current town of Santa Eulària was founded, on the eastern plain of the hill bearing the church. The two main streets were laid out – the current Sant Jaume street and the S"Alamera - which led to a magnificent public building housing the Civil Guard, school and town hall (today, the whole building is the home of the Santa Eulària des Riu town hall). The rest of the streets were laid out from this beginning, a network of streets which can still be seen today, as well as some of the original houses.
Bibliography:
SANTA EULÀRIA DES RIU -EIVISSA-
Text: Antoni Ferrer Abárzuza
Photographs: Santi Barberán
Collection: Mediterrània vol.I
Town Hall 
The Municipality 
