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Often and unfairly maligned as an overdeveloped, package-tourist nightmare, boomerang-shaped Menorca is, in fact, the least developed - and second largest - member of the Balearic Islands. Unlike its neighbours, Menorca remains essentially rural, its rolling fields, wooded ravines and humpy hills filling out the interior in between its two main - but still small - towns of Mao and Ciutadella . Much of this landscape looks pretty much as it did at the turn of the twentieth century and only on the edge of the island, and then only in parts, have its rocky coves been colonized by sprawling villa complexes. Neither is the development likely to spread: the resorts have been kept at a discreet distance from the two main towns, and this is how the Menorcans like it. Furthermore, determined to protect their island from the worst excesses of the tourist industry, the Menorcans have clearly demarcated development areas and are meanwhile pushing ahead with a variety of environmental schemes. Menorca is littered with prehistoric monuments, weatherworn stone remains that are evidence of a sophisticated culture. Little is known for sure of the island's prehistory, but the monuments are thought to be linked to those of Sardinia and are classified as part of the second-millennium BC Talayot culture . Talayots are the rock mounds found all over the island - popular belief has it that they functioned as watchtowers, but it's a theory few experts accept. They have no interior stairway, and only a few are found on the coast. Even so, no one has come up with a much more convincing explanation. The megalithic taulas - huge stones topped with another to form a T, around 4m high and unique to Menorca - are even more puzzling. They have no obvious function, and they are almost always found alongside a talayot . Some of the best-preserved talayot and taula remains are on the edge of Mao at the Trepuco site. Then there are navetas (dating from 1400 to 800 BC), stone-slab constructions shaped like an inverted loaf tin. Many have false ceilings, and although you can stand up inside they were clearly not living spaces - communal pantries, perhaps, or more probably tombs. In more recent history, the long and slender, deep-water channel of the port of Mao promoted Menorca to an important position in European affairs. The British saw its potential as a naval base during the War of the Spanish Succession and achieved their aim by having the island ceded to them through the Treaty of Utrecht (1713). Spain regained possession in 1783, but with the threat of Napoleon in the Mediterranean, a new British base was temporarily established under admirals Nelson and Collingwood. The British influence is still considerable, especially in architecture: the sash windows so popular in Georgian design are still sometimes referred to as winderes , locals often part with a fond bye-bye , and there's a substantial expatriate community. The British also moved the capital from Ciutadella to Mao and constructed the main island road. More importantly they introduced the art of distilling juniper berries: Menorcan gin (Xoriguer, Beltran or Nelson) is renowned. Before much of it was killed off by tourism, Menorcan agriculture had become highly advanced. A dry stone wall protected every field from the tramontana (the vicious north wind), which ripped away the topsoil, and even olive trees had their roots individually protected in little stone wells. Nowadays, apart from a few acres of rape and corn, many of the fields are barren, but the walls survive. Any vegetation that dares to emerge above their safety is soon swept away by the gusts.
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