La Palma is a Spanish island in the Atlantic Ocean, belonging to the
Canary Islands archipelago. Together with Tenerife, La Gomera and El
Hierro, it makes up the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. With an
area of 708.32 km² and a population of 83,439 inhabitants (2022), it
ranks fifth in both area and population in the Canary archipelago.
In addition, it is the second island in the Canary Islands in
altitude, with the 2426 meters of Roque de los Muchachos.
The
city of Santa Cruz de La Palma is the capital of the island, with a
total of 17,716 inhabitants (2019), although the most populated
municipality on the island is Los Llanos de Aridane, with a
population of 20,467 inhabitants (2019). .
Since 2002, the
entire island has been a Biosphere Reserve and, after Lanzarote and
El Hierro, it is the third Canary Island that UNESCO recognizes
with this protection. In the center of the island is the Caldera de
Taburiente National Park, where the largest emerged volcanic crater
in the world is located.
The island has an area of 708.32 km² (9.45% of the Canary Islands)
and a census population of 83,439 inhabitants (INE, January 2022).
Its territory is very steep and reaches 2,426 m in Roque. de los
Muchachos, the highest point on the island, which makes it, after
Tenerife, the second highest island in the Canary Islands.5In the
northern third of La Palma there is a large depression of erosive
origin that forms the Caldera de Taburiente, declared a national
park in 1954. From the center of the island towards the south, in
the so-called Cumbre Vieja, there is a series of volcanoes, among
which the San Antonio volcano, San Juan volcano and Teneguía stand
out ( penultimate terrestrial volcanic eruption in Spain, in 1971).
La Palma also has the Cumbre Vieja natural park,21 the Las Nieves
natural park and a series of protected entities of smaller size and
degree of protection.
In 1983, the area of "El Canal and Los
Tilos" was declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. This area was
expanded in 1997 to form the "Los Tilos Biosphere Reserve". Finally,
in 2002, the reserve was extended to the entire island with the name
La Palma Biosphere Reserve.
La Palma is one of the Canary
Islands with the largest forest area, both pine and laurel forest.
Regarding agriculture, the main crops are the Canary Island banana
and the vine.
Currently, the most populated municipality on
the island is Los Llanos de Aridane, which surpasses the island
capital Santa Cruz de La Palma in this respect and is, therefore,
the only Canary island whose most populated municipality is not
island capital.
The other Canary Islands are La Gomera, El Hierro, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote.
The administration of La Palma is divided into 14 districts:
(population)
Santa Cruz de La Palma, In the island's capital (usually
just called Santa Cruz) live 14,626 inhabitants (2005). Located on the
eastern side of the island, the municipality has 17,644 inhabitants
(2006) and covers an area of 43.62 km².
Los Llanos de Aridane, the
largest city on the island with 20,173 inhabitants (2006) and an area of
35.79 km². It lies on the western side of the Aridane Valley. Los Llanos
is always referred to as the secret capital. It includes the villages of
Todoque, La Laguna, and Puerto Naos (largest tourist center on the west
side of the island).
El Paso is the largest community geographically
(135.92 km²), it lies above Los Llanos under the Cumbre Vieja (hills).
It includes villages like Las Manchas and San Nicolas.
Tazacorte is
the youngest (since 1925 independent) and smallest municipality in terms
of area on the island of La Palma. It extends along the western coast of
La Palma from the end of the Barranco de Las Angustias to the village of
Las Hoyas and is particularly well protected from the trade winds. Since
2005, the fishing and leisure port has been expanded.
Fuencaliente de
La Palma, also called Los Canarios, is the southernmost village on the
island. It is located in a modern volcanic landscape in which very good
wine thrives, namely the Malvasia, which was mentioned in the works of
Shakespeare as early as the 16th century. The two volcanoes San Antonio
(657 m) and Teneguia (439 m, last eruption October 26, 1971) are located
in the municipal area.
Salt is still extracted from the Fuencaliente
saltworks today. It is the last salt works in the Canary province of
Santa Cruz de Tenerife that is still in operation today.
Garafía is
the northernmost of the 14 municipalities on the Canary Island of La
Palma. The main town is called Santo Domingo de Garafía. Garafía as a
community is home to 1,886 inhabitants (2006) on an area of 102.99 km²
and is still strongly rural in character, individual places on the
rugged north coast can only be reached via dirt roads.
Puntagorda is
located between Garafía and Tijarafe (1,962 inhabitants (2006), area:
31.1 km²).
Barlovento is located in the north-east of the island
(2,506 inhabitants (2006), area: 43.55 km²). Influenced by the humid
north-east trade winds, the very mountainous and forested municipality
is rich in water reserves. Banana, potato, avocado and citrus
plantations form the basis of the local economy. Tourism has so far been
a rather minor economic factor.
Villa de Mazo is located in the
south-east of the island (4,889 inhabitants (2006), area: 71.78 km²).
The island's airport is located on the coast of Vila de Mazo.
Tijarafe (2,720 inhabitants (2006), area: 53.76 km²) lies on a sheltered
hillside on the west coast and is characterized by a particularly
diverse vegetation.
San Andrés y Sauces, the greenest municipality of
the island with fertile soils, has 5,020 inhabitants (2006) on an area
of 42.75 km². The laurel forest Los Tilos, which has been designated a
biosphere reserve by UNESCO, is well known. This remnant of the Tertiary
is now one of the largest contiguous laurel forests on earth.
Puntallana (2,368 inhabitants (2006), area: 35.09 km²) is located
between San Andrés y Los Sauces and the island's capital, Santa Cruz de
La Palma. This community is also rich in springs and fertile soil, so
that the cultivation of fruit, vegetables and wine is possible.
Breña
Alta (full name: Villa de Breña Alta) has 7,185 inhabitants (2006) and
an area of 30.82 km². The administrative center of the municipality is
San Pedro de Brena Alta.
Breña Baja (full name: La Muy Noble y
Honorable Villa de Breña Baja) is a municipality on the east side of the
island (4,470 inhabitants (2006), area 14.20 km²), which includes Los
Cancajos (also Playa de Los Cancajos) , the second largest holiday
resort on the island with around 2000 guest beds. Los Cancajos has two
small bays with black sand, gently sloping towards the sea, with
artificial beaches.
The old town center of the island's capital Santa Cruz de La Palma
has been declared an art-historical monument. The main thoroughfare is
Avenida Maritima, the riverside road that is only built on the land
side. In addition to new representative buildings, you can also see old
houses in the Canarian and colonial style with artistically decorated
wooden balconies. Other old palaces worth seeing can be found on Calle
O'Daly, the main shopping street. In the adjacent Plaza España is the
old town hall (Casas Consistorales) from the 16th century with its
wooden coffered ceiling. Its facade, richly decorated with stone
carvings, is considered an outstanding example of the Spanish
Renaissance. Opposite is the Renaissance church Iglesia Matriz de El
Salvador, whose three wooden ceilings carved in the Mudejar style are
considered the most successful in the Canary Islands.
Los Llanos de
Aridane, with its bustling atmosphere and the highest population, is the
economic center of the Aridane Valley. The three-aisled parish church of
Nuestra Señora de Los Remedios from the 17th century is worth seeing.
Recently the Archaeological Island Museum (Museo Arqueológico
Benahoarita) was opened. It shows exhibits from the Guanche period.
Above El Paso lies the Ermita Virgen del Pino. Every three years, the
small church is the starting point of one of the largest processions in
the Canary archipelago. The figure of Mary is carried from the chapel to
El Paso.
Caldera de Taburiente: The Caldera de Taburiente is the
largest depression crater in the world (and namesake of all calderas).
In 1954 the area was declared a national park, the Parque Nacional de la
Caldera de Taburiente (area: 4,690 ha). The crater measures around nine
kilometers in diameter and has a circumference of around 28 kilometers.
Its deepest point is around 430 meters above sea level. NN. In the west,
north and east the basin is surrounded by a mountain range that reaches
heights of around 2000 meters. The highest point at 2,426 meters above
sea level. NN reaches the crater rim in the north with the highest point
in La Palma, the Roque de los Muchachos. The national park is accessible
through the Barranco de las Angustias (Gorge of Death Fears) or at the
La Cumbrecita viewpoint, near which the park administration ICONA
maintains a visitor center. Guided hikes are also offered here; climbing
and mountaineering are prohibited in the national park. Access to the
viewing point is limited to a few vehicles. You must reserve a parking
space in the visitor center in good time. The exact time of the visit
must be stated. Parking is free.
Roque de los Muchachos: The Roque de
los Muchachos (English: The Rock of the Youths) is 2,426 meters above
sea level. NN the highest elevation on the island. The institute grounds
of the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos are located between 2,350
and 2,400 meters high and contain the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC),
the world's largest reflecting telescope with a mirror diameter of 10.4
meters, as well as other observatories built by various European
countries since 1985 ( including the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) with
2.56 m mirror diameter, Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG), with 3.6 m
mirror diameter, William Herschel Telescope (WHT) with 4.2 m mirror
diameter and the world's largest air Cherenkov telescopes ( MAGIC
telescope) with an active mirror surface of 239 m²). Viewings are
possible on numerous dates. The Instituto de Astroficisa de Canarias IAC
regularly publishes numerous tour dates per month. The tours are
conducted in English, usually by scientists, primarily Sheila Cosby.
Cost: €9/adult. Bookings are made via the IAC website.
The Los Tilos
laurel forest is a UNESCO biosphere reserve above Los Sauces. In June
1983, UNESCO declared a 511 hectare area of the "Finca el Canal y los
Tilos" a World Biosphere Reserve with the name "El Canal y los Tilos".
At that time, La Palma was the first Canary Island with a world
biosphere reserve. The aim of this measure was to protect the
Laurisilva, the laurel forest, native there. In 1998, the reserve was
expanded in a first step to 13,240 hectares, a reserve that stretched
from the high mountains to the coast. The original name of the reserve
was changed to “Los Tilos”. In 2002 it was decided to expand the
biosphere reserve to the entire island area and the name was changed to
“La Palma World Biosphere Reserve”.
The Reserva de la Biosfera
visitor center provides visitors with information about hiking trails,
flora and fauna.
The biosphere reserve is spatially divided into
three zones: core zone, maintenance zone and development zone. The core
zone consists of nature reserves to preserve the island's most important
ecosystems; These are: the Caldera de Taburiente National Park, the
Guelguén and Pinar de Garafía nature reserves, the Barranco de Agua and
Juan Mayor areas of scientific importance, the core zone of the Cumbre
Vieja and Las Nieves natural parks and the core zone of the marine
reserve.
The care zone includes areas of great ecological and
landscape value. This also includes valuable cultural landscapes, areas
of traditional agriculture, rural architecture worthy of protection and
objects of particular archaeological interest.
The development
zone covers the rest of the island and is subject to the Plan Insular de
Ordenación (Development Plan), the Plan de Desarrollo Sostenible de la
Palma (La Palma Sustainable Development Program) and the Plan de
Desarrollo Rural (La Palma Rural Development Program). ).
Mazo
and was discovered by Van de Walle de Cervellón in 1752, this was the
first historically documented find on the Canary Islands. The chief of
the Tedote tribal area probably lived here; remains found there could be
dated to the 10th century. However, it is assumed that the site was
already inhabited 4000 years ago. The entire Belmaco complex consists of
10 natural cave dwellings and a site of petroglyphs - strange, complex
stone carvings of unknown meaning. In these caves lived the
Benahoaritas, who called their island Benahoare (my land), and Juguiro
and Garehagua, the last Menceyes (kings) of the tribe. Opening hours:
Monday - Saturday 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m., Sunday 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Admission: €2.00
The Parque Cultural La Zarza in the municipality of
Garafía has a visitor center that provides information about the
pre-Hispanic indigenous people. From there, a walk leads to the rock
engravings at the La Zarza and La Zarcita sites. La Zarza is located
under a large rock overhang, Zarzita is very close by on the left steep
slope of the gorge of the same name. They are considered one of the most
important Canarian sites. Opening hours: in winter 11:00 a.m. – 5:00
p.m., in summer 11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m., entrance fee: €1.80
The San
Antonio volcano is located on the southern tip of the island near
Fuencaliente. During the last eruption of the 657 meter high volcano at
the turn of the year 1677/1678, the city's hot and holy spring was
buried. A small visitor center with exhibition rooms provides
information on geological details. (Opening times: Daily: 9:00 a.m. -
6:00 p.m., July - September: until 5:30 p.m.) Half of the crater rim is
accessible, the other half is closed for safety reasons. In the
immediate vicinity is the 438 meter high and second youngest volcano in
the Canary Islands, Teneguia. It only emerged in 1971 during an eruption
that lasted three weeks.
There are a whole range of options on La Palma to make your holiday even more enjoyable. You can explore the island on foot with a hiking guide, go on a mountain bike tour or get to know La Palma better by motorbike. You can also take a boat trip to the dolphins and old pirate coves, or the more daring ones can try paragliding or a sightseeing flight in a small plane. If you like the sea better, you can go diving or pass the time with deep-sea fishing or sailing.
From 1878, the large-scale cultivation of bananas offered a way out of the crisis. Canario Pedro Reid and Briton L. Jones planted the small variety "Eanes Cavendish" from tropical Asia. Several hundred liters of water are needed to produce one kilo of bananas. T. hewn through rocks and laid pipes. They direct rainwater from the mountains down to the plantations. The farmers store their water in huge tanks. The intensive monoculture, which is practiced here with the cultivation of bananas, leads to bottlenecks in irrigation from time to time, even on the green, water-rich island of La Palma. Since the cost of water and wages on La Palma are more expensive than in the Central American growing areas, the Canary banana production is subsidized with EU funds. The banana is still the most important export article. After striving to copy the perfect bananas from Central America in recent years, the advantages of the robust dwarf banana "Eanes Cavendish" are now being considered again: small, but aromatic and sweet.
Before the conquest of the Canary Islands, the original inhabitants, the "Guanches", spoke the Guanche language. This original language has died out, but a few words have survived. The official language on the Canary Islands is Spanish, the Canarian dialect is characterized by Latin American influences (the replacement of the 2nd person plural with the 3rd person plural and the almost complete omission of the letter "s" in the pronunciation) or its own word meanings .
By plane
The island has its own airport (Aeropuerto de la Palma,
IATA code SPC) about 8 km south of Santa Cruz de La Palma city centre.
This is served by European charter airlines, mainly from Germany,
England, Belgium and the Netherlands. Iberia flies daily to the Spanish
capital Madrid. Binter Canarias connects La Palma with Tenerife, Gran
Canaria, El Hierro and Lanzarote. The flight time from Germany is about
4 ½ to 5 hours.
By boat
La Palma has two ports in Santa Cruz
de la Palma and Puerto de Tazacorte (the latter has been extensively
expanded in recent years, but is hardly used). From the port of Santa
Cruz de La Palma there are ferry connections to the neighboring islands
(daily fast ferry of the shipping line Líneas Fred. Olsen on the route
Santa Cruz de La Palma - Los Cristianos (South Tenerife), journey time
approx. 2 hours) and to the Spanish mainland ( between Santa Cruz de La
Palma and Cádiz with stopovers in Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and Tenerife,
once a week). Since June 2005 there has also been a ferry connection
from the island's largest fishing port in Puerto de Tazacorte via Santa
Cruz de La Palma to the neighboring island of Tenerife.
Renting cars is the best way to get to the wild and remote areas of
the island. Well-known local rental companies are Cicar, La Palma 24,
Monta Rent a Car, Autos Taburiente and TopCar. The fuel is much cheaper
than in Germany.
Buses are the most common method of public
transportation. The three main lines connect the two largest cities
Santa Cruz and Los Llanos via different routes, frequent connections
also exist in the resorts of Los Cancajos and Puerto Naos. The timetable
is designed to connect the towns, tourist destinations such as the Roque
de los Muchachos or the Refugio de la Pilar are not approached. An
official line plan is not published, an overview can be found e.g. e.g.
here. A 20% discount on the fare can be achieved by using transferrable
credit cards (Bonobus). These cards are available in advance from kiosks
near the main bus stops in Santa Cruz and Los Llanos and can be topped
up on the bus if needed. Don't expect the driver to know more than a
smattering of English or German, but most of the time he will try to
help.
Taxis can be expensive (e.g. Airport–Tazacorte around €40
to €45). Within the cities they are not worth their money, unless you
are in a hurry or can't find your way back to the hotel after a shopping
spree. However, it is unlikely to be cheated on price.
Palmerian cuisine, like Canarian cuisine in general, is influenced by
Spanish cuisine. There are also influences from indigenous culture and
South American and African cuisine. Simple and filling dishes are the
focus of Canarian cuisine. In addition to meat and fish, the basis is
primarily potatoes and legumes.
As in other Mediterranean
countries, breakfast is either not eaten at all or just a sweet piece of
pastry or a piece of white bread with a cup of (milk) coffee, often in a
bar on the way to work. Tapas bars are popular at lunchtime, but not
before 1 p.m. Dinner is the main meal and begins after 8 p.m., often
much later.
The papas arrugadas, small, wrinkled potatoes with a sea salt crust, form the traditional basis for many Canarian dishes. The potatoes - small varieties that are only grown on the Canary Islands - are cooked unpeeled with sea salt; the amount of salt can be up to a quarter of the weight of the potatoes. After the water has boiled away, they are dried over a low heat for about 20 to 30 minutes until they become wrinkled. They are eaten with the salt-coated shell, usually in conjunction with a spicy mojo.
Mojos are cold sauces consisting primarily of vinegar, oil and
garlic. They are served as a dip and accompaniment to a wide variety of
dishes such as meat, fish and bread, and especially to the wrinkled
Canarian potatoes (papas arrugadas). However, the exact recipe is a
secret of the manufacturer or restaurant owner. There are the following
variants:
Red Mojo (Mojo picante or Mojo picón) contains, in
addition to vinegar and oil, cumin (cumin), chilies, possibly fresh
pureed peppers, and salt and pepper. Mojo Rojo Suave is the milder
version.
Green Mojo (Mojo verde) gets its color either from fresh
parsley (Mojo de Perejil) or preferably from fresh coriander (Mojo
cilantro). Avocados and green peppers are also used, and other
ingredients include garlic, salt and cumin. The milder version is also
called Mojo Verde Suave. The Green Mojo is often served with fish.
The DO (Denominación de Origen) La Palma has existed since 1994. Wine is grown on 864 hectares in the three subzones Fuencaliente Las Manchas, Hoyo de Mazo and Norte del Palma. In addition to the traditional sweet Malvasia, predominantly strong dry white and red wines (up to 15%) are produced, the quality of which has increased significantly in recent years. The main grape varieties grown are Gual, Malvasía, Listán blanco, Albillo, Verdello (white) and Almuñeco (Listán negro), Listán Prieto (red) and Negramoll (red) as well as others, only in the Canary Islands, which were spared from the phylloxera plague , occurring old grape varieties. Well-known bodegas are the Bodegas Teneguía in Fuencaliente, the Bodegas Noroeste de La Palma in Tijarafe and the S.A.T. Bodegas el Hoyo in Villa de Mazo.
The name "la Palma" (with the lowercase e) already appears in the
first writings that Europeans made about the Canary Islands. In a text
from 1341 that recounts the expedition of Niccoloso da Recco accompanied
by three ships belonging to Alfonso IV of Portugal, each of the islands
is mentioned and La Palma is already mentioned with its current name as
imposing and cloudy. Apparently, the The current name of the island is
due to the extensions of Canary Island palm trees (Phoenix canariensis)
that it has. However, this explanation has certain inconsistencies,
since the palm tree is not the most representative tree of the island's
flora nor is La Palma the Canary island that has the most palm trees.
One of the theories cited by the enlightened Tenerife native José de
Viera y Clavijo is that the name La Palma was received from the
Mallorcan navigators of the 14th century, who gave it the name of the
capital of the island from which they came, that is , from Palma or
Palma de Mallorca, although adding the syllable "la" to differentiate it
from this one.
It is also traditionally called San Miguel de La
Palma, which is the historical name of the island.
Throughout
history La Palma has received numerous names. The Junonia Maior that
appears in Pliny the Elder's text may refer to La Palma, although some
researchers maintain that the name referring to La Palma would be
Ombrion. The aborigines called it Benahoare, which has been translated
as: "My land", or "place of the ancestor". Currently the nicknames La
Isla Bonita, La Isla Verde and La Isla Corazón are very popular.
La Palma, like the rest of the Canary Islands, is an island of
volcanic origin. With a geological age estimated at two million years,
it is one of the youngest in the archipelago. It emerged from an
underwater volcano located 4,000 meters below sea level. The volcanic
edifice of the island has an altitude of 6,500 m from the abyssal
platform of the Atlantic and all types of volcanic rocks are found
there. The island is divided into two distinct climatic zones by a chain
of volcanoes called Cumbre Vieja.
The last eruption began on
September 19, 2021 in Las Manchas. On October 26, 1971, an eruption
occurred from which the Teneguía volcano emerged on the southern tip of
the island, in the municipality of Fuencaliente, which continues to be
in the spotlight of scientists for remaining hot. The northern area is
dominated by the Taburiente Caldera, an underwater caldera created by
eruptions and erosion that emerged to a height of 3500 m above sea
level. This caldera is the largest crater in the world. The interior of
the caldera was emptied in the geological past by a rapid emission of
lava through a gap that opened near the current Balcón de Taburiente, in
what is today the Angustias ravine. The traces of this lava emission can
be seen inside the caldera, since these traces (ravines on the internal
walls) are oriented towards the center of the crater and not towards the
outside, as would have happened in a crater with explosive eruptions (
as happened in Mount Saint Helens). The caldera measures 9 km in
diameter, 28 in circumference and 1500 meters deep. The only exit it
presents is the Barranco de las Angustias, the only Canarian river
course, a place that can only be accessed on foot. There are only two
people in charge of the water intake. In 1954 the Caldera de Taburiente
National Park was created.
It is surrounded by peaks between 1700
and 2406 m high, where the highest altitude on the island is located,
Roque de los Muchachos, with 2426 m above sea level. On this peak is the
Roque de los Muchachos observatory.
Some peaks and volcanoes on
La Palma are:
Roque de los Muchachos (2426 m)
Fuente Nueva Peak
(2376 m)
Peak of the Cross (2351 m)
Roque Palmero (2306 m)
Snow
Peak (2239 m)
Piedrallana (2231 m)
La Deseada Volcano (1944 m)
Bejenado Peak (1853 m)
Roque de los Cuervos (1609 m)
Martin
Volcano (1597 m)
Teneguía (433 m)
1470-1492: Burnt Mountain or Tacande Volcano.
1585: Tajuya
Volcano, in the municipality of El Paso.
1646: Martín or San Martín
volcano.
1677: Fuencaliente Volcano.
1712: El Charco Volcano.
1949: San Juan Volcano (Duraznero, Hoyo Negro and Llano del Banco
craters) in El Paso.
1971: Teneguía Volcano in Fuencaliente.
2021:
Eruption in Cumbre Vieja.
The data on these eruptions has been
obtained through the craters, the ash fields and the length of the lava
flows.
Volcanic activity is a constant risk. Although it is
concentrated in the southern part of the island, there are theories that
predict that an eruption could make the western part of the island
unstable and fall into the sea. A study from the 1990s discovered that
the Cumbre Vieja natural park is full of water due to the porosity of
the stone, but, in reality, the explosive characteristic of a volcano is
found in the higher or lower temperature of the lava: if this is very
high, the lava (like that normally found in a caldera ) is very liquid,
which reduces the explosive nature of its eruptions and increases the
possibility of spills, either by opening a breach in the upper part of
the crater or exiting through an opening in the crater wall.
There is a theory according to which a volcanic eruption could heat
the water inside Cumbre Vieja, causing it to collapse. Fortunately, the
explosion of water vapor inside a volcano or caldera is rather a rare
phenomenon, since the formation of geysers usually predominates in this
case. In some cases in the Canary Islands (such as Lanzarote) this
possibility occurs, although due to the dryness of the climate it is
necessary to throw a bucket of water into an opening for the steam to
erupt.
In the 1949 eruption, it was possible to see how a fault
opened, so that the southern part of the island sank four meters into
the Atlantic, which supports this theory. If this were to happen, it is
possible that a megatsunami of catastrophic dimensions would be
generated. On the other hand, scientists estimate that what may happen
is that the western part of the island will fragment into small parts,
as happened in 1949, without reaching generating no tsunami or causing a
wave of lower intensity. In any case, most scientists advocate that
there is no current indication that leads to think that this event may
occur in the coming decades, but it will occur in the coming centuries.
The geological history on the island of La Palma supports this idea,
since it is an extraordinarily volcanic island, with hundreds of craters
of all types and sizes and this does not justify a gigantic explosion
on the island due to the fact that there is no magmatic chamber common
to all these craters. That is to say, the eruption of a volcano on La
Palma does not usually affect other volcanoes even if they are very
close, which indicates that the expansive force of these eruptions would
have to be distributed over a large number of openings to affect the
entire island.
In a BBC Horizon series documentary broadcast on
12 October 2000, two geologists (Day and McGuire) cited the gap as
evidence that half of the Old Summit had slid into the Atlantic Ocean.
They suggested that this process was driven by pressure caused by rising
magma heating water trapped within the island's structure. The suggested
hypothesis established that, in a future eruption, the western flank of
the Cumbre Vieja, with a mass of approximately 1.5x1015 kg, could slide
into the ocean. This could generate a giant wave, triggering a 900 m
high "mega-tsunami" in the island region. The wave would move across the
Atlantic and inundate the east coast of North America, the Caribbean and
the northern coasts of South America about six to eight hours later.
They estimated that the tsunami would possibly have waves 300 m or more
high and cause enormous devastation along the coasts. The models shown
indicated that the tsunami could flood up to 25 km inland, depending on
the topography. Ward and Day's (1999) theory resulted in the collapse of
a much larger portion of the western flank of the visible surface. Here
they argue that a large part of the western flank has been built on the
scar of a previous fall and therefore sits on unstable debris.
This was also the subject of a BBC docudrama called Four Ways to End the
World which went through several hypothetical scenarios of disastrous
proportions.
However, the Tsunami Society (Pararas-Carayannis,
2002) published a statement indicating that "...We would like to stop
the unfounded alarmism of these reports...". The main points raised in
this report include:
The claim that half of Cumbre Vieja descended 4
meters in the 1949 eruption is erroneous and contradicted by physical
evidence.
It was not discussed or demonstrated that there is a
dividing line that separates one "block" of La Palma from the other
half.
Physical evidence shows a 4 kilometer long line in the rock,
but models assume a 25 kilometer line, for which this physical evidence
does not exist. Furthermore, there is no evident evidence that the 4
kilometer-long line extends beyond the surface.
There has never been
an Atlantic megatsunami in history.
There are other studies also
in disagreement with the hypothesis of Day et al.; (1999) and Ward and
Day (2001).
However, there is a consensus among geologists and
volcanologists that the "building" of a volcanic island can undergo
major modifications, uplift or subsidence and that large tsunamis may
have occurred in the Atlantic in the geological past. Despite this,
there is still no reliable evidence to demonstrate cause and effect. All
documents about large-scale tsunamis in the Atlantic have been
attributed to earthquakes and not volcanoes (the case of the sinking of
Port Royal in Jamaica and the Lisbon earthquake in the 18th century, for
example). Evidence of tsunami deposits has been reported from the
Caribbean and the Canary Islands. Since the 1990s the area has been (and
continues to be) monitored and movement has not been detected.
Due to its formation and location, La Palma presents a great variety
of landscapes, due to the diversity of ecosystems it presents, from the
coastal arid to the very humid laurel forest formation, as well as pine
forests and a high mountain ecosystem. . All this diversity has given it
the nicknames of La Isla Bonita and La Isla Verde.
The island
receives water through precipitation and also through a phenomenon known
as horizontal rain. The trade winds bring clouds to a low level,
colliding with the relief constantly throughout almost the entire year
and forming mists that the vegetation, especially the laurel forest,
condenses, producing horizontal rain. An example of taking advantage of
this fact in plant species is the case of the Canary Islands pine,
which, having its needle-shaped leaves, acts as a condensing filter and
allows the mist to precipitate over the foot of the tree.
The
forest formations of La Palma are formed according to their altitude and
orientation, from lava fields to laurel forests, passing through areas
of pine forests, thermophilic vegetation, summit and coastal vegetation.
Among the plants that grow on the island, 170 are endemic to the Canary
Islands, the most characteristic being the dragon tree, the Canary
Island pine and the Canary Island palm tree.
The vegetation can
be divided into a series of more or less differentiated levels, around
the two slopes of the island, being generally wetter in the eastern zone
than the western zone, and likewise, also drier in the southern zone
than in the western zone. the northern one.
West slope
Xerophilous Vegetation (from 0 to 200 meters)
Cardonal - Tabaibal
(from 50 to 500 meters)
Thermophilic forest (from 100 to 900 meters)
Dry Pine Forest (from 700 to 2000 meters)
Summit scrub (From 2000 to
2400 meters)
East slope
Xerophilous Vegetation (from 0 to 50
meters)
Cardonal - Tabaibal (50 to 200 meters)
Thermophilic forest
(100 to 500 meters)
Pine forest and Fayal-Brezal (from 500 to 1500
meters)
Laurisilva (from 600 to 800 meters, only in the northeast
area)
Dry pine forest (from 1500 to 2000 meters)
Summit scrub
(from 2000 to 2400 meters)
The landscapes of the island are made up of four main colors, the black of the basalt and the solidified lava in the shape of a badland, the red of the volcanic tuff, the green of the dense vegetation and the eternal blue of the Atlantic Ocean and the very clear sky. From north to south of the island, with greater predominance in the northern half, there are deep ravines through which the water deposited on the summits flows. In the northern and central zone there are pine and fayal-heath forests, in the northeast zone laurel forest and in the south-southwest zone, volcanic lands due to recent volcanic activity. However, this is a slight approximation of what the island can offer, having such spectacular landscapes as the sea of clouds or the majestic interior slopes of the Caldera de Taburiente, among many others.
The Caldera de Taburiente national park stands out above all, located
in the north center of the island, coinciding with the geographical
feature of La Caldera de Taburiente, with a maximum axis of 7 km. Apart
from its magnificent views, it has truly striking aspects such as the
Roque Idafe or the La Caldera stream, the only continuous water current
in the Canary Islands. As for vegetation, the Canarian pine is the
almost absolute king throughout the Caldera. The island of La Palma
concentrates the only continuous flow torrents in the Canary Islands and
they are located within this national park.
Also of great tourist
attraction is the Volcano Route, which runs through the southern half of
the island through the mountain ridge, crossing enormous extinct
volcanoes surrounded by a series of spectacular volcanic landscapes.
Also notable are some natural pools called La Fajana, located in the
municipality of Barlovento. They are made from salt water that comes
entirely from the sea that is right next door. This complex has three
pools, located at different levels, and with stairs to facilitate
bathing. It has a pool for disabled people but it is not currently in
use.
Among the endemic species of the island are:
The rook
The
rabiche pigeon
Jellyfish and sea urchins on some beaches
poisonous
centipedes
The palm finch
Many species of insects, especially
beetles
Natural symbols of the island
According to a law of
the Government of the Canary Islands, the natural symbols of the island
since 1991 are the rook and the Canary pine.
Since 1983, the Los Tilos laurel forest has been listed as a
Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. In 2002 this declaration was expanded to
cover the entire island. La Palma was the first Canary island to host a
place of this type. On the other hand, there is the Caldera de
Taburiente National Park as well as other environments subject to
different conservation formulas as established by the Canary Islands
Network of Protected Natural Spaces.
The Government of the Canary
Islands approved the Special Territorial Plan for Tourist Use of La
Palma (PTE), which includes the construction, in the coming years, of 4
to 5 18-hole golf courses with their respective hotels and luxury
villas. One of them, the Aridane Golf, would invade the Protected
Landscape of Tamanca, which is also a Site of Community Interest (SCI)
with several endemic species of fauna and flora in danger of extinction.
The project has two unfavorable rulings from the Superior Court of
Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC). The other projects also affect
SCIs, Special Bird Protection Areas (ZEPAs) and Natural Parks. The PTE
document also allows the construction of several sports ports, marinas
and conventional tourism hotels in virgin areas of the La Palma coast.
Thousands of allegations were presented against these plans, for going
against the objectives of the La Palma World Biosphere Reserve, for
sustainable and nature-friendly tourism, and for directly harming
protected natural spaces and their endemic species. of fauna and flora
in danger of extinction.
More recently, the Government of the
Canary Islands has approved the law on Urgent Measures on Tourism
Management, whose amendments 39 and 40 allow the construction of tourist
infrastructure inside protected natural spaces, contravening the
environmental laws of the Canary Islands, Spain and community.
Biologists from the La Palma World Reserve have warned of the poor state
of the seabed, mainly due to overfishing, which continues to use
non-selective and aggressive gear such as pots. The most direct
consequence of the lack of fishing control is the proliferation of the
Lima urchin, a pest that destroys the algal cover, leaving behind a
whitish wasteland. The creation of the Fuencaliente marine reserve has
served to recover the most important fish populations in that coastal
strip, although the fishermen, lurking in its limits, do not allow the
recovery of other adjacent areas.
Other threats could worsen the
current situation on the palm coasts: sports port and marina projects;
increased coastal urbanization or installation of floating cages for
aquaculture.
The primitive inhabitants of La Palma were the Benahoaritas, Auaritas
or Awaras. At the time of the conquest, it was divided into twelve
cantons. The first texts about La Palma date from the Late Middle Ages
(14th and 15th centuries). Although there is a lack of specific data in
this regard, it is estimated that the population, at that time, could
have been around 4,000 inhabitants. The aborigines lived mainly by
grazing goats, sheep and pigs and collected fruits and roots with which
they made a type of flour they called "gofio", made with fern and
amagante roots, which they toasted and ground.
The most accepted
hypothesis about the origin of the aborigines of the island of La Palma
links them to Berber tribes from the northwest of the African continent.
It is unknown whether they arrived on the island of their own free will
or were expelled from their places of origin by invaders such as the
(Romans or Phoenicians). The remains found in the sites show that the
average height was 1.70 meters for men and 1.65 meters for women. Many
historians have highlighted the bellicosity of the aborigines (as also
happened with the Guanches of Tenerife). ). These very frequently had
civil wars and all kinds of confrontations, which were not restricted to
one canton, but often affected the entire island. An example of a strong
confrontation is the one that took place between Atogamtoma (lord of
Tijarafe) with Tanausú (Aceró) or Mayantigo (Aridane).
The La
Palma aborigines also had a system of government that, although
primitive, allowed many of the existing problems to be discussed without
fights, this institution was the Tagoror. Likewise, within the
community, great importance was given to the family and it allowed
several members to unite in groups based on the same blood lineage. This
union could be first order or nuclear (parents and children), or also
retrospective or extensive (a common ancestor).
It is believed
that the Benahorita people had a history of around 2000 years, until, in
1493, Alonso Fernández de Lugo landed on the island with the intention
of conquering it. La Palma was the penultimate Canary island to be
conquered shortly before Tenerife (1496). The conquest put an end to the
internal wars of the aborigines in both La Palma and Tenerife.
Although, depending on the sources, the data may change, internal
subdivisions or different toponyms sometimes appear to designate the
same territory, it is usually accepted that the 12 cantons or segments
into which the island was divided and their respective lords, -
indicated between parentheses- at the time of the conquest they were:
Aridane (Mayantigo). Which extended across a large part of the Aridane
Valley (the current municipalities of El Paso, Los Llanos and
Tazacorte).
Tihuya (Chedey). Which extended from the previous one to
the mountain of Tamanaca (El Paso). It would cover the areas currently
known as Tajuya, Todoque, Puerto Naos, La Laguna and part of Las
Manchas.
Tamanca (Tamanca). It extended to El Charco. It would cover
part of what is today Las Manchas (El Paso)
Ahenguareme (Echentire
and Azuquahe). It would correspond to the current Fuencaliente.
Tigalate (Juguiro and Garehagua). It sometimes appears also called Mazo.
It would cover the territory of the current municipality of Mazo.
Tedote (Tinisuaga, Agacensie and Ventacayce). It corresponds to Santa
Cruz de la Palma and Las Breñas.
Tenagua (Atabara). Corresponds to
Puntallana.
Adeyahamén (Bediesta). It corresponds to the current
municipality of San Andrés y Sauces.
Tagaragre (Tediaba and
Autinmara). It would correspond to Barlovento
Tegalgen (Bediesta). It
would cover the current Garafía
Tijarafe (Atogmatoma). It would cover
the current municipalities of Tijarafe and Puntagorda.
Aceró
(Tanausú) Corresponding to La Caldera, in El Paso. Its name in the
Aboriginal language was "strong and invulnerable place."
Unlike
Tenerife or Gran Canaria, in La Palma there was no superstructure above
these units. In fact, this system of power is not permanent and these
units or segments could be divided into smaller ones (in the 16th
century sources themselves, reference is made to other units as the
"Gazmira band").
Starting in the 16th century, the colonization of La Palma offered
the new settlers various possibilities for economic progress: farmland,
entry into the commercial circuit between America and Europe and the
supply of manufactures to the islands. Along with the Spanish settlers,
Portuguese, Genoese, French and Flemish people will arrive, who will mix
with the indigenous people who remained after the conquest. They will be
dedicated mainly to agriculture, which will revolve around the
production and trade of monocultures for export, benefiting from the
Canarian climate and whose control will generate great fortunes.
The first of these products will be sugar cane, which from the
second half of the 16th century will be replaced by Canarian wines.
Likewise, groups of Moorish population and black Africans will arrive,
captured to be used as slaves on plantations, or as labor in the use of
agricultural machinery, despite a papal letter of 1434, in which Eugene
IV declared them free people. , prohibiting the trafficking of men on
the island. In 1514, when they were equal in rights, they were baptized,
mixing with the European settlers.
Sugar cane was introduced by
Alonso Fernández de Lugo. The island's territories were divided between
European merchants, farmers and artisans. In this way, in 1508, Juan
Fernández de Lugo sold his sugar cane crops as well as water reserves in
Tazacorte and Argual to an Andalusian named Dinarte; He sold them a year
later to the Welser Family, who would pass them on to the Belgian Jakob
Groenenberch (Jacobo Monteverde), who would end up selling them to his
compatriot Van de Valle.
Starting in 1553, the cultivation of
sugar cane ceased to be profitable due to mass production from Central
and South America. Many of the plantations were dedicated to wine
production. Malvasia wine produced by the young volcanic soils in the
south of the island became the island's main export. The main customer
of La Palma wines was England. The splendor of Palmero wine lasted until
the 19th century, when there was a decline caused by changing consumer
tastes. However, even today Malvasía wine continues to be cultivated and
produced although it is not the wine preferred by the masses of
consumers.
In the 16th century, La Palma received, after Antwerp and Seville,
the privilege of trade with America. The port of Santa Cruz de La Palma
immediately became one of the most important ports of the Spanish
Empire. This new source of wealth in turn attracted pirates who attacked
the island to appropriate the treasures from the Indies. François Le
Clerc and his group of French pirates took the city in 1553, stealing
everything transportable and burning what could not be transported.
After that catastrophe, the city's houses, churches and convents, as
well as its defensive forts, had to be rebuilt. With the new defenses,
Francis Drake's attack in 1585 was repelled, but he was unable to land.
Trade with America also generated another series of activities such
as shipyards. Santa Cruz de La Palma attracted many foreign merchants
(Flemish, French, Castilian, Italian, Portuguese, etc.) giving the town
an international feel. Streets with foreign names are still witnesses of
that era today, such as O'Daly Street (Irish) or Vandale Street
(Flemish). The decline began in the mid-17th century due to a concession
of 1657 that required all ships bound for America to register in
Tenerife. In 1778, Charles III opened all the ports of Spain to trade
with America, preventing Santa Cruz de La Palma from recovering from the
economic crisis in which it was immersed at that time.
Without the pirate threat, life on La Palma continued peacefully. From each economic crisis suffered, the island rose, not because of its mineral wealth but because of the fertility of its land. After the cultivation of sugar cane and vines, the production of honey, tobacco and silk began. Since the beginning of the 16th century, the planting of mulberry trees had begun, making La Palma a focus of silk production. In 1830, the cultivation of cochineal, a parasite of prickly pear trees from which carmine was extracted, was introduced from Mexico. With the development of synthetic dyes in 1880, cochineal cultivation was no longer profitable. To overcome this crisis, banana cultivation was introduced, promoted by Elder and Fyffes, two British companies in 1878.
Meanwhile, the common people hardly benefited from the wealth that the island produced. As late as the 19th century, most of the island's inhabitants lived in wooden houses with thatched roofs, due to the high costs involved in building stone houses. One of the main problems was the lack of consumer goods. Due to the monoculture practiced on the island, there was a lack of land to grow grain to feed the population. Since the 16th century, grain had to be imported, paying very high prices for it. The parish priest of La Palma paid his taxes with a thousand dollars, which encouraged the population to do the same. The Inquisition issued an anathema over the entire island, causing no Christian burial to be carried out for several years. Poverty in the countryside was so great that in many families the malnourished and poorly dressed men and women, as the missionary Juan de Medinilla related in 1758 in a letter to the bishop, had to take turns attending mass on Sundays and holidays, due to lack of clothing.
When the military uprising of 1936 took place, which would give rise
to the Spanish civil war, the island of La Palma resisted the coup and
maintained republican legality between July 18 and 25, when it reached
the city of Santa Cruz de La Palma the Canalejas gunboat. This period of
time will be known as The Red Week.
The military coup fails on
this island when the message sent by the coup plotters to the military
commander Baltasar Gómez Navarro, who was to lead the coup on La Palma,
was intercepted by the head of telegraphs. At that time, Tomás Yanes
Rodríguez, from the Republican Left, was a delegate of the Government on
the island. When the news of the coup arrives, the Popular Front
declares a general strike, and popular militias are formed, but the
Government Delegation does not authorize the seizure of the military
barracks and always tries to prevent the workers' organizations from
taking too much power (at this time the figure of the communist José
Miguel Pérez, and in some municipalities like Tazacorte communist
organizations have great importance). Upon the arrival of the gunboat
Canalejas, the Government Delegation decided not to offer any type of
armed resistance and ordered the demobilization of the popular militias,
trusting that the Government of the Republic would send reinforcements,
that the coup would fail and that legality would be restored throughout
the nation.
The Civil War was not fought in the Canary Islands, but despite this, its consequences were suffered. The post-war period, together with the economic crisis that occurred, brought years of hardship to the island. Due to the lack of imported goods, the palm trees had to base their diet on bananas, generating a wide variety of products derived from them such as banana flour. Once the post-war period ended, La Palma developed its economy and infrastructure little by little. Banana exports recovered and the construction of roads and canals began to transport water from the streams to the crop fields. The most important work of the time was the construction of the summit road, which linked the municipalities of Santa Cruz de La Palma and Los Llanos de Aridane through a tunnel under the peaks of the island, greatly shortening the duration of the route linked to the commissioning of the airport. With the arrival of democracy, the island's economy, heavily dependent on banana agriculture, diversified into other sectors, especially tourism, which today constitutes the main engine of the Canary Islands economy.
La Palma, as part of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands,
depends, depending on the different powers, on the Government of Spain,
the Government of the Canary Islands and the Island Council of La Palma.
Island Directorate of the Government Delegation in the Canary
Islands
This institution is in charge of representing the Government
of Spain on the island and of managing all those powers that have not
been transferred to the Government of the Canary Islands. The
headquarters of the Insular Directorate is located on the maritime
avenue of Santa Cruz de La Palma. Since July 2018, the insular director
of the General State Administration in La Palma is Ana María de León
Expósito.
The councils, formed from the Law of Councils of 1912, are the
governmental and administrative forms of the Canary Islands and mainly
fulfill two functions. On the one hand, they provide services and
exercise the powers of the Autonomous Community and on the other, they
are the local entity that governs the island. In the 2003 elections,
José Luis Perestelo Rodríguez, of the Canarian Coalition, was elected
president, a group that obtained 49.7% of the votes, followed by the
PSOE, with 22.6%, and the PP, with 21.6%. of the votes.
In the
2019 elections and after a motion of censure presented by the PP and the
PSOE, the president of the corporation is the popular Mariano Hernández
Zapata.
The Common Deputy is the Ombudsman in the Canary Islands. He is appointed by the Parliament of the Canary Islands to defend constitutional rights and freedoms at the regional level. Its headquarters are located on O'Daly Street in Santa Cruz de La Palma, with offices on each island. It is not an administrative body of La Palma as it exercises its functions at the regional level.
The island of La Palma is the fifth most populated officially in the
Canary archipelago and the eighth in Spain: as of January 1, 2020, and
according to INE sources, it had a total of 83,439 registered
inhabitants.1 The other islands Of the archipelago that follow La Palma
in population are La Gomera, with 21,678 inhabitants, and El Hierro,
with 11,147 inhabitants in 2020. Historically, La Palma was (after
Tenerife and Gran Canaria) the third most populated island in the Canary
Islands until 1998, since then Lanzarote has been.
Around 25% of
the total population of the island of La Palma (20,043 inhabitants)
resides in the municipality of Los Llanos de Aridane, and around 40%
(34,651 people) resides in the Aridane Valley. La Palma has the
population highly concentrated in two cities: Santa Cruz de La Palma
(12,783 inhabitants) and Los Llanos de Aridane (3,547 inhabitants). The
municipality of Los Llanos de Aridane is followed in population by Santa
Cruz de La Palma (15,711), El Paso (7,457), Breña Alta (7,086) and Breña
Baja (5,377), all of them with more than 5,000 inhabitants. The
municipality of Garafía is the one with the smallest population on the
entire island (1607). Furthermore, La Palma registers a high level of
unregistered population, which shows the number of tourists it receives
annually and the growing migratory phenomena. However, it is considered
that the theoretical figures do not reflect reality, since a large part
of the legal population of the island does not actually reside there: it
is estimated that it is reduced to around 55,000 real inhabitants at
most (including tourists and unregistered residents).
In recent
years, La Palma has experienced notable population stagnation. In 1990,
a total of 82,131 inhabitants were registered on the island, a figure
that increased to 82,483 inhabitants in the year 2000. These data
reflect an increase of 352 people. However, between 2000 and 2010, the
population increased by 4,841 inhabitants, reaching 87,324.
As in the rest of the archipelago and the country, the population of
the island of La Palma is mostly Catholic, although there are also
minorities of other religions such as small Muslim communities. The
island has two archpriests belonging to the Diocese of San Cristóbal de
La Laguna: that of Santa Cruz de La Palma and that of Los Llanos de
Aridane.
The island is under the patronage of the Virgin of the
Snows and San Miguel Arcángel. An insular holiday on the island is
August 5, the festival of the Virgin of the Snows.
Currently, about 3,000 hectares of bananas are cultivated on the island. After Tenerife, it is the second island in the Canary Islands where it is cultivated the most; In addition, there are plantations of citrus fruits, avocados, vegetables, potatoes and grapes (for wine production). The transfer of water from the peaks to the orchards is done through a network of filter galleries and channels. The livestock is mainly goat, intended for obtaining milk and making cheese. A growing source of income is tourism, which is concentrated in the areas of Los Cancajos and Puerto Naos.
Unlike agriculture, manufacturing and industry have a limited presence on La Palma. On the island there are some establishments that transform local products into consumer products or works of art. Also, thanks to tourism, the construction industry has an increasing presence on the island. There was only one factory, the El Paso cigar factory, with 300 workers, which produced large quantities of cigars. The main market is German. There are also small embroidery and silk workshops.
La Palma's main exports are agricultural products. Despite this, the balance of imports and exports remains negative on the island, that is, more is imported than is exported. Among the exported products are bananas, oranges, lemons and agricultural products. The main imports, generally from peninsular Spain, are oil, consumer products and mechanical and electrical products.
Development
In 1890 there were more hotels on La Palma than today.
At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century,
many convalescent Englishmen visited the island in search of cures. A
few decades later, modern tourism began, reaching its highest point in
the 1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s, the number of tourists decreased,
moving the island away from the mass tourism that was developing on the
neighboring island of Tenerife. . At the end of the 1980s, with the
expansion of the airport, charter flights began to arrive from several
European cities.
With an offer of 7,500 beds, in La Palma we cannot speak of mass
tourism. There are few large hotels, since tourists normally rent
apartments or houses. Germans make up 80% of the visitors to the island.
In the area of Los Llanos de Aridane and El Paso there is an important
colony of German residents who have chosen the island as their permanent
place of residence.
Near the southern end of the island there is
an underwater 'cemetery' with 39 stone crosses erected on sand and rock,
in homage to the martyrs of Tazacorte, 39 Portuguese and Spanish Jesuit
friars who were thrown overboard from their ship in 1570 off the coast
of Fuencaliente by the pirate Jacques de Sores. The dive to this unique
place is known as Las Cruces de Malpique and is one of the most
requested on this island, declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO.
Occasionally strong currents, excellent visibility, maximum depth of 25
meters and easy access from the coast.
It cannot be established whether La Palma will remain a quiet place
with little tourism or whether it will succumb to mass tourism. The
authorities (both the council and the different municipalities) and
environmental groups do not agree on the maximum number of beds that the
island could support. Some data put it at 80,000, although the most
moderate estimates only estimate 20,000.
Although every day the
need to evolve towards sustainable tourism is more appreciated and the
majority of tourists who currently visit La Palma do so looking for a
differentiated destination based on small (rural) hotels and leisure
infrastructures integrated into the landscape and respectful with the
environment, there are some urban and tourist projects, promoted by City
Councils and Cabildo de la Isla, that seriously threaten the integrity
of several protected natural spaces: 18-hole golf courses and their
hotels threaten the Protected Landscape of Tamanca, a pine forest of
great value in Fuencaliente, Monteverde and a special bird protection
area (SPA) in La Pavona, etc. Since the mid-1990s, around 140,000
tourists have visited the island each year, of which 100,000 are
Germans. Agriculture continues to be, however, the island's greatest
source of wealth. The beaches of Los Cancajos and Puerto Naos have the
blue flag, which guarantees a high level of quality.
For some years now, so-called Rural Tourism has been implemented on
the island. This tourist modality consists of the remodeling and
modernization of old houses to convert them into guest houses,
respecting both the interior and exterior architecture. This project,
initially funded by the LEADER project of the European Union, helps
preserve the island's landscapes since old houses can only be remodeled
by making small extensions. The first entity, established in 1992, to
promote this sector was the Isla Bonita Rural Tourism Association, which
brings together islanders who own establishments.
The Isla Bonita
Rural Tourism Association is an organization that promotes this
activity.
Due to the location of the island and the height it reaches above sea
level, several telescopes have been installed at the Roque de los
Muchachos observatory. The geographical location, in the middle of the
Atlantic, and the peculiar climate cause the formation of clouds between
1000 and 2000 m high, which act as a mirror and prevent light pollution
from coastal towns from making stargazing difficult.
In order to
protect the quality of the sky, the Spanish Government, at the proposal
of the parliament of the Islands, approved the Law on the Protection of
Astronomical Quality on October 31, 1988 and the Regulation that
regulates it on March 13, 1992. . The Law of the Sky protects the island
from light pollution, radioelectric pollution, atmospheric pollution and
regulates air traffic over the observatories avoiding interference. As
an example, a large part of the island's municipalities have public
lighting with orange light pointed towards the ground.
The Sky
Law was a pioneering law in Europe and has favorable effects on
environmental conservation, energy savings and the preservation of the
island's animal species (especially nocturnal ones). However, the
restrictions on economic activity implied by the Law of Heaven may have
negative effects on industrial development on La Palma.
The Isaac Newton Telescope Group (ING) operates three: the 4.2 m
William Herschel Telescope, the 2.5 m Isaac Newton Telescope and the 1 m
Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope.
The 2.5 m Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT)
The 1 m Swedish Solar Telescope (SST), operated by the Institute of
Solar Physics.
The Dutch Open Telescope (DOT), 0.45 m
A 0.6 m
telescope to locate the areas to be investigated
The Carlsberg
Meridian Telescope (CMT)
The 1.2 m Mercator Telescope
The
Liverpool Telescope, 2 m
The Great Telescope of the Canary Islands,
(GRANTECAN), 10.4 m76
The 3.6 m National Galileo Telescope (TNG)
The MAGIC Telescope, an open Cherenkov-type telescope to observe
high-energy radiation (gamma rays)
The DOT and SST have been built to
study the Sun.
Basketball has been widely practiced in the island's schools and has achieved great popularity, especially among the young population. Currently the highest representative of the island is the C.B. Aridane plays in regional leagues. There are also other teams that play in regional and local leagues.
Soccer is the sport par excellence of La Palma, and it is also the one with the largest number of followers. The three local teams with the most fans are the Club Deportivo Messengero, the Sociedad Deportiva Tenisca in Santa Cruz de La Palma and the Unión Deportiva Los Llanos de Aridane in the municipality of the same name. In total there are 19 federated clubs. These teams compete in the regional categories of the Canary Islands, with the Tenerife football federation having a headquarters in the capital of the island.
The Transvulcania is a mountain ultramarathon, it is based on a very demanding route of just over 73 km in distance and 8,500 m of accumulated elevation gain. Since 2012, it has been scoring for the Mountain Running World Championship.
Numerous native games are played on La Palma. Some come from ancient working methods, such as the Salto del Pastor, which was the way shepherds descended from the peaks, or the Calabazo, which was the way to pass water from one channel to another. Among the Canarian sports practiced on the island, it is worth highlighting the following:
The Canarian fight takes place within a circle, generally made of
sand, called terrero. In it, two fighters face each other, holding each
other, trying to take each other down. The island's body that oversees
this sport is the Canarian Island Wrestling Federation, and has its
headquarters in Los Llanos de Aridane.
On La Palma, there are ten
lands distributed across nine municipalities:
San Andrés y Sauces:
Terrero San Andrés y Sauces
Santa Cruz de la Palma:
Terrero
Candelaria
Terrero Benahoare
Breña Alta:
Terrero Antonio García
Mallet:
Terrace of Villa de Mazo
Fuencaliente
Municipal Land
Juan Carlos Martín Guillén
Step:
Terrero Tamanca-Las Manchas
The Plains of Aridane:
Terrero Camilo León
Tazacorte:
Tazacorte
Land
Tijarafe:
Tijarafe Land
La Palma has several clubs
that participate in the Canary Islands Government Regional League. These
clubs are Bediesta (from San Andrés y Sauces), Candelaria-Mirca and
Tedote (from Santa Cruz de la Palma), Balta (from Breña Alta), San Blas
(from Mazo), San Antonio (from Fuencaliente ), the Las Manchas (from El
Paso), the Aridane (from Los Llanos), the Tazacorte (from Tazacorte) and
the Candelaria-Tijarafe (from Tijarafe).
The game of palo canario is a martial art that is practiced between two players who, without coming into contact with the opponent's body, carry out a fight with sticks. The game of stick, in its origin, did not have a recreational nature, but was a method of combat that some believe was already used by the pre-colonial Canaries. On the island of La Palma, there are two member clubs of the Palo Game Federation, the Club Escuela-El Paso and the Grupo Galguén Club. These clubs participate in the Palo Game League, in which teams from La Palma compete. Palma, Tenerife, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura. Despite lacking clubs, tradition is still maintained in the form of exhibitions, especially on religious festivals. The Vidal style is originally from Garafía.
Similar to the Occitan game of petanque, Canarian pelota has boomed in recent years, with several teams and courts existing on the island. Basically it consists of scoring points for one's own team by throwing some balls that must be left as close as possible to an object called mingue or boliche. It is played on a rectangular field of sand or dirt between 18 and 25 m long and between 3.5 and 6 m wide. In La Palma there is a love for this game, actively participating in the competitions held both at the island and regional level.
The geographical characteristics of the island's seabed, together with the great quality of its waters, make La Palma a special place for scuba diving. The volcanic bottom of the palm presents ravines and underground lava arches. In some areas, due to the great depth, freediving is practiced, with Audrey Mestre achieving the depth record (125 meters) off the coast of Puerto Naos.
In addition to those mentioned, other sports are practiced on the
island, of which the following is a small list:
Cycling: several
cycling competitions are held throughout the year, highlighting mountain
biking.
Motocross: there are several circuits on the island, where
tests are usually held, some of them valid for the Canary Islands
Regional Motocross Championship.
Gravel rallies: gravel rally
competitions are held throughout the year on La Palma, some of them
scoring in the Canary Islands Gravel Rally Championship.
Paragliding:
this sport has been practiced on the island for approximately twenty
years and although it is not the majority, it is practiced, especially
by foreign visitors. On several occasions a National League test has
been organized in the month of December. The most important flight area
is Puerto Naos, in addition to Barlovento, Risco de la Concepción,
Puntallana, etc. Sometimes high altitude flights can be made from Pico
de la Nieve.
Other minority sports, which also attract tourists, are
surfing, hiking and caving. In the case of caving, its practice on the
island has evolved in the last ten years to become one of the benchmarks
of the activity in the archipelago.
The most notable celebration of La Palma takes place in the so-called
Lustral Festivals of the Bajada de la Virgen de las Nieves, patron saint
of the island who, every five years—those ending in -0 or -5—moves on
the second Saturday of July, from the Royal Insular Sanctuary towards
the capital of the island until his name day, August 5. During these
celebrations, apart from the pilgrimage that accompanies the patron
saint to Santa Cruz and vice versa, there are representations of the
conquest of the Island, simulations of Benahoarite rituals and the Dance
of the Dwarves, the most prominent act of the festival, in the like
dancers dressed as dwarfs in nineteenth-century costumes parade through
the streets of the capital practicing a characteristic dance. The other
important representation is the Minuet dance, which imitates a
nineteenth-century dance.
Carnival is another of the most
celebrated holidays. Despite having all the characteristic elements of
the Canarian carnivals (carnival queen, troupes, murgas, etc.), the
Palmero Carnival stands out for the celebration of the Indianos. This
festival, which takes place on Carnival Monday, is a mockery of the
indianos, that is, the palmeros returned from the Americas. For the
occasion, everyone dresses up in lace dresses and pristine white
guayaberas in the same way that the wealthy emigrants returned. After a
performance in which a vintage ship arrives at the port full of Indians,
with their parrots, maids (known as the black Tomasa) and other
characteristic elements, a pitched battle of talcum powder begins
through the streets of the capital to the rhythm of the son Cuban.
The celebration of the Day of the Cross on May 3 in the towns of the
eastern region of the island also has a great tradition, in which the
founding of the city of Santa Cruz de la Palma is doubly commemorated,
which occurred on May 3, 1493 and the festival of the cross, for which
numerous crosses spread throughout each town and neighborhood are strung
and dressed with jewels, and it is customary to visit the different
crosses on the night of the previous day.
In addition, each
municipality of La Palma has its patron saint festivals, with even
independent festivals in some neighborhoods, such as Argual, in the
municipality of Los Llanos.
La Palma folklore is similar to that of the rest of the Canary
Islands, with the exception of the sirinoque dance that is native to the
island.
Chico de Canarias International Film Festival
The
Festivalito, the name by which the Chico International Film Festival of
the Canary Islands-Island of La Palma is better known, is a digital film
festival that has been held every summer in La Palma since 2002. It was
the first international competition to incorporate the filming to its
programming taking advantage of new technologies.
The
Festivalito, since its first edition, adds to the usual sections in
traditional film festivals - official and informative sections,
retrospectives, round tables... - a contest that challenged participants
to write, shoot and release a short film within the framework of the
festival taking advantage of the virtues of digital technology and the
natural space of the island. It is the La Palma Rueda section, through
which filmmakers from the five continents have passed. Since 2002, more
than 120 short films have been produced under the La Palma Rueda label,
in addition to two experimental feature films. The works must be
inspired by a motto that is made public at the opening gala, and are
premiered at the closing ceremony of the competition.
The
Festivalito awards, which are awarded both in the exhibition sections
and in the La Palma Rueda section, are the Festivalito Stars, which are
designed each year by a different artist inspired by the limpid
firmament of La Palma.
At the cinema
In recent years, the island has been the recipient
of filming of some film productions, documentaries, series chapters,
short films or specific shots in both feature films and other
audiovisual content. Some of the most important filming carried out on
the island are:
Berlin Station: American television drama series
created by Olen Steinhauer, in one of the chapters the island of La
Palma served as the setting to represent Latin America.
Journey to
the Lost World: It is a 1977 Technicolor adventure/fantasy film in which
the island appears in numerous scenes.
Palma's gastronomy stands out for being one of the most elaborate in the archipelago, especially with regard to its desserts, present on most of the islands, and its mojos.
Escachón or escacho palmero
Chicharrones
jumble
Old clothes
Chickpea or chickpea soup
Rabbit in Salmorejo
wheat stew
Escaldon
Drunken omelet (from Barlovento)
Mojos
It is a
type of traditional sauce from the Canary Islands, an essential
accompaniment to some typical foods of the archipelago. Due to its
pepper content, many types of mojos are spicy, among them are coriander
mojo, parsley, paprika, etc. However, the range of these sauces is very
wide and allows the use of different ingredients in their preparation
such as almonds, cheese, saffron and fried bread, among other
possibilities.
Wrinkled potatoes
Both fish and meat are
usually accompanied with wrinkled potatoes. This is a typical dish from
all of the Canary Islands that simply responds to the way potatoes are
cooked. With water, a lot of salt, and without peeling. In 2016 they
were proclaimed a gastronomic wonder of Spain in a contest promoted by
Allianz Global Assistance, after winning first place through popular
vote over the Internet.
bienmesabe
Prince Albert
nutty
quesillo
Scrapes
almond
cheese
Trouts (stuffed with almonds)
Wine (especially malvasia and tea)
cane rum
honey Ron
Coffee
liquor
mistela
Vine
The island of La Palma has been the birthplace of illustrious people
in multiple cultural, artistic and scientific fields. Below is a summary
of the most renowned characters of La Palma:
Native
Tanausú,
Benahoarita captain of Aceró.
Maxerco, aboriginal king of La Palma.
Francisco Díaz Taño, Jesuit priest and missionary, defender of the
Guaraní Indians.
Luis Tomás Leal, provincial of the Order of
Preachers in the Canary Islands.
Manuel Díaz Hernández, versatile
enlightened and humanist priest.
Elías Yanes Álvarez, archbishop of
Zaragoza, former president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference.
Bernardo Álvarez Afonso, bishop of the Diocese of San Cristóbal de La
Laguna.
Cristóbal del Hoyo-Solórzano y Sotomayor, writer and poet of the
Enlightenment.
Antonio José Álvarez de Abreu, lawyer, professor,
writer, governor, minister.
Félix Duarte Pérez, poet, writer and
creator of Mother's Day.
Elsa López, poet, novelist, journalist.
Félix Francisco Casanova, poet and writer.
Domingo Acosta
Screenwriter, writer and journalist.
Manuel González Méndez, painter, musician, sculptor and professor of
Fine Arts.
Carmen Arozena, painter and engraver.
Gregorio Toledo,
painter and teacher.
Antonio González Suárez, painter and teacher.
Lino Britto, dancer, theater and musical director.
Ima Galguén,
singer and composer.
Luis Morera, singer and composer. Member of the
Taburiente group from La Palma.
Pedro Fausto, painter.
Policy
Alonso Pérez Díaz, lawyer, professor, politician.
José Miguel Pérez
Pérez, founder of the Communist Party of Cuba and general secretary of
the Communist Party of the Canary Islands
Blas Pérez González,
lawyer, writer, politician, minister.
Company
Pedro Capote
Lorenzo, tobacco industrialist.
Manolo Blahnik, fashion designer.
Communication and education
Guillermo Sautier Casaseca,
scriptwriter and radio writer.
Leoncio Afonso Pérez, academic,
thinker, researcher and geographer.
Luis Felipe Gómez Wangüemert,
professor, journalist, farmer, politician.
Juan Régulo Pérez,
professor, philologist, editor.
Jaime Pérez García de Aguiar,
journalist, historian, official chronicler.
Antonio Camacho Díaz,
economist, mathematician, professor emeritus.
Medicine
Elías
Santos Abreu, doctor, scientist, journalist, artist.
Javier Pérez
Pérez, president of C. D. Tenerife and doctor.
José María Brito
Pérez, surgeon, researcher and professor.
Sport
Rosana Simón,
Olympic athlete.
José Mata, matador and actor.