Use of the Mallorcas

Is there any advantage to owning the Mallorcas other than simply having more land?

What would those advantages be?
 

Abhakhazia

Banned
Well in the Classical Era, the inhabitants were known for their skills as slingers, and were employed by both the Romans and Carthaginians as mercenaries and auxiliaries.
 
I'm talking more late Western Empire times.

In a word, no.

Islands in the middle of the Med are great if you are a major naval power with no land bases nearby. See Malta, etc. for Britain. If you own nearby land bases, as the Roman Empire, the Visigoths and the Vandals did (when all three existed), then such island bases are not particularly important.

Oh, I suppose that the WRE could hold them as a threat to Visigothic Spain - but I'm not sure that that naval threat would be significant compared to the land threat of coming over the Pyrenees from Septimania.

So... Maybe of some mild use, but not terribly important. IMO.
 
Well... it depends... a strong enough entity based out from Italy but blocked from Continental France by another entity, and wanting to project power into Iberia will find them quite useful, same thing backwards...

in the modern era, it could act as a unsinkable aircraft-carrier, let's say, Republican Spain vs a Fascist Italy that holds the Baleares will be pressed to take them to deny them as a base for Italian Air Force...
 
Assuming by Mallorcas you mean the Balearic Islands so that we can include Menorca then its capital Mahon apparently has one of the best ports in the western Mediterranean, that's why the British annexed the island during the peace negotiations for the War of Spanish Succession.
 
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