![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/11\/Balearic-Islands-within-Spain.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Its four largest islands are Mallorca<\/a>, Menorca<\/a>, Ibiza<\/a>, and Formentera<\/a>. Many of its minor islands and islets are close to the larger islands, including Cabrera<\/a>, Dragonera<\/a>, and S’Espalmador<\/a>. The islands have a Mediterranean climate, and the four major islands are all popular tourist destinations. Ibiza, in particular, is known as an international party destination, attracting many of the world’s most popular DJs to its nightclubs. The islands’ culture and cuisine are similar to those of the rest of Spain but have their own distinctive features.<\/p>\n The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital is Palma de Mallorca<\/a>. The 2007 Statute of Autonomy designates the Balearic Islands as one of the nationalities of Spain. The official languages of the Balearic Islands are Catalan and Spanish.<\/p>\n Little is recorded on the earliest inhabitants of the islands, though many legends exist. The story, preserved by Lycophron<\/a>, that certain shipwrecked Greek Boeotians<\/a> were cast nude on the islands, was evidently invented to account for the name Gymnesiae. In addition, Diodorus Siculus<\/a> writes that the Greeks called the islands Gymnesiae because the inhabitants were naked during the summer time. Also, a tradition holds that the islands were colonized by Rhodes<\/a> after the Trojan War<\/a>.<\/p>\n Other legends allow that the inhabitants lived in hollow rocks and artificial caves, that they were remarkable for their love of women and would give three or four men as the ransom for one woman, that they had no gold or silver coin, and forbade the importation of the precious metals, so that those of them who served as mercenaries took their pay in wine and women instead of money.<\/p>\n The Phoenicians took possession of the islands in very early times; a remarkable trace of their colonization is preserved in the town of Mago<\/a> (Ma\u00f3 in Menorca). After the fall of Carthage<\/a> in 146 BC, the islands seem to have been virtually independent. Notwithstanding their celebrity in war, the people were generally very quiet and inoffensive. The Romans, however, easily found a pretext for charging them with complicity with the Mediterranean pirates, and they were conquered by Q. Caecilius Metellus<\/a>, thence surnamed Balearicus, in 123 BC. Metellus settled 3,000 Roman and Spanish colonists on the larger island, and founded the cities of Palma and Pollentia<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Vandals under Genseric<\/a> conquered the Islands sometime between 461 and 468 during their war on the Roman Empire. However, in late 533 or early 534, following the Battle of Ad Decimum<\/a>, the troops of Belisarius<\/a> reestablished control of the islands for the Romans.<\/p>\n Imperial power receded precipitately in the western Mediterranean after the fall of Carthage and the Exarchate of Africa<\/a> to the Umayyad Caliphate<\/a> in 698, and in 707 the islands submitted to the terms of an Umayyad fleet, which allowed the residents to maintain their traditions and religion as well as a high degree of autonomy. Now nominally both Byzantine and Umayyad, the de facto independent islands occupied a strategic and profitable grey area between the competing religions and kingdoms of the western Mediterranean. The prosperous islands were thoroughly sacked by the Swedish Viking King Bj\u00f6rn Ironside<\/a> and his brother Hastein<\/a> during their Mediterranean raid of 859\u2013862.<\/p>\n In 902, the heavy use of the islands as a pirate base provoked the Emirate of C\u00f3rdoba<\/a>, nominally the island’s overlords, to invade and incorporate the islands into their state. However, the Cordoban emirate disintegrated in civil war and partition in the early eleventh century, breaking into smaller states called taifa<\/a>. Mujahid al-Siqlabi<\/a>, the ruler of the Taifa of D\u00e9nia<\/a>, sent a fleet and seized control of the islands in 1015, using it as the base for subsequent expeditions to Sardinia<\/a> and Pisa<\/a>. In 1050, the island’s governor Abd Allah ibn Aglab rebelled and established the independent Taifa of Mallorca.<\/a><\/p>\n For centuries, the Balearic sailors and pirates had been masters of the western Mediterranean. But the expanding influence of the Italian maritime republics and the shift of power on the Iberian peninsula from the Muslim states to the Christian states left the islands vulnerable. A crusade was launched in 1113. Led by Ugo da Parlascio Ebriaco<\/a> and Archbishop Pietro Moriconi<\/a> of the Republic of Pisa<\/a>, the expedition included 420 ships, a large army and a personal envoy from Pope Paschal II.<\/p>\n The crusade sacked Palma in 1115 and generally reduced the islands, ending its period as a great sea power, but then withdrew. Within a year, the now shattered islands were conquered by the Berber<\/a> Almoravid dynasty<\/a>, whose aggressive, militant approach to religion mirrored that of the crusaders and departed from the island’s history as a tolerant haven under Cordoba and the taifa. The Almoravids were conquered and deposed in North Africa and on the Iberian Peninsula by the rival Almohad Dynasty of Marrakech<\/a> in 1147.<\/p>\n Muhammad ibn Ganiya<\/a>, the Almoravid claimant, fled to Palma and established his capital there. His dynasty, the Banu Ghaniya, sought allies in their effort to recover their kingdom from the Almohads, leading them to grant Genoa and Pisa their first commercial concessions on the islands. In 1184, an expedition was sent to recapture Ifriqiya<\/a> (the coastal areas of what is today Tunisia, eastern Algeria, and western Libya) but ended in defeat. Fearing reprisals, the inhabitants of the Balearics rebelled against the Almoravids and accepted Almohad suzerainty in 1187.<\/p>\n On the last day of 1229, King James I of Aragon<\/a> captured Palma after a three-month siege. The rest of Mallorca quickly followed. Menorca fell in 1232 and Ibiza in 1235. In 1236, James traded most of the islands to Peter I, Count of Urgell<\/a> for Urgell, which he incorporated into his kingdom. Peter ruled from Palma, but after his death without issue in 1258, the islands reverted by the terms of the deal to the Crown of Aragon<\/a>.<\/p>\n James died in 1276, having partitioned his domains between his sons in his will. The will created a new Kingdom of Mallorca<\/a> from the Balearic islands and the mainland counties of Roussillon<\/a> or Montpellier<\/a>, which was left to his son James II<\/a>. However, the terms of the will specified that the new kingdom be a vassal state to the Crown of Aragon, which was left to his older brother Peter<\/a>. Chafing under the vassalage, James joined forces with the Pope Martin IV<\/a> and Philip III of France<\/a> against his brother in the Aragonese Crusade<\/a>, leading to a 10-year Aragonese occupation before the islands were restored in the 1295 Treaty of Anagni<\/a>. The tension between the kingdoms continued through the generations until James’ grandson James III<\/a> was killed by the invading army of Peter’s grandson Peter IV<\/a> at the 1349 Battle of Llucmajor<\/a>. The Balearic Islands were then incorporated directly into the Crown of Aragon.<\/p>\n In 1469, Ferdinand II of Aragon<\/a> (king of Aragon) and Isabella I of Castile<\/a> (queen of Castile) were married. After their deaths, their respective territories (until then governed separately) were governed jointly, in the person of their grandson, the Emperor Charles V<\/a>. This can be considered the foundation of the modern Spanish state, albeit a decentralized one wherein the various component territories within the united crowns retained their particular historic laws and privileges.<\/p>\n The Balearic Islands were frequently attacked by Ottomans<\/a> and Barbary pirates<\/a> from North Africa; Formentera was even temporarily abandoned by its population. In 1514, 1515 and 1521, the coasts of the Balearic Islands and the Spanish mainland were raided by Turkish privateers under the command of the Ottoman admiral, Hayreddin Barbarossa.<\/a><\/p>\n The island of Menorca was a British dependency for most of the 18th century as a result of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht<\/a>. This treaty\u2014signed by the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Portugal as well as the Kingdom of Spain, to end the conflict caused by the War of the Spanish Succession<\/a>\u2014gave Gibraltar<\/a> and Menorca to the Kingdom of Great Britain, Sardinia to Austria<\/a> (both territories had been part of the Crown of Aragon for more than four centuries), and Sicily<\/a> to the House of Savoy<\/a>. In addition, Flanders<\/a> and other European territories of the Spanish Crown were given to Austria. The island fell to French forces, under Armand de Vignerot du Plessis<\/a> in June 1756 and was occupied by them for the duration of the Seven Years’ War.<\/a><\/p>\n The British re-occupied the island after the war but, with their military forces diverted away by the American War of Independence<\/a>, it fell to a Franco-Spanish force after a seven-month siege<\/a> (1781\u201382). Spain retained it under the Treaty of Paris in 1783<\/a>. However, during the French Revolutionary Wars<\/a>, when Spain became an ally of France, it came under French rule.<\/p>\n Menorca was finally returned to Spain by the Treaty of Amiens<\/a> during the French Revolutionary Wars, following the last British occupation<\/a>, which lasted from 1798 to 1802. The continued presence of British naval forces, however, meant that the Balearic Islands were never occupied by the French during the Napoleonic Wars.<\/p>\n The main islands of the autonomous community are Majorca (Mallorca), Menorca\/Minorca (Menorca), Ibiza (Eivissa\/Ibiza), and Formentera, all popular tourist destinations. Amongst the minor islands is Cabrera, the location of the Cabrera Archipelago Maritime-Terrestrial National Park.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The islands can be further grouped, with Majorca, Menorca, and Cabrera as the Gymnesian Islands<\/a>, and Ibiza and Formentera as the Pityusic Islands<\/a>, also referred to as the Pityuses (or sometimes informally in English as the Pine Islands). Many minor islands or islets are close to the biggest islands, such as Es Conills, Es Vedr\u00e0, Sa Conillera, Dragonera, S’Espalmador, S’Espardell, Ses Bledes, Santa Eul\u00e0ria, Plana, Foradada, Tagomago, Na Redona, Colom, L’Aire, etc.<\/p>\n The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the autonomous community was 32.5 billion euros in 2018, accounting for 2.7% of Spanish economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 29,700 euros or 98% of the EU27 average in the same year.<\/p>\n Tourism is the major driver of the economy.<\/p>\n There are approximately 79 ferries between Mallorca and other destinations every week, most of them to mainland Spain.<\/p>\n There are three major airports in the islands: Menorca<\/a>, Mallorca<\/a>, and Ibiza<\/a>.<\/p>\n The flag of the Balearic Islands is the official flag of the Balearic Islands, an autonomous community of Spain located in the western Mediterranean Sea. The flag, which was adopted in the 1983 Statute of Autonomy, incorporates the design of the Senyera.<\/p>\n The flag of the Balearic Islands, made up of distinctive, historically legitimized symbols, will consist of four horizontal red bars over a yellow background, having an upper-left quarter with a purple background behind a centered white castle with five turrets. Each island will be allowed to have its own flag and distinctive symbols, by agreement of their respective councils.<\/p>\n The autonomous government does not precisely specify the colors of the flag, so that the tones of yellow, red and purple often vary, although the purple is habitually chosen to be dark. Similarly, the design of the castle is not defined, and so various designs have flourished with minor differences, such as the size of the castle with respect to the quarter, or the details of their masonry. Generally, the castle is represented with a wall above which the five towers are placed, of which the central tower is often the highest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The flag of the Balearic Islands, made up of distinctive, historically legitimized symbols, will consist of four horizontal red bars over a yellow background, having an upper-left quarter with a purple background behind a centered white castle with five turrets. Each island will be allowed to have its own flag and distinctive symbols, by agreement of their respective councils.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9510,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[59,26,5,6,7,29,87,60],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8790"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8790"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9511,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8790\/revisions\/9511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}History:<\/h2>\n
Ancient History:<\/h3>\n
<\/a>Medieval Period:<\/h3>\n
<\/a>The Crusade Against the Balearics:<\/h3>\n
<\/a>Reconquista:<\/h3>\n
<\/a>Modern Period:<\/h3>\n
<\/a>Geography:<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Economy:<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Transportation:<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Flag of the Balearic Islands:<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>