For many centuries, the Cala Major area, with its numerous flats and apartments in the immediate vicinity of the beach, was a region in which cereals were cultivated by large landowners. One of these large estates ("Posesiones") was called Cala Major and that is where the name comes from, which has been documented since 1585. However, the expansion of this region has become so large that the area stretching from Porto Pi to Bonanova and St. Augusti should be better divided into different areas.
Porto Pi was once the port of Palma and was founded by the Romans. In the surrounding waters one found a ship wreck from that time and the lighthouse of Porto Pi is one of the oldest in Spain which are still operational today. At that time there was also a twin tower on the other side of the port, and you could connect them with a chain that was pulled over the port at night to ensure the safety of the anchoring ships. Until the early twentieth century, Porto Pi was also used in a completely different way: Around the bay there were a number of houses in which holidaymakers from Palma were accommodated.
Afterwards, in the 20's, the area became an economic region: Joan March founded a fertiliser factory there which contaminated the place quite a lot and made it unusable as a refuge for holidaymakers from Palma de Mallorca. After that this area became a military base, where the adjacent houses were finally demolished and replaced by the ship hangars that can still be seen there today.
Economical use
The construction of the pier and the Paseo Maritimo in the fifties in connection with the above mentioned facts has then completely and finally changed the landscape of the region. Some of it remained used for industrial purposes. For example, in the seventies there were the fuel tanks of the energy supplier Gesa until they were removed after years for safety reasons because they were too close to the Marivent. The Son Vent buildings were also built at that time.
When Pilar and Joan Miró settled in the Son Boter area in 1940, the beach of Cala Major was still virgin, there were only the Prince Alfonso and Marivent hotels, which was then also known as Casa Saridakis. At that time, however, the area was redefined from rural to urban, and in the two decades that followed, the blocks of flats and hotel buildings of considerable height grew quite chaotically, thanks to mass tourism. The view of the beach from Joan Miró Street had become a thing of the past. Entertainment facilities flourished as a large number of American Marines came from the aircraft carriers anchored in the bay and had fun there.
These hotels were combined with chalets and houses. Fifty years later, some of them were converted into "Pullman Apartments", while others, like the old Hotel Ferrari, tried to modernise. Trapped by the real estate crisis, however, much is still open and one waits for better times. Only a few of these hotels were more fortunate and were able to make a name for themselves and assert themselves on the market to this day.
Real estate and housing situation
There are currently 3,227 households in the district (as of 2013), almost half of which (1,756) have only one person living. When considering the housing situation in the Cala Major district, it should be noted that there are properties of great public interest in this area, such as the Palacio de Marivent, designed in 1924 by the architect Guillem Forteza, or the complex of buildings of the Pilar i Joan Miro Foundation, which currently also houses the studio of painter Josep Lluís Sert. In addition to other architectural highlights such as "La Estrella" or the traditional Finca Son Boter, there are also tiny houses or villas and still the residential blocks with apartments.
Population
In 2013, a total of 5,918 people will live in Cala Major, which corresponds to a relatively low population density for Mallorca, namely only 49.9 inhabitants per hectare of land.
Interestingly, "there are 663 inhabitants between 0-I5 years of age, although there are no public or secondary schools in this region. Then quite completely fell foreigners give ;-), a total of 2,726, of which 1,805 come from countries of the European Union, 554 are Latin Americans, 180 are African Americans and only 72 are Asians.
Economic power
In 2010, there were 161 resident companies, of which 46 were gastronomic properties such as bars and restaurants, 8 were production plants and 25 were various other shops.