Balearic Islands cut by a network of northwest to southeast faults. The main islands of the autonomous community are Majorca ("Mallorca"), Menorca/Minorca ("Menorca"), Ibiza ("Eivissa/Ibiza"), and Formentera, all popular tourist destinations. Amongst the minor islands is Cabrera, the location of the Cabrera Archipelago Maritime-Terrestrial National Park. The islands can be further grouped, with Majorca, Menorca, and Cabrera as the Gymnesian Islands ("Illes Gimnèsies"), and Ibiza and Formentera as the Pityusic Islands ("Illes Pitiüses" officially in Catalan), also referred to as the Pityuses (or sometimes informally in English as the Pine Islands). Many minor islands or islets are close to the biggest islands,
Conquest of Majorca a combination of economic and strategic factors. Valencia was a rich land that could be used to provide new territory for the population of the Kingdom of Aragon, and Catalonia offered new fiefdoms for the nobility. The king of Castile, Ferdinand III, had tried to take parts of Valencia that were, in principle, reserved for the king of Aragon. Meanwhile, a conquest of the Balearic Islands enabled Catalan and Provence merchants to eliminate competition from Majorcan merchants and also dismantle the Barbary pirates who used Majorca as a safe haven. The taking of the Balearic Islands represented not only a