Balearic Islands
52706
224502996
2008-07-09T03:41:43Z
Kman543210
6844949
English spellings
{{Autonomous community
|name = the Balearic Island
|full-name = {{lang|ca|''Illes Balears''}}</br>Balearic Islands
|flag = Flag of the Balearic Islands.svg
|coat-of-arms = Escudo de las Islas Baleares.svg
|map = Localització de les Illes Balears.png
|capital = [[Palma de Mallorca|Palma]]
|language = [[Spanish language|Spanish]] and [[Catalan language|Catalan]]
|area = 4,992
|area-rank = 17th
|area-magnitude = E9
|area-percent = 1.0%
|pop = 1,001,062
|pop-rank = 14th
|pop-percent = 2.2%
|pop-date = 2006
|density = 196.94
|english-name = Balearic
|spanish-name = {{lang|es|''balear''}}
|local-lang = [[Catalan language|Catalan]]
|local-name = {{lang|ca|''balear''}}
|autonomy = [[March 1]], [[2007]]
|congress = 8
|senate = 6 (5 elected and 1 appointed)
|president = [[Francesc Antich Oliver]] ([[Spanish Socialist Workers' Party|PSIB-PSOE]])
|president-link = List of Presidents of Balearic Islands
|code = IB
|website = [http://www.caib.es/root/index.jsp Govern de les Illes Balears]
}}
The '''Balearic Islands''' ([[Catalan language|Catalan]] and official:<ref>[http://www.boe.es/g/es/bases_datos/doc.php?coleccion=iberlex&id=1986/19091&codmap= Ley 3/1986, de 19 de abril, de normalización linguística.] [http://www.boe.es/g/es/bases_datos/doc.php?coleccion=iberlex&id=1997/09019 Ley 13/1997, de 25 de abril, por la que pasa a denominarse oficialmente Illes Balears la Provincia de Baleares.] [http://www.boe.es/g/es/bases_datos/doc.php?coleccion=iberlex&id=2007/4233&codmap= Ley Orgánica 1/2007, de 28 de febrero, de reforma del Estatuto de Autonomía de las Illes Balears.]</ref> ''Illes Balears''; [[Spanish language|Spanish]]: ''Islas Baleares'') are an [[archipelago]] in the western [[Mediterranean Sea]], near the eastern coast of the [[Iberian Peninsula]]. They form an [[Autonomous communities of Spain|autonomous community]] and a [[Provinces of Spain|province]] of [[Spain]], of which the capital city is [[Palma de Mallorca|Palma]]. The co-official languages in the Balearic Islands are [[Spanish Language|Spanish]] and [[Catalan Language|Catalan]] (i.e. mallorquí, menorquí and eivissenc, as Catalan is known by its speakers in this territory).
==Etymology==
The Balearic islands {{IPA|/ˈbeɪ̯lɪˌæɹɪk ˈaɪ̯ləndz/}} have many names, in many languages. ({{lang-ca|"'''Illes Balears'''"}} {{IPA|/ˈiʎəz bəɫeˈaː(r)s/}}, {{lang-es|"'''Islas Baleares'''"}}, {{IPA|/ˈis·las·ba·leˈaː·res/}}, [[Greek language|Greek]]: ''Gymnesiae'' – ''{{polytonic|Γυμνησίαι}}'', Balliareis - ''{{polytonic|Βαλλιαρεῖς}}'', [[Diodorus|Diod.]] v. 17, Eustath. ad Dion. 457; Baliareis - ''{{polytonic|Βαλιαρεῖς}}'', Baliarides - ''{{polytonic|Βαλιαρίδες}}'', [[Stephanus of Byzantium|Steph. B.]]; Balearides - ''{{polytonic|Βαλεαρίδες}}'', [[Strabo]]; Balliarides - ''{{polytonic|Βαλλιαρίδες}}'', [[Ptolemy|Ptol.]] ii. 6. § 78; Baleariae - ''{{polytonic|Βαλεαρίαι}}'', Agathem., {{lang-la|Baleares}})
There are various theories on the origins of the two ancient Greek and Latin names for the islands – Gymnasiae and Baleares. Two survive in classical sources.
According to one account, the islands were called Gymnesiae (''gymnos'' - γυμνός means [[Nudity|naked]] in Greek) because its inhabitants were often nude{{Fact|date=April 2007}}, probably because of the year-long benevolent climate.
The Greek and Roman writers generally derive the name of the people from their skill as slingers (baleareis, {{polytonic|βαλεαρεῖς}}, from ballo, {{polytonic|βάλλω}}), although [[Strabo]] considered the name to be of Phoenician origin. He observed that it was the Phoenician equivalent for the Greek word for lightly-armoured soldiers ({{polytonic|γυμνῆτας}}) (gymnetas) <ref name="Strabo">Strab. xiv. p. 654; Plin. l. c "<cite>The Rhodians, like the Baleares, were celebrated slingers"</cite><br/>Sil. Ital. iii. 364, 365: "<cite>Jam cui Tlepolemus sator, et cui Lindus origo, Funda bella ferens Balearis et alite plumbo.</cite>"</ref>
The root ''bal'' does point to a Phoenician origin; perhaps the islands were sacred to the god [[Baal]]; and the accidental resemblance to the Greek root ''ΒΑΛ'' (in {{polytonic|βάλλω}} - ballo), coupled with the occupation of the people, would be quite a sufficient foundation for the usual Greek practice of assimilating the name to their own language. That it was not, however, Greek at first, may be inferred with great probability from the fact that the common Greek name of the islands is not {{polytonic|Βαλεαρεῖς}} (Baleareis), but {{polytonic|Γυμνησίαι}} (Gymnesiai), the former being the name used by the natives, as well as by the Carthaginians and Romans. (Plin.; Agathem.; Dion Cass. ap. Tzetz. ad Lycophr. 533; Eustath.) The latter name, of which two fancied etymologies have been already referred to, is probably derived from the light equipment of the Balearic troops ({{polytonic|γυμνῆται}}- gymnetae).<ref name="Strabo"/>
==History of the archipelago==
===Ancient history===
There is little history on the earliest inhabitants of the islands, though many legends exist. The story, preserved by [[Lycophron]], that certain shipwrecked [[Boeotia]]ns were cast nude on the islands, was evidently invented to account for the name Gymnesiae. There is also a tradition that the islands were colonized from [[Rhodes]] after the [[Trojan war]].<ref name="Strabo" />
The islands had a very mixed population, of whose habits several strange stories are told. In some stories, it is said that the people went naked or were clothed only in sheep-skins — whence the name of the islands (an instance of [[folk etymology]]) — until the [[Phoenicians]] clothed them with broad-bordered tunics. In other stories they were naked only in the heat of summer.
Other legends hold that the inhabitants lived in hollow rocks and artificial caves, that they were remarkable for their love of women 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. Their marriage and funeral customs, peculiar to Roman observers, are related by Diodorus (v. 18).
[[Image:Baleares-rotulado.png|right|thumb|450px|Map of the Balearic Islands]]
In ancient times, the islanders of the Gymnesian Islands constructed [[talayot]]s, and were famous for their skill with the [[sling (weapon)|sling]]. As slingers they served, as mercenaries, first under the [[Carthaginians]], and afterwards under the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]]. They went into battle ungirt, with only a small buckler, and a javelin burnt at the end, and in some cases tipped with a small iron point; but their effective weapons were their slings, of which each man carried three, wound round his head (Strabo p. 168; Eustath.), or, as others tell us, one round the head, one round the body, and one in the hand. (Diodorus) The three slings were of different lengths, for stones of different sizes; the largest they hurled with as much force as if it were flung from a catapult; and they seldom missed their mark. To this exercise they were trained from infancy, in order to earn their livelihood as mercenary soldiers. It is said that the mothers only allowed their children to eat bread when they had struck it off a post with the sling. (Strabo; Diod.; Flor. iii. 8; Tzetz. ad Lycophr.)
The Phoenicians took possession of the islands in very early times (Strabo iii. pp. 167, 168); a remarkable trace of their colonization is preserved in the town of Mago ([[Mahon]] in [[Minorca]]). After the fall of [[Carthage]], the islands seem to have been virtually independent. Notwithstanding their celebrity in war, the people were generally very quiet and inoffensive. (Strabo; but Florus gives them a worse character, iii. 8.) The Romans, however, easily found a pretext for charging them with complicity with the Mediterranean pirates, and they were conquered by [[Quintus Caecilius Metellus Balearicus|Q. Caecilius Metellus]], thence surnamed Balearicus, in 123 BC. ([[Livy]] ''Epit. Ix.''; Freinsh. Supp. lx. 37; Florus, Strabo ''ll. cc.'') [[Metellus]] settled 3,000 Roman and Spanish colonists on the larger island, and founded the cities of [[Palma de Mallorca|Palma]] and [[Pollenza|Pollentia]]. (Strabo, [[Mela]], [[Pliny the Elder]]) The islands belonged, under the [[Roman Empire]], to the conventus of [[Carthago Nova]] (modern Cartagena), in the [[Roman province|province]] of [[Hispania Tarraconensis]], of which province they formed, the fourth district, under the government of a praefectus pro legato. An inscription of the time of [[Nero]] mentions the PRAEF. PRAE LEGATO INSULAR. BALIARUM. (Orelli, No. 732, who, with Muratori, reads ''pro'' for ''prae.'') They were afterwards made a separate province, probably in the division of the empire under [[Constantine I|Constantine]]. ([[Notitia Dignitatum]] Occid. c. xx. vol. ii. p. 466, Böcking.)
The two largest islands (the Balearic Islands, in their historical sense) had numerous excellent harbours, though rocky at their mouth, and requiring care in entering them (Strabo, Eustath.; Port Mahon is one of the finest harbours in the world). Both were extremely fertile in all produce, except wine and olive oil. (Aristot. de Mir. Ausc. 89; Diodorus, but Pliny praises their wine as well as their corn, xiv. 6. s. 8, xviii. 7. s. 12: the two writers are speaking, in fact, of different periods.) They were celebrated for their cattle, especially for the mules of the lesser island; they had an immense number of rabbits, and were free from all venomous reptiles. (Strabo, Mela; Pliny l. c., viii. 58. s. 83, xxxv. 19. s. 59; Varro, R. R. iii. 12; Aelian, H. A. xiii. 15; Solin. 26.) Among the snails valued by the Romans as a diet, was a species from the Balearic isles, called cavaticae, from their being bred in caves. (Pliny xxx. 6. s. 15.) Their chief mineral product was the red earth, called sinope, which was used by painters. (Pliny xxxv. 6. s. 13; Vitruv. vii. 7.) Their resin and pitch are mentioned by Dioscorides (Materia Medica i. 92). The population of the two islands is stated by Diodorus at 30,000.
The part of the [[Mediterranean]] east of Spain, around the Balearic Isles, was called "Mare Balearicum" ({{polytonic|τὸ Βαλλεαρικὸν πέλαγος}}, Ptol. ii 4. § 3), or "Sinus Balearicus". (Flor. iii. 6. § 9.)
===Post Roman Empire and Aragonese conquest===
In the chaos surrounding the fall of the Roman Empire, the islands were conquered by the [[Vandals]]. They were subsequently reconquered by the [[Byzantine Empire]], but soon fell to the [[Moors]] after the [[Moorish conquest of Iberia|their conquest of Iberia]].
Between 1113 and 1115, a [[Tuscany|Tuscan]] and [[Lombardy|Lombard]] fleet, led by [[Ugo da Parlascio Ebriaco]] and [[Archbishop of Pisa|Archbishop]] [[Pietro Moriconi]] of the [[Republic of Pisa]], made a successful expedition against the Balearic Islands. The expedition was launched with the support of [[Constantine I of Logudoro]] and his base of [[Porto Torres]].
In the 13th century, king [[James I of Aragon]] conquered the islands which led to subsequent founding of the [[Kingdom of Majorca]], but in 1344 it ceased to exist and it was directly incorporated into the [[Crown of Aragon]], which was later united dynastically with [[Crown of Castile|Castile]] as a result of the marriage of [[Isabella of Castile]] and [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]] to become part of the newborn [[Spain]].
The Balearic Islands were frequently attacked by [[Barbary pirates]] from North Africa, the [[Formentera]] was even temporarily left by its population. In 1514, 1515 and 1521 coasts of the Balearic Islands and the Spanish mainland were raided by [[Turkish people|Turkish]] [[privateer]] and [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] admiral [[Hayreddin Barbarossa]].
The island of [[Minorca]] was a [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] [[Dependent area|dependency]] most of the 18th century as a result of the [[Treaty of Utrecht]], when Spain ceded [[Gibraltar]] and Minorca to Great Britain after being captured during the [[War of the Spanish Succession]]. It was finally and permanently ceded to [[Spain]] by the [[Treaty of Amiens]] in 1802 during the [[French Revolutionary Wars]].
==Geography, politics and culture==
[[Image:serraTramuntana2.jpg|thumb|250px|left|View of the [[Serra de Tramuntana]] mountain range, Majorca]]
The '''Balearic Islands''' are one of the [[Catalan language|Catalan]]-speaking territories designated by the cultural term of [[Catalan Countries]]. [[Majorca]] and [[Minorca]] are the Balearic Islands proper, while the other islands are included in the appellation as part of the [[Autonomous Communities of Spain|Autonomous Community of the Balearic Islands]]. The main islands of the autonomous community are [[Majorca]] (''Mallorca'' in Catalan), [[Minorca]] (''Menorca''), [[Eivissa]] (''Eivissa''), and [[Formentera]], all of which are popular tourist destinations. Among the minor islands is [[Cabrera, Balearic Islands|Cabrera]], which is the location of the [[Parc Nacional de l'Arxipèlag de Cabrera]]. The islands can be further grouped, with Majorca, Minorca, and Cabrera as the [[Gymnesian Islands]], and Eivissa and Formentera as the [[Pine Islands]].
{{Expand-section|date=June 2008}}
==Trivia==
*In 1935, the islands served as a transit stop for [[Air France]] [[Lioré et Olivier LeO H.242]] flying boat heading to [[Algiers]] from [[Marseilles]].
*[[Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears|Illes Balears]] sponsors a professional [[Bicycle racing|cycling]] team in the [[Union Cycliste Internationale|UCI]] [[UCI ProTour|ProTour]].
*In 2007, the Islands became the first jurisdiction in the world to grant legal personhood to [[great apes]]<ref>[http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_rose/20070802.html CBC News: Analysis & Viewpoint: Thomas Rose<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>.
==References==
{{reflist}}
*{{SmithDGRG}}
==See also==
* [[Balearic cuisine]]
* [[List of municipalities in the Balearic Islands]]
* [[Gymnesian Islands]]
* [[Pine Islands]]
* [[Majorca]]
* [[Minorca]]
* [[Ibiza]]
* [[Isla de S'Espalmador]]
* [[Formentera]]
* [[Battle of Mallorca]]
==External links==
{{commonscat|Balearic Islands}}
*[http://www.caib.es/root/index.do?lang=en Government of the Balearic Islands]
*[http://www.in2menorca.com www.in2menorca.com - guide for independent travellers]
*[http://www.illesbalears.es Illes Balears - Official travel website for the Balearic Islands]
*[http://www.balearweb.com BalearesWeb - Website directory for the Balearic Islands]
*[http://www.balearestravelnet.com Baleares Travel Net - Travel website directory in the Balearics]
*[http://www.spain.info/TourSpain/Destinos/CCAA/Datos+Generales/D/0/Geografia.htm?language=en SpainInfo - Touristic information of the Balearic Islands]
*[http://www.balearic-island.com Balearic Islands Tourist Information]
*[http://www.ibizamaps.net Eivissa Map - Maps of the Balearic Island of Eivissa]
*[http://www.emenorca.org/home_en.jsp?file=6&idi=en Minorcan history at the Consell Insular de Menorca's web page]
* [http://www.mca-hotels.com/holidays-guide-mallorca/9/mallorca-resorts/ Travel guide to the Balearic Islands]
* [http://www.balearictransfers.com Resorts transfers from Airport]
{{Catalan-speaking World}}
{{Administrative divisions of Spain}}
{{Provinces of Spain}}
{{Late Roman Provinces|state=collapsed}}
{{coor title dm|39|30|N|3|00|E|region:ES_type:isle}}
[[Category:Autonomous communities of Spain]]
[[Category:Islands of Spain]]
[[Category:Balearic Islands|*]]
[[Category:NUTS 2 statistical regions of the European Union]]
[[ar:منطقة جزر البليار ذاتية الحكم]]
[[an:Islas Balears]]
[[frp:Iles Balèares]]
[[ast:Islles Baleares]]
[[zh-min-nan:Balear Kûn-tó]]
[[bs:Balearska ostrva]]
[[bg:Балеарски острови]]
[[ca:Illes Balears]]
[[ceb:Islas Baleares]]
[[cs:Baleáry]]
[[cy:Ynysoedd Balearig]]
[[da:Baleariske Øer]]
[[de:Balearische Inseln]]
[[et:Baleaarid]]
[[el:Βαλεαρίδες Νήσοι]]
[[es:Islas Baleares]]
[[eo:Balearoj]]
[[eu:Balear Uharteak]]
[[fa:جزایر بالئارس]]
[[fr:Îles Baléares]]
[[fy:Balearen]]
[[ga:Na hOileáin Bhailéaracha]]
[[gv:Ny h-Ellanyn Balearagh]]
[[gl:Illas Baleares - Illes Balears]]
[[ko:발레아레스 제도]]
[[hr:Baleari]]
[[io:Baleari]]
[[id:Kepulauan Balears]]
[[it:Isole Baleari]]
[[he:האיים הבלאריים]]
[[jv:Kapuloan Baleares]]
[[pam:Balearic Islands]]
[[ka:ბალეარის კუნძულები]]
[[kw:Ynysow Balearek]]
[[lad:Baleares]]
[[la:Insulae Baleares]]
[[lb:Balearesch Inselen]]
[[lt:Balearų salos]]
[[lij:Isoe Baleari]]
[[hu:Baleár-szigetek]]
[[ms:Kepulauan Baleares]]
[[nah:Baleares Tlātlālhuāctli]]
[[nl:Balearen]]
[[ja:バレアレス諸島]]
[[no:Balearene]]
[[nn:Balearane]]
[[oc:Illas Balearas]]
[[pms:Ìsole Balear]]
[[nds:Balearen]]
[[pl:Baleary]]
[[pt:Baleares]]
[[ro:Insulele Baleare]]
[[ru:Балеарские острова]]
[[scn:Ìsuli Baliari]]
[[simple:Balearic Islands]]
[[sk:Baleáry]]
[[sl:Balearski otoki]]
[[sr:Балеарска острва]]
[[fi:Baleaarit]]
[[sv:Balearerna]]
[[tl:Baleares]]
[[th:หมู่เกาะแบลีแอริก]]
[[vi:Quần đảo Balears]]
[[tr:Balear Adaları]]
[[uk:Балеарські острови]]
[[vec:Bałeari]]
[[zh:巴利阿里群島]]