| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
| Capital | Palma de Mallorca | ||
| Official languages | Catalan and Castilian | ||
| Area
- % of Spain |
Ranked 17th
1,0% | ||
| Population
- Density |
Ranked 14th
183,69/km² | ||
| Demonym
- Spanish |
| ||
| Statute of Autonomy | March 1, 1983Events January January 1 Beat Raaflaub became Basel Boys Choir's new conductor January 1 the ARPANET officially changes to use the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet. January 1 compulsory wearing of seat belts becomes law in the UK. January 2 The mu | ||
| ISO 3166-2ISO 3166-2 is the second part of the ISO 3166 standard. It is a geocode system created for coding the names of subdivisions of countries ( subnational entities) and dependent areas. The purpose of the standard is to establish a worldwide series of short a | IB | ||
|
Parliamentary representation Congress seats Senate seatsThe Spanish Senate (Spanish: Senado is the upper house of the Cortes, Spain's legislative branch. It has 259 members: 208 are directly elected by popular vote and the other 51 are appointed by the regional legislatures. All senators serve four-year terms. |
| ||
| President | Jaume Matas Palou ( PPIB ) | ||
| Govern de les Illes Balears | |||
The Balearic Islands (Illes Balears Catalan official name, Islas Baleares in Spanish) are an archipelagoAn archipelago is a landform which consists of a chain or cluster of islands. Archipelagoes usually occur in the open sea; less commonly a large land mass may neighbour them. Archipelagos are often volcanic, forming along ocean ridges or hot spots, but th in the western Mediterranean SeaThe Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea positioned between Europe to the north, Africa to the south and Asia to the east, covering an approximate area of 2. 5 million km². The term Mediterranean derives from the Latin mediterraneus 'inland' mediu, forming an autonomous community of Spain. The capital of the autonomous community is Palma de Mallorca. The autonomous community consists of one province.
The official languages are Catalan and Spanish. The Catalan name Illes Balears is used by the Spanish government.
The main islands are Majorca (Mallorca), Minorca (Menorca), Ibiza (Eivissa), and Formentera, all popular tourist destinations.
Minor islands include Cabrera, the location of the Parque Nacional del Archipiélago de Cabrera.
Strictly speaking, Majorca and Minorca are the Balearic Islands proper, with Ibiza and Formentera being the Illes Pitiüses; but both groups are usually referred to as the Balearic Islands.
Historically they have been invaded by the Romans, the Vandals, the Byzantines, the Arabs, and the Catalan-Aragonese. The Catalan-Aragonese initially ruled the Balearics as the vassal Kingdom of Mallorca, later incorporating it directly into the Aragonese kingdom in 1344; that kingdom was later absorbed into Spain.
Minorca was a British dependency in the 18th century.