Pine Islands

Pine Islands or Pityuses (Catalan: Illes Pitiüses; Spanish: Islas Pitiusas; from the Greek: πιτύα, pitýa, pine tree) is the name given collectively to the Balearic Islands of Eivissa (Spanish: Ibiza) and Formentera, in the Mediterranean Sea.

The islands are situated approximately 100 km southwest of the island of Majorca, and approximately 80 km east of the Cap de la Nau in the Iberian Peninsula.

In antiquity they were known as the Pityussa islands, listed in Claudius Ptolemy's Geography, under the names Ophiusis and Ebyssus, which had a town of the same name. The islands were used by Cilician pirates as a base. The Roman general Annius drove them out with a large fleet and with them the Roman renegade general Quintus Sertorius, who was seeking refuge there.

The Pine Islands are sometimes grouped together as part of the Balearic Islands, or else considered separate with the Balearics proper being Majorca and Minorca. Politically, they are part of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands.