Talk:Pedro Bigas

Island/Province/Autonomous Community birthplace information for Balearic football players
The Balearic Islands are a province of Spain, an autonomous community of Spain and, strictly from a geographic perspective, an archipelago consisting of four main islands-- Majorca (Mallorca in Spanish and Catalan), Minorca (Menorca in Spanish and Catalan), Ibiza (Eivissa in Catalan) and Formentera. Only the Catalan-language names are official (and thus Ibiza may best be known as such in English as this is also its Spanish name, but only Eivissa is official). The Balearic Islands, in addition, are a "nationality" in Spanish constitutional terms.

In the infobox, given that the "Balearic Islands" constitutes four separate pieces of data-- province, autonomous community, archipelago, and nationality, I have added it to Balearic footballers generally (it should be noted that "Balearic footballers" is already a Wikipedia category, one I had no hand in creating). Readers can interpret the addition as a geographic or political or national heritage indication, or some or all of these. In all cases, readers will note immediately the birth place is not on the Spanish mainland, but is rather something akin to the US equivalent of Hawaii.

One exception I have made is the most important and most numerous exception-- the capital and largest city, Palma or Palma de Mallorca (listed in Wikipedia as Palma, Majorca-- writing it in this fashion was an option, but does not accord with Spanish practice). For Palma, I have merely ensured the full name is listed, such that it is clear that we are referring to the Palma on the island of Mallorca and thus in the Balearic Islands.

That said, it is worth noting that the Spanish language version of this article [es:Pedro Bigas] in the infobox lists the Balearic Islands, suggesting the matter of whether it should be included in the English version is not a done deal.

Thus the change as a practical matter only affects relatively small towns whose locations will be unknown even to readers otherwise well acquainted with Spain. RangerRichard (talk) 16:37, 24 November 2014 (UTC)