The flag of the Balearic Islands is the official flag of the

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands are an archipelago in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago forms a Provinces of Spain, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain, ...

, an archipelago and

autonomous community The autonomous communities () are the first-level administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Spanish Constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonomy to the nationalities and regions that make up Sp ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

located in the western

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

. The flag, which was adopted in the 1983 Statute of Autonomy, incorporates the design of the

Senyera The Senyera is a vexillological symbol based on the coat of arms of the Crown of Aragon, which consists of four red stripes on a yellow field. This coat of arms, often called ''bars of Aragon'', or simply ''"the four bars"'', historically repr ...

Legislation and design

The official specification of the flag is included in the Statute of Autonomy of the Balearic Islands, passed in 1983 as the

Organic Law An organic law is a law, or system of laws, that form the foundation of a government, corporation or any other organization's body of rules. A constitution is a particular form of organic law. By country France Under Article 46 of the Constitutio ...

2/1983. The law was revised by Organic Laws 9/1994 and 3/1999. However, the article defining the community's flag remained as follows: The most recent Statute of Autonomy, from 2007, maintained the same wording for the article which defines the flag, although it changed from the fourth to the sixth article of the Statute. The autonomous government does not precisely specify the colours 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. The Draft Bill of the 1931 Statute of Autonomy of the Balearic Islands, formulated during the years of the

Second Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of democratic government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931 after the deposition of Alfonso XIII, King Alfonso XIII. ...

, although eventually not passed, merely established in its third article that: ''The flag of the region is that of the historical

Kingdom of Mallorca The Kingdom of Majorca (, ; ; ; ) was an insular realm off the east coast of modern day Spain, which included the islands of Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The islands were conquered from the Almohad Caliphate by James I of Aragon, and ...

''. The historical flag of the Kingdom of Mallorca was taken to be that of the city of

Palma de Mallorca Palma (, ; ), also known as Palma de Mallorca (officially between 1983 and 1988, 2006–2008, and 2012–2016), is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is ...

, with two castles over a blue background. The current official flags of the Balearic Islands and Mallorca are modern creations based on this flag, and do not respect the rules of heraldry (use of purple, and a reversed castle in the case of Mallorca).Història de les banderes amb morat i castell
de Gabriel Bibiloni.

Island flags

Image:Ibiza flag.svg, Flag of

Ibiza Ibiza (; ; ; #Names and pronunciation, see below) or Iviza is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of th ...

Image:Bandera de Formentera.svg, Flag of

Formentera Formentera (, ) is a Spanish island located in the Mediterranean Sea, which belongs to the Balearic Islands autonomous community (Spain) together with Mallorca, Menorca, and Ibiza. Formentera is the smallest and most southerly island of the ...

Image:Flag of Mallorca.svg, Flag of

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

Image:Bandera de Menorca.svg, Flag of

Menorca Menorca or Minorca (from , later ''Minorica'') is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. Its name derives from its size, contrasting it with nearby Mallorca. Its capital is Maó, situated on the isl ...

References

Flags of Spain

Flag A flag is a piece of textile, fabric (most often rectangular) with distinctive colours and design. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and fla ...

History of the Balearic Islands Flags of indigenous peoples Flags introduced in 1983 {{Balearics-stub

Legislation and design

Island flags

See also

References