IMPERIUM ROMANUM

Provinces · The later western provinces

LW-06 Insulae Baleares

The empire around 400 CE. The broad colours represent prefectural groupings, while…
The empire around 400 CE. The broad colours represent prefectural groupings, while regional names, major cities, and symbols for selected state industries show the larger administrative and logistical setting. These groupings contained many individual provinces; a region labelled on this map is not necessarily one province.

The island province depended on shipping for administration, commerce, and defence. Farming, livestock, local production, and Mediterranean exchange supported communities of different sizes. Its separation gave governors a distinct maritime jurisdiction rather than treating the islands as a remote appendage of a mainland command.

Christian communities developed within these maritime networks. Vandal power later brought the islands into an African-centred kingdom, followed by Eastern Roman recovery in the sixth century. Their political affiliations changed while their island geography continued to dictate the practical importance of harbours, food supplies, and control of nearby sea routes.