Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery; the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history: classical antiquity, the medieval period, the modern period. The medieval period is itself subdivided into the Early and Late Middle Ages. Population decline, counterurbanisation, collapse of centralized authority and mass migrations of tribes, which had begun in Late Antiquity, continued in the Early Middle Ages; the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the 7th century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, an Islamic empire, after conquest by Muhammad's successors. Although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete.
The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire, Rome's direct continuation, survived in the Eastern Mediterranean and remained a major power. The empire's law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or "Code of Justinian", was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became admired in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions. Monasteries were founded; the Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty established the Carolingian Empire during the 8th and early 9th century. It covered much of Western Europe but succumbed to the pressures of internal civil wars combined with external invasions: Vikings from the north, Magyars from the east, Saracens from the south. During the High Middle Ages, which began after 1000, the population of Europe increased as technological and agricultural innovations allowed trade to flourish and the Medieval Warm Period climate change allowed crop yields to increase. Manorialism, the organisation of peasants into villages that owed rent and labour services to the nobles, feudalism, the political structure whereby knights and lower-status nobles owed military service to their overlords in return for the right to rent from lands and manors, were two of the ways society was organised in the High Middle Ages.
The Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation-states, reducing crime and violence but making the ideal of a unified Christendom more distant. Intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, by the founding of universities; the theology of Thomas Aquinas, the paintings of Giotto, the poetry of Dante and Chaucer, the travels of Marco Polo, the Gothic architecture of cathedrals such as Chartres are among the outstanding achievements toward the end of this period and into the Late Middle Ages. The Late Middle Ages was marked by difficulties and calamities including famine and war, which diminished the population of Europe. Controversy and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the interstate conflict, civil strife, peasant revolts that occurred in the kingdoms. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages and beginning the early modern period.
The Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history: classical civilisation, or Antiquity. The "Middle Ages" first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or "middle season". In early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or "middle age", first recorded in 1604, media saecula, or "middle ages", first recorded in 1625; the alternative term "medieval" derives from medium aevum. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the "Six Ages" or the "Four Empires", considered their time to be the last before the end of the world; when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being "modern". In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua and to the Christian period as nova. Leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People, with a middle period "between the fall of the Roman Empire and the revival of city life sometime in late eleventh and twelfth centuries".
Tripartite periodisation became standard after the 17th-century German historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods: ancient and modern. The most given starting point for the Middle Ages is around 500, with the date of 476 first used by Bruni. Starting dates are sometimes used in the outer parts of Europe. For Europe as a whole, 1500 is considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. Depending on the context, events such as the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, Christopher Columbus's first voyage to the Americas in 1492, or the Protestant Reformation in 1517 are sometimes used. English historians use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period. For Spain, dates used are the death of King Ferdinand II in 1516, the death of Queen Isabella I of Castile in 1504, or the conquest of Granada in 1492. Historians from Romance-speaking countries tend to divide the Middle Ages into two parts: an earlier "High" and late
Autonomous communities of Spain
In Spain, an autonomous community is a first-level political and administrative division, created in accordance with the Spanish constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonomy of the nationalities and regions that make up Spain. Spain is not a federation, but a decentralized unitary state. While sovereignty is vested in the nation as a whole, represented in the central institutions of government, the nation has, in variable degrees, devolved power to the communities, which, in turn, exercise their right to self-government within the limits set forth in the constitution and their autonomous statutes; each community has its own set of devolved powers. Some scholars have referred to the resulting system as a federal system in all but name, or a "federation without federalism". There are 17 autonomous communities and two autonomous cities that are collectively known as "autonomies"; the two autonomous cities have the right to become autonomous communities, but neither has yet exercised it.
This unique framework of territorial administration is known as the "State of Autonomies". The autonomous communities are governed according to the constitution and their own organic laws known as Statutes of Autonomy, which contain all the competences that they assume. Since devolution was intended to be asymmetrical in nature, the scope of competences vary for each community, but all have the same parliamentary structure. Spain is a diverse country made up of several different regions with varying economic and social structures, as well as different languages and historical and cultural traditions. While the entire Spanish territory was united under one crown in 1479 this was not a process of national homogenization or amalgamation; the constituent territories—be it crowns, principalities or dominions—retained much of their former institutional existence, including limited legislative, judicial or fiscal autonomy. These territories exhibited a variety of local customs, laws and currencies until the mid nineteenth century.
From the 18th century onwards, the Bourbon kings and the government tried to establish a more centralized regime. Leading figures of the Spanish Enlightenment advocated for the building of a Spanish nation beyond the internal territorial boundaries; this culminated in 1833, when Spain was divided into 49 provinces, which served as transmission belts for policies developed in Madrid. However, unlike in other European countries such as France, where regional languages were spoken in rural areas or less developed regions, two important regional languages of Spain were spoken in some of the most industrialized areas, moreover, enjoyed higher levels of prosperity, in addition to having their own cultures and historical consciousness; these were Catalonia. This gave rise to peripheral nationalisms along with Spanish nationalism; therefore and social changes that had produced a national cultural unification in France had the opposite effect in Spain. As such, Spanish history since the late 19th century has been shaped by a dialectical struggle between Spanish nationalism and peripheral nationalisms in Catalonia and the Basque Country, to a lesser degree in Galicia.
In a response to Catalan demands, limited autonomy was granted to Catalonia in 1914, only to be abolished in 1923. It was granted again in 1932 during the Second Spanish Republic, when the Generalitat, Catalonia's mediaeval institution of government, was restored; the constitution of 1931 envisaged a territorial division for all Spain in "autonomous regions", never attained—only Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia had approved "Statutes of Autonomy"—the process being thwarted by the Spanish Civil War that broke out in 1936, the victory of the rebel Nationalist forces under Francisco Franco. During General Franco's dictatorial regime, centralism was most forcefully enforced as a way of preserving the "unity of the Spanish nation". Peripheral nationalism, along with communism and atheism were regarded by his regime as the main threats, his attempts to fight separatism with heavy-handed but sporadic repression, his severe suppression of language and regional identities backfired: the demands for democracy became intertwined with demands for the recognition of a pluralistic vision of the Spanish nationhood.
When Franco died in 1975, Spain entered into a phase of transition towards democracy. The most difficult task of the newly democratically elected Cortes Generales in 1977 acting as a Constituent Assembly was to transition from a unitary centralized state into a decentralized state in a way that would satisfy the demands of the peripheral nationalists; the Prime Minister of Spain, Adolfo Suárez, met with Josep Tarradellas, president of the Generalitat of Catalonia in exile. An agreement was made so that the Generalitat would be restored and limited competencies would be transferred while the constitution was still being written. Shortly after, the government allowed the creation of "assemblies of members of parliament" integrated by deputies and senators of the different territories of Spain, so that they could constitute "pre-autonomic regimes" for their regions as well; the Fathers of the Constitution had to strike a balance between the opposing views of Spain—on the one hand, the centralist view inherited from Franco's regime, on the other hand federalism and a pluralistic view of Spain as a "nation of nations".
Peripheral nationalist
Province of Barcelona
Barcelona is a province of eastern Spain, in the center of the autonomous community of Catalonia. The province is bordered by the provinces of Tarragona and Girona, by the Mediterranean Sea, its area is 7,726 km2. 5,609,350 people live in the province, of whom about 30% live within the administrative limits of the city of Barcelona, which itself is contained in the Barcelona metropolitan area. The capital of the province is the city of Barcelona, the provincial council is based in the Casa Serra on the Rambla de Catalunya in that city; some other cities and towns in Barcelona province include L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Mataró, Sabadell, Sitges, Vic, Berga. See List of municipalities in Barcelona. Since the division by provinces in Spain and the division by comarques in Catalonia do not agree, the term comarques of the province of Barcelona would not be correct. However, a list of the comarques that are included—totally or partially—in the province of Barcelona can be made: Fully included: Alt Penedès Anoia Bages Baix Llobregat Barcelonès Garraf Maresme Vallès Occidental Vallès Oriental Partially included: Berguedà Osona Selva The Catalan Pre-Coastal Range and Catalan Coastal Range mountains run through the Province of Barcelona.
There are several notable smaller mountain ranges that are located in the province, including Montseny Massif, Serra de Collserola, Tibidabo. Pedraforca is the tallest mountain in the province, located on the north side as part of the Pre-Pyrenees. Tibidabo is the mountain; the majority of the Province of Barcelona has a Mediterranean climate on the coast and an oceanic climate inland. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed.. "Barcelona". Encyclopædia Britannica. Cambridge University Press
Europe
Europe is a continent located in the Northern Hemisphere and in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Mediterranean Sea to the south, it comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Since around 1850, Europe is most considered to be separated from Asia by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas and the waterways of the Turkish Straits. Although the term "continent" implies physical geography, the land border is somewhat arbitrary and has been redefined several times since its first conception in classical antiquity; the division of Eurasia into two continents reflects East-West cultural and ethnic differences which vary on a spectrum rather than with a sharp dividing line. The geographic border does not follow political boundaries, with Turkey and Kazakhstan being transcontinental countries. A strict application of the Caucasus Mountains boundary places two comparatively small countries and Georgia, in both continents.
Europe covers 2 % of the Earth's surface. Politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a total population of about 741 million as of 2016; the European climate is affected by warm Atlantic currents that temper winters and summers on much of the continent at latitudes along which the climate in Asia and North America is severe. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast. Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization; the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD and the subsequent Migration Period marked the end of ancient history and the beginning of the Middle Ages. Renaissance humanism, exploration and science led to the modern era. Since the Age of Discovery started by Portugal and Spain, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at various times the Americas all of Africa and Oceania and the majority of Asia.
The Age of Enlightenment, the subsequent French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars shaped the continent culturally and economically from the end of the 17th century until the first half of the 19th century. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to radical economic and social change in Western Europe and the wider world. Both world wars took place for the most part in Europe, contributing to a decline in Western European dominance in world affairs by the mid-20th century as the Soviet Union and the United States took prominence. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the West and the Warsaw Pact in the East, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1949 the Council of Europe was founded, following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill, with the idea of unifying Europe to achieve common goals, it includes all European states except for Belarus and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, a separate political entity that lies between a confederation and a federation.
The EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The currency of most countries of the European Union, the euro, is the most used among Europeans. In classical Greek mythology, Europa was a Phoenician princess; the word Europe is derived from her name. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, "wide, broad" and ὤψ "eye, countenance", hence their composite Eurṓpē would mean "wide-gazing" or "broad of aspect". Broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. There have been attempts to connect Eurṓpē to a Semitic term for "west", this being either Akkadian erebu meaning "to go down, set" or Phoenician'ereb "evening, west", at the origin of Arabic Maghreb and Hebrew ma'arav. Michael A. Barry, professor in Princeton University's Near Eastern Studies Department, finds the mention of the word Ereb on an Assyrian stele with the meaning of "night, sunset", in opposition to Asu " sunrise", i.e. Asia.
The same naming motive according to "cartographic convention" appears in Greek Ἀνατολή. Martin Litchfield West stated that "phonologically, the match between Europa's name and any form of the Semitic word is poor." Next to these hypotheses there is a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning "darkness", which produced Greek Erebus. Most major world languages use words derived from Europa to refer to the continent. Chinese, for example, uses the word Ōuzhōu. In some Turkic languages the Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa; the prevalent definition of Europe as a geographical term has been in use since the mid-19th century. Europe is taken to be bounded by large bodies of water
Malvasia
Malvasia is a group of wine grape varieties grown in the Mediterranean region, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands and the island of Madeira, but now grown in many of the winemaking regions of the world. In the past, the names Malvasia and Malmsey have been used interchangeably for Malvasia-based wines. Grape varieties in this family include Malvasia bianca, Malvasia di Schierano, Malvasia negra, Malvasia nera, Malvasia nera di Brindisi, Malvasia di Candia aromatica, Malvasia odorosissima, a number of other varieties. Malvasia wines are produced in Italy, Croatia, the Iberian Peninsula, the Canary Islands, the island of Madeira, Arizona, New Mexico and Brazil; these grapes are used to produce white table wines, dessert wines, fortified wines of the same name, or are sometimes used as part of a blend of grapes, such as in Vin Santo. Most ampelographers believe that the Malvasia family of grapes are of ancient origin, most originating in Crete, Greece; the name "Malvasia" comes from Monemvasia, a medieval and early Renaissance Byzantine fortress on the coast of Laconia, known in Italian as "Malvasia".
During the Middle Ages, the Venetians became so prolific in the trading of "Malvasia wine" that merchant wine shops in Venice were known as malvasie. The occasional claim that it might come from the district of Malevizi, near Iraklion, Crete is not taken by scholars. In any case, Malmsey was one of the three major wines exported from Greece in medieval times.. It is alleged that when Edward IV of England convicted his brother, George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, of high treason, his private execution consisted of being "drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine,", dramatized in Shakespeare's Richard III. Both Monemvasia and Candia have lent their names to modern grape varieties. In Greece, there is a variety known as Monemvasia, evidently named after the port, though now grown in the Cyclades. In western Europe, a common variety of Malvasia is known as Malvasia Bianca di Candia, from its reputed origin in that area; the Monemvasia grape was long thought to be ancestral to the western European Malvasia varieties, but recent DNA analysis does not suggest a close relationship between Monemvasia and any Malvasia varieties.
DNA analysis does, suggest that the Athiri wine grape is ancestral to Malvasia. Most varieties of Malvasia are related to Malvasia bianca. One notable exception is the variety known as Malvasia di Candia, a distinctly different sub-variety of Malvasia. Malvasia bianca is grown throughout the world in places like Italy, the San Joaquin Valley of California, the Greek Islands of Paros and Syros, the Canary Islands and Navarra. Throughout central Italy, Malvasia is blended with Trebbiano to add flavor and texture to the wine. In Rioja, it performs a similar function. Malvazija Istarska Malvazija Istarska got the name after peninsula of Istria shared between Croatia and Italy, it represents one of the main white wines of the north Dalmatian coast. The vine was introduced to the area by Venetian merchants; the malvasia is called malvazija in Croatian language. It is the main white wine in the region. OtherThe Dalmatian Maraština is identical to the Italian variety Malvasia Lunga. Malvasia IstrianaIn Italy this wine is grown in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region in Collio DOC and Isonzo DOC.
The name comes from the Istria peninsula, which takes in parts of Croatia and Italy. The vine was introduced into the area by Venetian merchants. Malvasia Istriana is found in the Colli Piacentini region of Emilia, where it is used to make sparkling wine known locally as champagnino or "little Champagne". Malvasia di Grottaferrata, Malvasia di Bosa, Malvasia di PlanargiaIn the 19th century and early 20th century, sweet passito style dessert wines made from the Malvasia grape were held in high esteem and considered among Italy's finest wines. Following the Second World War, lack of interest in the consumer market led to a sharp decline in plantings, with many varieties going to the verge of extinction. Today only a few dedicated producers are still making these Malvasia dessert wines from local varieties including the Malvasia di Grottaferrata in Lazio and the Malvasia di Bosa and Malvasia di Planargia in Sardinia. Malvasia delle LipariSince the 1980s, dessert wines made from the Malvasia delle Lipari variety has seen a resurgence in interest on the volcanic Aeolian Islands off the north east coast of Sicily.
With distinctive orange notes, this Sicilian wine saw its peak of popularity just before the phylloxera epidemic, when more than 2.6 million gallons were produced annually. Malvasia neraWhile most varieties of Malvasia produce white wine, Malvasia nera is a red wine variety that in Italy is used as a blending grape, being valued for the dark color and aromatic qualities it can add to a wine; the Piedmont of that region is the only significant wine to make varietal Malvasia nera, with two
Aioli
Aioli or aïoli is a Mediterranean sauce made of garlic and olive oil. The names mean "oil" in Catalan and Provençal, it is found in the cuisines of the Mediterranean coasts of Spain and Italy. Current versions of the French-Provençal sauce are closer to a garlic mayonnaise, incorporating egg yolks and lemon juice, whereas the original French-Provençal and Catalan versions are without egg yolk and have more garlic; this gives the sauce a pastier texture, while making it more laborious to make as the emulsion is harder to stabilize. There are many variations, such as adding other seasonings. In France it may include mustard, it is served at room temperature. Like mayonnaise, aioli is an emulsion or suspension of small globules of oil and oil-soluble compounds in water and water-soluble compounds. In Spain, purists believe that the absence of egg distinguishes aioli from mayonnaise, but, not the case in France and other countries, where cooks may use egg or egg yolk as an emulsifier. Using only garlic as an emulsifier requires that the cook crush it and add oil drop by drop so excess oil does not "cut" the aioli.
Since the late 1980s, many people have called all flavored mayonnaises aioli. Flavorings include saffron and chili. Purists insist that flavored mayonnaise can contain garlic, but true aioli contains no seasoning other than garlic; the word is a compound of the words meaning "garlic" and "oil". The English spelling comes from the French aïoli; the spelling in Occitan may be alhòli, following the classical norm, or aiòli, following the Mistralian norm. In Catalan, it is spelled allioli. In southeastern Spain, it is called ajoaceite or ajiaceite, whereas in the rest of Spain, the Catalan term is more common. In Galician and Spanish, it is spelled alioli. Garlic is crushed in a mortar and pestle and emulsified with salt, olive oil. Today, aioli is made in a food processor or blender, but traditionalists object that this does not give the same result. In Malta, arjoli or ajjoli is made with the addition of either crushed galletti or tomato. In Occitan cuisine, aioli is served with seafood, fish soup, croutons.
An example is a dish called merluça amb alhòli. In the Occitan Valleys of Italy it is served with potatoes boiled with bay laurel. In Provence, aioli or, more formally, le grand aïoli, aioli garni, or aïoli monstre is a dish consisting of various boiled vegetables, poached fish, canned tuna, other seafood, boiled eggs, all served with aioli; this dish is served during the festivities on the feast days of the patron saint of Provençal villages and towns. It is traditional to serve it with cod on Ash Wednesday. Aïoli is so associated with Provence that when the poet Frédéric Mistral started a regionalist Provençal-language newspaper in 1891, he called it L'Aiòli. In Spain, allioli is served with arròs a banda from Alicante, with grilled lamb, grilled vegetables and arròs negre, comes in other varieties such as allioli de codony or allioli with boiled pear. Other used vegetables are beets, celery, cauliflower, chick peas, raw tomato. Agliata – A savory and pungent garlic sauce and condiment in Italian cuisine Dipping sauce Garlic sauce List of garlic dishes Mujdei – A spicy Romanian sauce made from garlic and vegetable oil Skordalia – A thick purée in Greek cuisine using crushed garlic with a bulky base and olive oil Toum – A garlic sauce common in the Levant Media related to Aioli at Wikimedia Commons
Ibiza
Ibiza is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of Spain. It is 150 kilometres from the city of Valencia, it is the third largest of an autonomous community of Spain. Its largest settlements are Ibiza Town, Santa Eulària des Riu, Sant Antoni de Portmany, its highest point, called Sa Talaiassa, is 475 metres above sea level. Ibiza has become well known for its association with nightlife, electronic dance music that originated on the island, for the summer club scene, all of which attract large numbers of tourists drawn to that type of holiday. Several years before 2010, the island's government and the Spanish Tourist Office had been working to promote more family-oriented tourism, with the police closing down clubs that played music at late night hours, but by 2010 this policy was reversed. Around 2015 it was resumed. Ibiza is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Ibiza and the nearby island of Formentera to its south are called the Pine Islands, or "Pityuses"; the official Catalan name is Eivissa.
Its name in Spanish is Ibiza. In British English, the name is pronounced in an approximation of the Spanish, whereas in American English the pronunciation is closer to Latin American Spanish. Phoenician colonists called the island Iboshim, it was known to Romans as Ebusus. The Greeks called the two islands of Formentera the Pityoûssai. In the 18th and 19th centuries the island was known to the British and to the Royal Navy as Ivica. In 654 BC, Phoenician settlers founded a port on Ibiza. With the decline of Phoenicia after the Assyrian invasions, Ibiza came under the control of Carthage a former Phoenician colony; the island produced dye, fish sauce, wool. A shrine with offerings to the goddess Tanit was established in the cave at Es Cuieram, the rest of the Balearic Islands entered Eivissa's commercial orbit after 400 BC. Ibiza was a major trading post along the Mediterranean routes. Ibiza began establishing its own trading stations along the nearby Balearic island of Majorca, such as Na Guardis, "Na Galera" where numerous Balearic mercenaries hired on, no doubt as slingers, to fight for Carthage.
During the Second Punic War, the island was assaulted by the two Scipio brothers in 217 BC but remained loyal to Carthage. With the Carthaginian military failing on the Iberian mainland, Ibiza was last used, 205 B. C, by the fleeing Carthaginian General Mago to gather supplies and men before sailing to Menorca and to Liguria. Ibiza negotiated a favorable treaty with the Romans, which spared Ibiza from further destruction and allowed it to continue its Carthaginian-Punic institutions and coinage well into the Empire days, when it became an official Roman municipality. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire and a brief period of first Vandal and Byzantine rule, the island was conquered by the Moors in 902, the few remaining locals converted to Islam and Berber settlers came in. Under Islamic rule, Ibiza came in close contact with the city of Dénia—the closest port in the nearby Iberian peninsula, located in the Valencian Community—and the two areas were administered jointly by the Taifa of Dénia during some time.
Ibiza together with the islands of Formentera and Menorca were invaded by the Norwegian King Sigurd I of Norway in the spring of 1110 on his crusade to Jerusalem. The king had conquered the cities of Sintra and Alcácer do Sal and given them over to Christian rulers, in an effort to weaken the Muslim grip on the Iberian peninsula. King Sigurd continued to Sicily; the island was conquered by Aragonese King James I in 1235. The local Muslim population got deported as was the case with neighboring Majorca and elsewhere, Christians arrived from Girona; the island maintained its own self-government in several forms until 1715, when King Philip V of Spain abolished the local government's autonomy. The arrival of democracy in the late 1970s led to the Statute of Autonomy of the Balearic Islands. Today, the island is part of the Balearic Autonomous Community, along with Majorca and Formentera. Though known for its party scene, large portions of the island are registered as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, thus protected from the development and commercialization of the main cities.
A notable example includes the Renaissance walls of the old town of Ibiza City which were awarded UNESCO World Heritage Status in 1999, they are one of the few world's Renaissance walls that were not demolished, part of the medieval wall is still visible. At "God's Finger" in the Benirràs Bay there are some of the more traditional Ibizan cultural sites such as the remains of the first Phoenician settlement at Sa Caleta. Other sites are still under threat from the developers, such as Ses Feixes Wetlands, but this site has now been recognised as a threatened environment, it is expected that steps will be taken to preserve this wetland. Ibiza is a rock island covering an area of 572.56 square kilometres six times smaller than Majorca, but over five times larger than Mykonos or 10 times larger than Manhattan in New York City. Ibiza is the larger of a group of the western Balearic archipelago called the "Pitiusas" or "Pine Islands" composed of itself and Formentera; the Balearic island chain includes over 50 islands.
The highest point of the island is Sa Talaiassa known as Sa Talaia or Sa Talaia de Sant Josep at 475 metres. Ibiza is adm
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