The origins of nationalism in the Balearic Islands are rooted in the 19th century with the Renaixença, a cultural revival movement born under the influence of English and German Romanticism. One of its leading intellectuals was the bell-maker Miquel dels Sants Oliver. In *La cuestión regional* (1899), he proposed a federalism based on historical regions, in which Mallorca would fit within the Catalan nationality. This hope was dashed by the military uprising of 1936. Throughout almost 40 years of dictatorship, linguistic advocacy became an important tool in the anti-Franco struggle. In 1962, some thirty dissidents, led by the philologist Francesc de Borja Moll, founded the Obra Cultural Balear (OCB), which revived the spirit of the Association for the Culture of Mallorca (1923-1936). In 1967, the politician from Artà, Josep Melià Pericàs, published the influential book The MallorcansIn it, he urged the people to "remedy the defeat we are experiencing today as a nation," alluding to the defeat of the Revolt of the Brotherhoods (1521-1523). That was the largest popular uprising ever seen on the island known as the island of calm. Thousands of islanders died for rebelling against the corrupt and privileged caste of Charles I's administration. In 1715, the defeat would worsen with the Castilianization imposed by the Nueva Planta decrees.