The Island of Paradise

The Province of Batanes (Tagalog pronunciation: [ba'tan'es], (Ilokano: Probinsya ti Batanes), (Tagalog: Lalawigan ng Batanes), also called the Batanes Islands, is an island province comprising ten islands that are located in the Luzon Strait between the islands of Luzon and Taiwan. It is the northernmost part of the Philippines and is also the smallest province, both in terms of population and land area.

The island group is located about 162 km north of Luzon and about 190 kilometers south of Taiwan, separated from the Babuyan Islands of Cagayan Province, Luzon, by the Balintang Channel and from Taiwan by the Bashi Channel.

The provincial capital is Basco on Batan Island and the only other inhabited islands are Itbayat and Sabtang. The northernmost island of the province, making it the northernmost island in the Philippines, is Mavudis (Y'ami) Island. Other islands in the chain are Misanga, Siayan, Ivuhos, and Dequey. The province is officially in the region of Cagayan Valley. The islands are part of the Luzon Volcanic Arc. Country Philippines Region Cagayan Valley (Region II) Founded 1909 Capital Basco

Area • Total 219.01 km2 (84.56 sq mi) Population (2007) • Total 15,974 • Rank 80th out of 80 • Density 73/km2 (190/sq mi) • Density rank 70th out of 80

Divisions • Independent cities 0 • Component cities 0 • Municipalities 6 • Barangays 29 • Districts Lone district of Batanes Spoken languages Ivatan, Itbayaten, Isamurongen, Ilocano, Tagalog, English

The people of Batanes are called Ivatan and share prehistoric cultural and linguistic commonalities with the Babuyan on Babuyan Island and the Tao people of Orchid Island.

This divided homeland is a result of the Dutch invasion of Taiwan in 1624 ( Dutch Formosa ) and Spanish invasion in 1626 ( Spanish Formosa ). The northern half of the Ivatan homeland, Formosa and Orchid Island which were formally part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, fell to the Dutch who were in turn expelled in 1662 by forces of the Chinese Ming Dynasty, led by the Chinese pirate Koxinga who then set himself up as The King of Taiwan.

The southern half of the Ivatan homeland, the islands of the Batanes, was reinforced and fortified by Spanish refugees from Formosa before being formally joined in the 18th century with the Spanish government in Manila.

The main languages spoken in Batanes are Ivatan, which is spoken on the islands of Batan and Sabtang, and Itbayaten, which is spoken primarily on the island of Itbayat. The Ivatan which is dominant in the province is considered to be one of the Austronesian languages. From college level down to elementary level, the language is widely spoken.