Minorca

Minorca (traditional English spelling) or Menorca (/mɪˈnɔːrkə/; Catalan: Menorca [məˈnɔrkə]; Spanish: Menorca [meˈnorka]; from Latin: Insula Minor, later Minorica "smaller island") is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. Its name derives from its size, contrasting it with nearby Majorca.

Minorca has a population of approximately 94,383 (2010). It is located 39°47' to 40°00'N, 3°52' to 4°24'E. Its highest point, called El Toro or Monte Toro, is 358 metres (1,175 feet) above sea level.

History

The island is known for its collection of megalithic stone monuments: navetes, taules and talaiots, which speak of a very early prehistoric human activity. Some of the earliest culture on Minorca was influenced by other Mediterranean cultures, including the Greek Minoans of ancient Crete (see also Gymnesian Islands). For example, the use of inverted plastered timber columns at Knossos is thought to have influenced early peoples of Minorca in imitating this practice.

Minorca (1799 ship)

Minorca was merchant ship launched in 1799 at Newcastle upon Tyne, England. She made one voyage in 1801 transporting convicts to New South Wales. For her return voyage to Britain she was under contract to the British East India Company.

Under the command of John Leith, she sailed from Spithead, England on 21 June 1801 in convoy with Canada and Nile, and reached Rio de Janeiro on 29 August. All three vessels arrived at Port Jackson on 14 December 1801. The next day Minorca was at Sydney Cove. Minorca had left with 104 male convicts, of whom five male convicts during the voyage.

Minorca left Port Jackson on 6 February 1802 bound for China. By 28 April 1802 Minorca was at Whampoa.

For her homeward voyage she reached Macao on 26 May, Amboina on 5 August, the Cape on 2 November, and St Helena on 2 November. She arrived at the Downs on 10 February 1803.

The Napoleonic Wars broke out in March and Leith received a letter of marque on 22 April 1803, i.e.,dated after he had left Britain. In 1803 her owners sold Minorca to Reeve & Co. for service as a West Indiaman.

Minorca chicken

The Minorca, Catalan: Gallina de Menorca, Spanish: Menorquina, is a breed of domestic chicken originating in the Mediterranean island of Minorca, in the Balearic Islands to the south-east of Spain. It is a well-known exhibition bird in many countries of the world, but in the island of Minorca is an endangered breed and considered to be at risk of extinction.

History

The international type of Minorca was created by the British from indigenous Minorcan birds. This process began during the British occupation of the island from 1708 to 1783, but It is not clear if it took place there or in Britain. It is likely that it began in Minorca and continued in Britain, where imports of chickens from Minorca in the 1780s are documented. By about 100 years later, the breed (which was considered a variety of the "Spanish") was common and long-established in Devon and Cornwall, in the south-west of England, where it was highly regarded as an egg-laying breed. It had been exhibited in Paris, under the name "Barbezieux", and was widespread in the world. It reached Germany in the late 1870s, and was added to the Standard of Perfection of the American Poultry Association in 1888.