Balearic Islands

Balearic Islands
Map of Spain with Balearic Islands highlighted
National AssemblyNone
Statistics:
Total Population
 -  UN 2021[1] 0
Bahá'í pop.
 -  Bahá'í source  
 -  Non-Bahá'í source 1,231,768 (2024)
Related media
Categories: Balearic Islands • People

Bahá’íThe Balearic Islands are an archipelago in the western Mediterranean Sea near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is an autonomous province of Spain, with Palma de Mallorca being its capital and largest city. There are four primary islands: Menorca, Mallorca, Ibiza and Formentera. There are also a few minor islands. The islands have a total area of 5,040 sq km(1,950 sq mi) and a population of 1,231,768 in 2024.[2]

History[edit]

The Balearic Islands are one of the areas of Europe mentioned in the Tablets of the Divine Plan: Tablet to the United States and Canada, April 11, 1916.[3] In 1953 at the beginning to the Ten Year Crusade, the Balearic Islands were assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States as a goal area to be opened. Miss Virginia Orbison arrived on August 11.[4] Mr. Jean and Mrs. Trove Deleuran with their daughter, Bente, arrived in Palma de Majorca on December 30, 1954. Mr. Charles Ioas arrived in the Balearic Islands on January 7, 1954.[5] The wife Mr. Ioas was a native of the Balearic Islands and would be the first native to become a Bahá’í during the Ten Year Crusade.[6] Virginia, Jean, Tove, and Charles were all declared Knights of Bahá’u’lláh.[7]

Beatrice Irwin

In 1954, Beatrice Irwin moved to the Island of Mallorca. Although in her mid-seventies and despite two accidents, she was able to travel to many parts of the island. Dona Carmen Nieto de Miguel, the wife of a famous Spanish painter, in whose home Miss Irwin lived, became the first Spanish believer of the Balearic Islands.[8]

Jean Deleuran had a successful career as an architect which was interrupted by his stay in the Balearic Islands. The family would remain there for four years and help form the firs Local Spiritual Assembly. In 1957, the family moved to East Pakistan.[9]

The First Spiritual Assembly of Palma de Mallorca, Balearic Islands, 1956

The first Local Spiritual Assembly in the Balearic Islands was formed in Palma de Mallorca at Ridván 1956.[10]

In 1962, the Balearic Islands was assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of Spain to develop.[11] At the start of the Nine Year Plan (1964-1973) The Balearic Islands had one Local Assembly and Bahá’ís in one locality. The goal for the islands in the plan was to form a second Local Assembly and increase the number of communities in which Bahá’ís reside.[12]

In 1969 Juan Sánchez Martinez pioneered to the island of Menorca where he taught the Faith for two years. In 1973 he spent seven months on the island of Ibiza.[13]

In 1974, a public talk was given in Palma de Mallorca which was announced in five newspapers and was followed by a full-page interview of the speaker.[14]

In 1980, The Bahá’í community of Palma, was among nine religious groups asked to participate in a round table discussion sponsored by an ecumenical organization. The Bahá’ís were able to present teachings on spiritual education as a means to prevent prejudice, violence, alcoholism, drug abuse, delinquency, and other social issues. They suggested that a group be formed to help teachers include spiritual education, without proselytizing, in the regular school curricula. The Bahá’ís were asked to develop the idea and present it at a later meeting. The group set up a monthly meeting to pursue the idea. A priest who was presiding at the first meeting mentioned the persecution of Bahá’ís in Iran as a case of flagrant injustice.[15]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ "World Population Prospects 2022". population.un.org. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
  2. ↑ "Balearic Islands". Wikipedia.
  3. ↑ Tablets of the Divine Plan: Tablet to the United States and Canada, April 11, 1916
  4. ↑ Baha'i News (1953). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 271, Pg(s) 2. View as PDF.
  5. ↑ Baha'i News (1954). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 276, Pg(s) 3. View as PDF.
  6. ↑ Baha'i News (1980). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 591, Pg(s) 13. View as PDF.
  7. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 106. View as PDF.
  8. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1970). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 13 (1954-1963), Pg(s) 883. View as PDF.
  9. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (2000). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 27 (1998-1999), Pg(s) 306. View as PDF.
  10. ↑ Baha'i News (1956). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 308, Pg(s) 8. View as PDF.
  11. ↑ Baha'i News (1962). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 375, Pg(s) 4. View as PDF.
  12. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1974). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 14 (1963-1968), Pg(s) 160. View as PDF.
  13. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 881. View as PDF.
  14. ↑ Baha'i News (1975). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 526, Pg(s) 11-12. View as PDF.
  15. ↑ Baha'i News (1980). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 589, Pg(s) 14. View as PDF.
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