People and culture
The indigenous people of the Batanes are called Ivatan (a native name in the Batan Islands) and share prehistoric cultural and linguistic commonalities with the Babuyan on Babuyan Island and the Tao people of Orchid Island. With the exception of Spanish ancestry introduced to the Ivatan and Babuyan over the centuries, the Ivatan, Babuyan, and Tao peoples are racially the same.
The main languages spoken in Batanes are Ivatan, which is spoken on the islands of Batan and Sabtang, and Ichbayaten, 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 dialect is widely spoken.