Pine Islands

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Pine Islands
Flag of Ibiza and Formentera
Geography

Location	Mediterranean Sea
Coordinates	Coordinates: 38°42′N, 1°27′E
Archipelago	Balearic Islands
Area	654.28 km²
Highest point	Atalaya, Ibiza 476 m
Administration
Spain
Autonomous Community	Balearic Islands
Province	Balearic Islands
Largest city	Ibiza (37,408)
Demographics
Population	161,369 (as of 2006)

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

The islands are situated approximately 100 km southwest of the island of Majorca (Mallorca), and approximately 80 km east of the Spanish mainland (Cabo de la Nao, Alicante, Valencia).

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. 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 (Menorca). Politically, they are part of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands.