The Canary Islands are part of Spain and are located about 100 km
off the West African coast near Morocco. Two million people live on
the islands. Since the Canary Islands have become a major European
tourist destination, all major islands have well developed
communications systems, airports and ports.
Ethnically, the
population is mainly made up of people of Hispanic origin (Spanish,
Berber and Portuguese, as well as "returnees" from Central and Latin
America) and an increasing number of African and Eastern European
migrants. Immigrants from Western European countries (particularly
German and British retirees) also make up a not inconsiderable
proportion.
The islands were conquered by the Spanish in the
15th century. The people of the old Canarians were almost completely
destroyed. The common name Guanche comes from their language and
means people from Tenerife, but is often used for all old Canarians.
The origin of these natives is not completely clear. There is much
to suggest that they immigrated from North Africa in several waves.
They lived at the level of the Stone Age and subsisted mainly by
farming on terraced fields and raising sheep and goats. Some
remnants of their culture still exist today. So many place names
have their origin in the language of this people. Traditions such as
the shepherd's jump, the Lucha wrestling match and the whistling
language El Silbo on La Gomera also come from the Guanches.
The
Canary Islands consist of seven main islands:
Tenerife - the largest and most
touristically developed island.
Fuerteventura - a mecca for
windsurfers.
Gran Canaria
Lanzarote - flat relief and dry
climate, spectacular volcanic landscape in the west of the island.
La Palma
La
Gomera
El Hierro
and
several small rock islands:
Los Lobos (Island of the Monk Seals),
located in the Strait of La Bocaina, between Fuerteventura and
Lanzarote.
The Chinijo archipelago is a small archipelago north
of Lanzarote, made up of the uninhabited islands of Alegranza,
Montaña Clara, Roque del Este, Roque del Oeste, and the only
inhabited island, La Graciosa.
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. Because of the long tradition of tourism on the islands, it is also possible to spend a holiday there without knowing a word of the local language. With both German and English, you can usually get by without any problems, especially on the islands of Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, which are better developed for tourism.
Airplane
There are commercial airports on the main islands, which
are regularly served by many airports in Europe. In Tenerife it is
Tenerife South Airport (TFS), in Lanzarote it is Arrecife Airport (ACE),
in Gran Canaria it is Las Palmas Airport (LPA), in Fuerteventura it is
Puerto del Rosario Airport (FUE). The airline Binter Canarias connects
all the Canary Islands. It also connects the Canary Islands with Africa,
especially with Gambia, where attractive day trips are offered.
Ship
The islands of Tenerife and Gran Canaria each have a large
seaport (commercial port). The islands are connected to each other and
to the Spanish mainland by numerous ferries. The port of Las Palmas is
arguably the hub of these connections. The connection runs daily from
Morro Jable. There is an hourly connection between Lanzarote and
Fuerteventura. Some of the traffic is handled by Fred. Olsen Express
offered. But the state line Armas also runs here. Many new connections
are to be set up. You build different ports on the Canary Islands.
Cruise ships also call at the ports of the Canary Islands.
By plane
The islands can be reached by flight connections, some of
which depart several times a day. These routes are served by the Canary
Islands airline Binter Canarias. These green aircraft fly to all
commercial airports on the islands.
By boat
The islands are
accessible to each other by ferry connections. However, a stopover on
one of the larger islands is often necessary to get to the destination.
The Spanish shipping company Armas and also the Norwegian shipping
company Fred. Olsen are the companies that operate the ferry lines. The
main port is the port of Las Palmas, where there are many daily
connections. But also all other islands have daily connections.
The most important connections in brief: Lanzarote and Fuerteventura are
served by Fred. Olsen connected every hour. The catamaran takes just 12
minutes for the route. But Armas also frequents here. With the ferry,
the company takes a little longer. It goes from Playa Blanca on
Lanzarote to Corralejo on Fuerteventura. From Morro Jable and from
Puerto del Rosario on Fuerteventura there is a daily connection to Las
Palmas.
In the street
On the main islands of the Canary
Islands (Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote) there is
now a well-developed bus system between the important towns. The prices
are very cheap and the traffic is now very reliable. Maps of the bus
routes are easy to get. The buses are of Central European standard, but
most do not have air conditioning.
The roads on the islands are
well developed thanks to EU funding between the main towns. Some smaller
places can only be reached via gravel roads. Here you should rent an
off-road vehicle, which is also offered by all well-known car rental
companies such as CarDelMar or CICAR. It is important to look at the car
before renting it and to report any damage immediately. You should also
pay attention to the amount of the deductible for comprehensive
insurance. Large providers such as TUI Cars have fully comprehensive
insurance included as standard, including reimbursement of the
deductible. On some islands there are roads for which there is no
insurance cover or for which an increased premium is due. This must be
clarified with the landlord on site.
Cautious people already book
their rental car in Germany. Then German law applies to legal problems.
However, it is much cheaper to rent a car in the Canary Islands. In the
low season in particular, local providers often grant short-term price
reductions that cannot be known when booking in Germany.
Many tour companies offer guided tours of the islands. With the bus or with the minibus you will be taken over one of the islands. If you choose to travel by minibus, you can also get to places on the islands that are otherwise difficult to reach. The guides are well-informed and knowledgeable, but whether you like it is up to you. In any case, you will definitely get across the respective island and see many different sights. But the tours by bus are also highly recommended. Most tours are offered, which also include lunch. This food is usually very simple, but also very Spanish. Something different than the hotel kitchen.
The cuisine on the islands is always maritime. Here you can enjoy a
variety of fish and seafood. But you don't miss out on the meat dishes
either. Roast pork and beef are available, whether in one piece or
briefly roasted. Garlic plays an important role, but so do many other
fresh vegetables. There are also potatoes. In the Canary Islands, they
are not peeled or peeled, but cooked with the skin on and then served
with the skin on. Then there is aioli. The two sauces Mojo Rojo (red
Mojo, also called Mojo Picon, i.e. hot Mojo) and Mojo Verde (the non-hot
green Mojo) are very well known. Mojar means "to get wet".
Other
Canarian specialties are:
* Baifito en adobo (roast kid): For
this dish, the meat of a young goat is marinated in white wine, garlic,
parsley, thyme, paprika, bay leaves and salt. Then the kid is fried in a
pot and then slowly cooked.
* Conejo en salmorejo (Marinated
rabbit): Similar to the kid, the rabbit is also put in a marinade. This
consists of wine, bay leaves, cumin, oregano and thyme.
* Local
stews and soups: These include cress stew (potaje de berros) and ropa
vieja (chickpea, meat, vegetable and potato stew).
* Platé: Platé
is the Canary banana wine. There are numerous banana plantations on the
islands. The relatively small Canary Island bananas (Plátano de
Canarias) are mostly exported, but some remain on the island and are
processed into wine, among other things. The wine is described as fruity
and sparkling and has an alcohol content of 12 percent.
*
Barraquito coffee specialty, consisting of espresso, milk (condensed
milk), liqueur 43 (Spanish specialty), flavored with cinnamon.
The nightlife on the Canary Islands is very different. On Gran
Canaria in the tourist centers of Maspalomas and Playa del Inglés you
can find a bar or disco that is open 24 hours a day. But it's not nearly
as hectic as on Ibiza or even on Mallorca. Many gay couples meet on
Maspalomas beach. Many bars are therefore designed for this.
Most
towns in the Canary Islands are designed for family vacations. There is
something going on until midnight, but then it quiets down very quickly.
There are one or two discotheques in the villages that are open until
the morning. But it's more relaxed.
The islands are generally considered very safe. However, you should beware of pickpockets, carnation women, gambling on the beach promenade and various other sly "business ideas". The general emergency number is 112.
Some goods are much cheaper in the Canary Islands than in mainland
Spain, since no Spanish sales taxes are levied on these islands. These
products include B. the petrol (1l for 1.08 €, Nov. 2012), but also
perfumes, cigarettes and some other popular souvenirs. It is rarely
worthwhile to buy these goods in duty-free shops. Prices are quite
comparable in most shops on the islands.
However, the special
status of the islands should be noted: they belong to the European
Union. According to the Schengen Agreement, identity checks have been
abolished, but they do not apply to the sales tax community area and are
therefore equivalent to third country areas. That means: bringing
cigarettes up to 200 cigarettes/person, 1 liter of spirits (over 22%),
goods worth €430 is duty-free. Goods that go beyond this must be
declared to customs.
The first written document with a direct reference to the Canary
Islands is due to Pliny the Elder, who cites the trip of King Juba II of
Mauritania to the islands in 40 BC. C. and refers to them for the first
time as Fortunate Islands (Fortunatae Insulae). In this document the
term Canaria also appears for the first time, used to refer to the
island of Gran Canaria.
According to Pliny, this name was given
to the island in memory of two large mastiffs that Juba's envoys
captured there and later took to Mauretania (ancient region of the
northwestern Maghreb, not to be confused with present-day Mauretania),
and which appear represented on both sides of the current shield of the
Canary Islands.
Since ancient times, the plural toponym has been
used to refer to the entire archipelago. Thus, in the 4th century
Arnobius of Sicca wrote about the Canary Islands.
Some modern
theories relate the term Canary Islands to the North African ethnonym
canarii, a Berber group that was located in northwestern Africa. In
fact, Pliny himself mentions the canarii in another text, although he
again relates this term to dogs.
The historian José Juan Jiménez,
from the Museum of Nature and Man of Tenerife, maintains that: "The
Canary Islands owe their name to the cannis marinus, a species of large
monk seal that populated the coasts of the Archipelago until the 15th
century."
The flag of the Canary Islands has been official of this autonomous
community since 1982 by Organic Law 10/1982 of August 10 on the Statute
of Autonomy of the Canary Islands. This establishes, in article 7, the
following:
«The flag of the Canary Islands is made up of three equal
vertical stripes, whose colors are white, blue and yellow starting from
the flagpole»
Traditionally it is assumed that the colors of the
flag derive from the colors of the two current flags of the maritime
provinces of the Canary Islands; that of Tenerife (white and blue) and
that of Gran Canaria (blue and yellow), the order of the colors being
according to the geographical arrangement of both, that is, white on the
left, which corresponds to the west and Tenerife , the yellow on the
right that identifies with the east and Gran Canaria. The blue (shared
by both) is located in the center.
In the Official Gazette of the
Canary Islands no. 237, of December 2, 2005, the update of the Graphic
Corporate Identity Manual of the Government of the Canary Islands was
approved. This manual specifies, in Chapter I, the proportions of the
width of the flag and the type of official yellow and blue of its
colors. Two versions of the Canary Islands flag are also included in
this manual as the identity of the flag. Autonomous Community: the
version without shield, which corresponds to the description given in
the Statute of Autonomy, and the version that includes the Shield of the
Canary Islands in the center of the flag.
The Canary Islands are a geologically very recent volcanic
archipelago, barely 30 million years old. Its large volcanic edifices
rest on large blocks of oceanic crust, and in the contact zone with the
African continental crust. The arrangement of the islands reflects the
network of faults present in the oceanic crust.
The geological
history of the islands is very complex. We find several phases of lava
flows that give a typical volcanic relief. During the great glaciations,
the Canary Islands had a more arid climate that favored erosion and the
appearance of debris on the slopes and ravines.
The coasts are
the most exposed to the impetus of erosion, due to marine activity.
There are very few accumulation areas, which means the existence of very
few natural beaches. Large cliffs predominate. It is notable that the
Canary Islands are the Spanish region with the longest coastline: 1583
km.
The ravines are very characteristic of the Canary Islands:
they are the sporadic channels through which the current waters present
on the islands are directed. Their route is short, and they generally
have a very marked rectilinear profile. Its channel is covered with
debris carried by the waters.
The climate is subtropical oceanic, with temperatures mitigated all
year round by the sea and in summer by the trade winds. We find very
important variations in the rainfall regime. In some areas of the island
of La Palma, for example, annual rainfall exceeds 1200 mm. On the
eastern islands rainfall is scarcer than on the western ones; Thus
Fuerteventura and Lanzarote are characterized by an arid semi-desert
climate. The lack of rain has led to the installation of desalination
plants to supply urban areas, such as in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria or
Santa Cruz de Tenerife. In fact, the first desalination plant in Spain
was installed on the island of Lanzarote in 1964, and currently this
island and Fuerteventura are supplied entirely with desalinated
seawater. The porosity of the terrain, given its volcanic nature, makes
it difficult to use of rainwater in dams and reservoirs, although these
have a certain importance in Gran Canaria and La Gomera. In the western
islands, underground aquifers are used through galleries, with the
exception of the island of El Hierro, where wells and cisterns are more
important. A characteristic of some places on the islands is the
presence of mountains near the coast that cause air masses to condense,
giving rise to the phenomenon known as sea of clouds, and therefore, the
benefit of the vegetation in the area due to to humidity. However, due
to the existing microclimates on the same island, we can find areas
where humid forests appear and other areas where aridity is the main
characteristic.
The winds tend to blow more frequently from the
northeast, winds that, although they do not usually leave precipitation,
do report humidity to the areas facing that place, forming the
aforementioned sea of clouds in medium and high areas. The easterly
winds, siroco, are usually accompanied by haze, that is, suspended dust
from the Sahara Desert, sometimes reaching great density.
The
islands lack rivers although the ravines are numerous and the waters
flow quickly from the high areas to the coasts. Despite this, there are
some continuous currents of water in La Palma, La Gomera, Tenerife and
Gran Canaria.
Arranged from west to east, the Canary Islands are El Hierro, La
Palma, La Gomera, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and
La Graciosa, the first seven having their own administration and the
last being administratively attached to the island of Lanzarote.
Furthermore, to the north of Lanzarote are the islets of Montaña Clara,
Alegranza, Roque del Este and Roque del Oeste, these belonging, together
with the island of La Graciosa, to the Chinijo archipelago, and to the
northeast of Fuerteventura is the islet of Lobos. . There are also a
series of small adjacent rocks in the Canary Islands: the Anaga,
Garachico and Fasnia rocks in Tenerife, and the Salmor and Bonanza rocks
in El Hierro. The total sum of the surface of all the islands and islets
is 7446.95 km², this being 20.37% of the total surface of the autonomous
community, since this includes the special maritime area of the Canary
Islands waters.
The antipodes of the Canary Islands are located
in the Pacific Ocean, between New Zealand, New Caledonia, Australia and
the ocean.
El Hierro is the westernmost island of the archipelago and, among the
islands with its own administration, it is the smallest, with 268.71
km², and the least populated, with 11,423 inhabitants. Its capital is
Valverde (4,995 inhabitants). Formerly the entire island was made up of
a single municipality, but due to the Cabildos Law of 1912 the
municipality of Frontera was created and in the 21st century that of El
Pinar was created due to a dispute between its neighbors and those of
Frontera regarding the Virgin of the Kings (Patron Saint of El Hierro).
The entire island was declared a Biosphere Reserve in 2000. It is known
for its wind-bent juniper specimens; by the ancient Garoé or Holy Tree;
for its giant lizards, and because in the past the 0º meridian took
Punta de Orchilla as a reference, located in the west of the island.
Since the 18th century, people have traveled to this island to drink the
healing waters of the Well of Sabinosa, or Well of Health. The singer
and drummer Valentina la de Sabinosa, a figure in Canarian folklore, was
born here. The island also stands out for its seabed and its diving
centers. An underwater eruption took place between October 2011 and
March 2012. The underwater volcanic cone is located 88 meters deep, near
the town of La Restinga, in the Mar de las Calmas. The 2011 El Hierro
eruption was widely studied by modern scientific methods and its
duration was the longest in the history of the Canary Islands after that
of Timanfaya. With the construction of the Gorona del Viento hydro-wind
power plant, El Hierro became in the first island on the planet to
become completely self-sufficient in renewable energy in 2014, also
demonstrating that this type of energy is economically profitable, in
certain circumstances.
Some attractions of the island are the
Roques de Salmor, the Garoé tree, the Roque de La Bonanza, the
petroglyphs of El Julan and the Bajada de la Virgen de los Reyes, which
is celebrated every four years. In Las Puntas there is the smallest
hotel in the world with only two rooms.
La Palma, with 83,439 inhabitants,18 its entire 708.32 km² are a Biosphere Reserve. It has had recent volcanic activity, noticeable in the Teneguía volcano, which last erupted in 1971. In September In 2021, another volcanic eruption began, in the same alignment as the previous two (San Juan and Teneguía). In addition, it is the second highest island in the Canary Islands, with Roque de los Muchachos (2426 m) as the highest point. This peak is located on the limits of the Caldera de Taburiente national park in the municipality of El Paso, and in its vicinity is the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory of the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics: the Gran Telescopio Canarias is located there. , which with its main mirror of 10.40 m in diameter is the largest optical telescope on the planet. Due to its lush vegetation, La Palma is also known as the "Beautiful Island". Its capital is Santa Cruz de La Palma ( 13,842 in the capital, 17,084 inhabitants in the municipality), city where the Common Deputy of the Parliament of the Canary Islands is based (a position equivalent to the Ombudsman, but at the autonomous level), and the most populated municipality is Los Llanos de Aridane (20,766 inhabitants).
La Gomera has an area of 369.76 km² and, among the islands with its own administration, it is the second least populated island, after El Hierro, with 21,798 inhabitants. The island capital is San Sebastián de La Gomera (8,965 inhabitants) . In La Gomera is the Garajonay National Park, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986, which represents a good example of a laurel forest. For its part, the Gomero whistle (whistling language practiced by some inhabitants of the island), has also been a World Heritage Site since 2009. It is the only island in the Canary Islands in which no volcanic eruption has been recorded in historical times nor does it have volcanism. recent. There is only one recognizable volcanic cone, the rest of the volcanoes have been eroded leaving numerous rocks throughout the island geography. The island was the last territory that Christopher Columbus touched before arriving in America on his voyage of discovery in 1492: that is why it is also known as "Columbian Island." Some attractions of the island are La Torre del Conde, the Hermitage of Guadalupe (Patron Saint of La Gomera) in Puntallana, El Roque de Agando, Roque Blanco, the Chipude Fortress and the cliffs of Los Órganos. To reach the island until 1999 it was necessary to do so by boat, since there was no airport due to the rugged terrain without a single plain suitable for it. However, there previously existed a private aerodrome in the El Revolcadero area, very close to the current airport.
Tenerife is the largest island in the Canary Islands and the second in Spain, with an area of 2034.38 km². In addition, it is also the largest and most populated island in the Macaronesia region.14 With 931,646 inhabitants and a density With a population of 445 inhabitants/km², it is also the most populated island in the Canary Islands and in Spain. The most populated municipalities on the island are Santa Cruz de Tenerife (209,194 inhabitants) and San Cristóbal de La Laguna (155,549 inhabitants), Both cities are physically linked. These two municipalities form, together with El Rosario and Tegueste, the metropolitan area of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, which has about 400,000 inhabitants. Arona is the third most populated municipality on the island with (99,189 inhabitants). The city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife is the headquarters of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, the Captaincy General of the Canary Islands, the Cabildo of Tenerife and has a headquarters of the European University of the Canary Islands, the European School of Management Tenerife, with the headquarters in the Canary Islands of the Menéndez Pelayo International University and also with the University Business Institute of the University of La Laguna and several faculties of this university. The headquarters of the Spanish Institute of Oceanography is located in the city. It is also the most populated city of the island, of the province and insular capital, provincial and of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands together with Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The city of La Laguna is the second most populated on the island and third in the archipelago, it is declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, and it is home to the headquarters of the University of La Laguna and the National University of Distance Education. . It also has large cultural institutions in the Canary Islands such as the Ateneo de La Laguna, the Institute of Canarian Studies and the Royal Economic Society of Friends of the Country of Tenerife. La Laguna is the city where most of the research centers are concentrated. of the island thanks to the fact that it has the University of La Laguna. Among them we highlight, due to their international relevance, the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands, the University Institute of Tropical Diseases and Public Health of the Canary Islands, the Antonio González University Institute of Bio-Organics and the CSIC-Institute of Natural Products and Agrobiology. For their Part, also in this city is the headquarters of the Consultative Council of the Canary Islands, which is the supreme advisory body of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands. Four other municipalities also stand out for their tourist importance: La Orotava, Puerto de la Cruz in the north, and Arona and Adeje in the south. We must also mention the Villa Mariana de Candelaria, where the image of the Virgin of Candelaria, Patroness of the Canary Archipelago, is located. The patron saint of the Nivariense Diocese (which includes the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife) is the Virgen de los Remedios, who is venerated in La Laguna. A large part of the companies in the Canary Islands are concentrated in Tenerife. The island is known, by virtue of its climate, as "the island of eternal spring", and has several beaches of fine dark volcanic sand and various natural parks. Practically half of the island (48.6%) is under the different protection formulas attributed by the Canary Islands Network of Protected Natural Spaces. Of the 146 natural spaces collected by the aforementioned network in the entire archipelago, a total of 43 are found in Tenerife, thus being the island with the greatest number of spaces. Likewise, taking into account the percentage of territory protected with the Since each island contributes to the total of the archipelago, it should be noted that Tenerife is the island that tops the table with 37%. Among other protected natural spaces, it is home to the Teide National Park, also declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO: It is one of the most visited national parks in the world and it is home to the Teide volcano, which at 3,718 meters represents the roof of Spain and the third largest volcano in the world from its base. They also stand out in the island other natural spaces of great ecological value, such as the Corona Forestal natural park, which is the largest protected natural space in the Canary Islands, and the rural parks of Anaga (in the east) and Teno (in the west of the island). The Anaga Massif is the place with the largest number of endemisms in Europe and has been a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 2015. Geologically, it is also important to highlight the Cueva del Viento, which is the largest volcanic tube in the region. European Union and one of the largest in the world, in fact it is the fifth. Consequently, it is a territory of steep slopes, in which erosion has carved out steep valleys. On the northern slope, the most humid and fertile, is the Icod valley, which constitutes one of the main banana growing areas. The southern slopes are, on the contrary, semi-desert. The island is known internationally for the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnival, considered one of the most important in the world. Tenerife is the island that has the largest number of annual tourists in the Canary Islands. The municipality of Adeje in the south of the island has the highest concentration of 5-star hotels in Europe and also has what is considered the best luxury hotel in Spain according to World Travel Awards.
Gran Canaria is the second most populated island in the Canary Islands and the most densely populated as well as the most populated in the province of Las Palmas with 853,262 inhabitants. It is the third largest island in the Canary Islands and the fourth in Spain. The city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is the capital of the island, headquarters of the Government Delegation, the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands and the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, and shares the capital of the Canary Islands with Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Furthermore, with 381,223 inhabitants, it is the most populated city in the archipelago, as well as the ninth in Spain. Other important towns on the island are Telde, which with 102,164 inhabitants is the second most populated city on the island and the fourth in the archipelago, Vecindario (in the southeast), Arucas and Gáldar (in the north). Gáldar and Telde were the pre-Hispanic capitals of the island. In Teror is the image of the Virgen del Pino, Patroness of the Diocese of the Canary Islands (which includes the province of Las Palmas). The University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has its main campus in the capital's neighborhood of Tafira, with a cool and pleasant climate. The Rectorate of the University is located in Vegueta, in the historic center. Santa María de Guía houses the Canarian headquarters of the Fernando Pessoa University. Other university centers on the island are the Universidad del Atlántico Medio (private) in Tafira, the UNED, as well as the Universidad a Distancia de Madrid and the Universidad Alfonso X el Sabio. There are also several astronomical observatories such as the Temisas Observatory or the Pico de Las Nieves Radar. The Maspalomas Space Station played a crucial role in man's arrival on the moon. Some of the best-known companies in the Canary Islands are located on this island, with some national references such as Ron Arehucas, Grupo Kalise, Clipper, or Tirma. Other typical products are Teror chorizo, Moya sighs, Honey Rum and Bienmesabe. Tourism being the main economic activity of the island, the main tourist centers are found in the municipalities of San Bartolomé de Tirajana and Mogán, there are also a large number of hotels in the island capital and to a lesser extent in other towns. Of special relevance are the Oasis and the Maspalomas Dunes, one of the two dune fields that have existed on the island, the Guanarteme Dunes are currently missing. Other important tourist attractions are Roque Nublo and the colonial historic centers. The Real Club de Golf de Las Palmas is the oldest in Spain, while the Jardín Canario is the largest in Spain and one of the largest in Europe with 27 hectares. The island, with 1560.1 km², has a circular and very mountainous shape. In its central massif, the Roque Nublo (1813 m), the Pico de las Nieves (1949 m)43 and the Morro de la Agujereada (1956 m) stand out, the latter being the highest altitude on the island and in the province of The Palms. It has 33 protected spaces that correspond to 43% of the island's surface, among them well-preserved representations of Canarian pine forest stand out, such as the Tamadaba natural park (wet pine forest), the Pilancones natural park (dry pine forest) and the so-called Landscape. Cultural Center of the Risco Caído and the Sacred Mountain Spaces of Gran Canaria, a World Heritage Site declared by UNESCO on July 7, 2019. It has an extraordinary archaeological wealth with important sites such as the Cueva Pintada, the Cenobio de Valerón and others. . The Canary Museum houses a large amount of archaeological and anthropological material. In addition, approximately a third of the island territory and a marine strip in the southwest of the island have been cataloged by UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve. There have been several attempts to declare a national park in the center of the island, a project that is still moving forward. Due to its climatic and landscape variety, Gran Canaria is known as a "miniature continent." In it we can find everything from green landscapes in the north to desert landscapes in the south without traveling great distances. It has several beaches of fine golden sand such as those of Maspalomas, Playa del Inglés or Las Canteras. One of the PWA windsurfing world championship events is held annually on Pozo Izquierdo beach. In contrast to the beaches of the southeast, the northwest coasts are cliffs, with the Risco de Faneque being the highest cliff in Spain and the European Union and one of the largest in the world with 1027 meters high. In the different municipalities of the island, the Carnival festivities are celebrated, highlighting the Carnival of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria for being one of the most important in Spain and the world.
Fuerteventura, with a surface area of 1,659 km², is the second largest island in the archipelago, after Tenerife, and, although it is the third easternmost island in the archipelago (after Lanzarote and La Graciosa), it is the one closest to continental Africa. , 97 km from the El Aaiún-Saguía region. Being the oldest geologically, it is more eroded, with its roof being the Pico de la Zarza, 807 m high. The isthmus of La Pared connects the southern peninsula of Jandía with the rest of the island. To the north is the Dunas de Corralejo natural park. In the last decade, thanks to the increase in tourism (highlighting Corralejo to the north and Morro Jable to the south), Fuerteventura has experienced a notable increase in population: in 2022 it will have 120,021 inhabitants. The capital is Puerto del Rosario, with 28,911. inhabitants (42,024 inhabitants in the municipal area). Other important towns are Corralejo, Gran Tarajal, Morro Jable or Caleta de Fuste. About 2 km northeast of the island is the islet of Lobos, about 4.5 km², which constitutes the Isla de Lobos natural park. On May 26, 2009, the island was declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO.
Lanzarote is the easternmost island and one of the oldest in the archipelago, although with recent volcanic activity. It has an area of 845.94 km² and a population of 156,112 inhabitants, which includes the inhabitants of the island of La Graciosa. The capital is Arrecife, with 58,156 inhabitants. The Timanfaya volcanoes stand out, which give their name to the Timanfaya National Park, a product of the eruptions that occurred between 1730 and 1736. The highest point is the Peñas del Chache, in the Famara Massif, with 671 meters. The entire island was declared a Biosphere Reserve in 1993. The main economic activity is tourism, which began to develop in the 1960s and 1970s. The architect and artist César Manrique was born on the island, among whose works are the Jameos del Agua, the Cactus Garden and the Mirador del Río, in addition to his house in Tahíche, which today is the headquarters of the foundation that bears his name. In addition, to the north of Lanzarote is the Chinijo archipelago, formed by the island of La Graciosa and the uninhabited islets of Alegranza, Montaña Clara, Roque del Este and Roque del Oeste, islets dependent on the island of Lanzarote.
The island of La Graciosa was recognized, until June 26, 2018, as an islet9 and, from that date, it became considered the eighth inhabited island of the Canary Islands, after the approval of a motion by the General Commission of the Autonomous Communities of the Senate, approved unanimously. Currently the island is in the process of being considered a district, with its own budget and the ability to directly manage public services, although administratively it will continue to be attached to the municipality of Teguise on the island. of Lanzarote and will continue to depend on the Cabildo of Lanzarote. The island is the northernmost of the Canary archipelago, it has about 29 km² and its population is 751 inhabitants (in 2017), which makes it the smallest and least populated island of the Canary Islands (El Hierro being the smallest and least populated islands with its own administration). Its highest point is Agujas Grandes, 266 meters high and it has two towns: Caleta del Sebo (with 748 inhabitants) and Pedro Barba (with 4 registered inhabitants), the first being the island capital.
With the approval of the new Statute of Autonomy of the Canary
Islands, in 2018, the Canary Islands changed its spatial scope,
integrating into it what the statute calls in its article 4.2 as "Canary
waters", which constitute the special maritime scope of the Autonomous
Community. These waters are considered to be those integrated within the
perimeter contour that follows the general configuration of the
archipelago, delimited by the most prominent extreme points of the
islands and islets, being the only autonomous community in Spain that
includes the sea as part of its surface.
The path that follows
the contour is made up of twenty geographical points and is as follows:
1 begins on the islet of Alegranza, in Punta Delgada (1), continues to
Roque del Este (2) and from there goes to the east of Lanzarote, in
Punta de Tierra Negra (3). From that point it goes to the southeast and
south of Fuerteventura, passing through Punta de las Borriquillas (4),
Punta Entellada (5) and Punta del Matorral (6), continuing to the south
of Gran Canaria, passing through Punta de Maspalomas (7). and Punta de
Arguineguín (8). The next point is in the south of Tenerife, at Punta de
la Rasca (9) and from that point El Hierro goes, bordering the island
from the south to the west, starting at Punta de los Saltos (10),
passing through Punta from La Orchilla (11) and to Punta del Verodal
(12). From this last point it goes to La Palma, bordering the island in
the north from Punta Gutiérrez (13), passing through Punta de Vallero
(14), Punta de Juan Adalid (15) and to Punta Cumplida (16). After
passing through La Palma, it returns to Tenerife in the north, to Roque
de Fuera (17) and from there it returns to Gran Canaria also in the
north, in Morro de La Vieja (18), located in La Isleta. From this last
point it returns to Lanzarote to the west, in Punta de la Ensenada (19),
returning to Alegranza in Punta Grieta (20) and completing the
perimeter, arriving, again, in Punta Delgada (1).
The Statute of
Autonomy is based on coordinates with north latitude and west longitude
of the Spanish nautical chart 209 (edition-denomination of the Canary
Islands and with the date of edition of Cádiz in 1958, updated in July
1992) to delimit the exact points that Together, they form the perimeter
that makes up the area where the Canary Islands waters are integrated
together with the islands and islets. The approximate perimeter of this
area is about 1,218 kilometers and the approximate total surface area is
36,567 km², with the total surface area of the Canary Islands waters
being about 29,120 km².
The vegetation varies depending on the orientation and height. On the
slopes facing north and northwest there are mesophilic plants and on
those facing south and southwest there are xerophilous plants. They have
rich endemic vegetation and a great variety of birds and invertebrates.
We can identify the following vegetation levels, although they are
not present on all the islands:
xeric vegetation
Tabaibal-Cardonal
Thermophilic forest (palm, dragon tree, juniper, etc.)
Laurisilva and
Fayal-Brezal (in areas facing north and east)
Pinewood
High
mountains (Teide broom, tajinastes, etc.)
The fauna of the Canary Islands presents great diversity mainly
because it is a group of islands, a fact that makes it possible for a
notable number of endemisms to exist, and because of the number of
microclimates existing in them, which also facilitates the existence of
a great variety. of species.
This has favored the settlement of a
varied and interesting ornithological fauna, although there are not many
endemic and Macaronesian species (shared between the Canary Islands and
Madeira). However, there are many endemic subspecies, some with
well-differentiated subspecific characteristics.
On the other
hand, reptiles and especially lizards stand out due to their number of
endemic species. Before the arrival of the aborigines, the Canary
Islands were inhabited by endemic animals, some extinct, such as giant
lizards (Gallotia goliath), giant rats (Canariomys bravoi and Canariomys
tamarani) and giant tortoises (Centrochelys burchardi and Centrochelys
vulcanic).
National Parks
The Canary Islands is the autonomous community of
Spain that has the most national parks, four in total, of which two of
them have been declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO, and three
declared World Biosphere Reserve. These national parks are:
Caldera
de Taburiente National Park (La Palma): Created in 1954 and declared a
World Biosphere Reserve in 2002, together with the entire island. It
currently covers an area of 46.9 km², which together with the Peripheral
Protection Zone comprises 59.56 km². It is located in the center of the
island coinciding with the geological formation of the Caldera de
Taburiente, with a maximum axis of 7 km. The depression that forms the
Caldera is between 600 and 900 meters above sea level, while the ridge
that forms the rocky fence that surrounds it reaches 2,424 meters at the
highest point, the so-called Roque de los Muchachos, place where the
Roque de los Muchachos Observatory is located.
Garajonay National
Park (La Gomera): Created in 1981 and declared a World Heritage Site by
UNESCO in 1986. Its surface area is 3,986 hectares, and its territory
extends across all the municipalities of La Gomera, occupying the center
and certain areas of the north of the island. The park's terrain, often
shrouded in humid fog, is made up of basaltic materials, due to flows
and pyroclasts, with various rocks and fortresses. Inside is the
Monument of the Essence of the Flower. Since 2012, the park has also
been a Biosphere Reserve along with the entire island.
Timanfaya
National Park (Lanzarote): Created in 1974 and declared a Biosphere
Reserve in 1993, together with the entire island. It occupies an area of
51.07 km² in the southwest of the island. It is a park of volcanic
origin. The last eruptions occurred in the 18th century, between 1730
and 1736. It has more than 25 volcanoes, some being emblematic, such as
the Montaña de Fuego, Montaña Rajada or the Caldera del Corazoncillo. It
still has volcanic activity, with hot spots on the surface that reach
100–120 °C and 600 °C at a depth of 13 meters.
Teide National Park
(Tenerife): Created in 1954, it was declared a World Heritage Site by
UNESCO in 2007. After different revisions and extensions, its surface is
18,990 hectares, it is the largest and oldest of the national parks of
Tenerife. the Canary Islands, and one of the oldest in Spain. It is
located in the geographical center of the island and is the most visited
national park in Spain, the most visited in Europe and the second most
visited national park in the world. It is home to the Teide Observatory,
also known as the Teide Observatory. de Izaña, belonging to the
Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands. The highlight of the
park is the presence of the Teide volcano, which with 3,718 meters of
altitude, constitutes the highest elevation in the country and the third
largest volcano on Earth from its base. The Teide National Park was
declared one of the 12 Treasures of Spain in 2007.
1986 - natural - Garajonay national park, La Gomera.
1999 -
cultural - San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Tenerife.
2007 - natural -
Teide national park, Tenerife.
2009 - immaterial - Silbo gomero, La
Gomera.
2019 - cultural - Risco Caído Cultural Landscape, Gran
Canaria.
Greco-Latin mythology located in the surroundings of the Canary
Islands, located "beyond the Pillars of Hercules", in the Dark Sea, on
the limits of the known world ("the Ecumene"), many of the fantastic
stories of its tradition. They could be the location of the mythological
Champs Elysées, the Fortunate Islands, the Garden of the Hesperides or
Atlantis.
For many researchers, the first historical allusion to
the Canary Islands could be found in the works of Greek historians such
as Plutarch. But the most accurate description of an ancient author
about the Canary Islands is the one made by Pliny the Elder in his work
Naturalis Historia, where he recounts an expedition carried out to the
archipelago by the king of Mauritania Juba II.
The Romans named
each of the islands as; Ninguaria or Nivaria (Tenerife), Canaria (Gran
Canaria), Pluvialia or Invale (Lanzarote), Ombrion (La Palma), Planasia
(Fuerteventura), Iunonia or Junonia (La Gomera) and Capraria (El
Hierro).
The Canary Islands were inhabited before the European conquest by the
so-called Guanches. The term Guanche is actually the name of the
aborigines of Tenerife, although its use has spread to refer to the
ancient inhabitants of the entire archipelago, ethnically and culturally
linked to the Berbers of North Africa. Before incorporation into the
Crown of Castile, there was no political unity, but on each island there
were several tribes or kingdoms independent of each other, without the
inhabitants of one island having contact with those of the others, as
they did not being able to navigate between them. It is not known
exactly how the colonization of the islands occurred, although the most
accepted theories today are those that defend that these populations
were brought from North Africa either by the Phoenicians or by the
Romans. Until now, the most rigorous chronologies indicated that the
first islanders arrived in the Canary Islands between the 3rd and 1st
centuries BC., although settlement dates prior to even the 5th century
BC have been suggested.
Recent discoveries prove that the Canary
Islands were populated in two phases: in the first phase, the archaic
Berber culture arrived on the islands around the 6th century BC.; in a
second phase, around the turn of the Era and the first century AD., they
would have reached Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, El Hierro and
Tenerife, Romanized Berber populations.
The economy of the
ancient islanders was based fundamentally on livestock farming of
species introduced from the African continent: goats, sheep, pigs and
dogs. The latter fulfilled guard functions, but its meat was also
consumed. With respect to agriculture, there were enormous differences
between islands, with Gran Canaria being the most developed in this
regard. It was a fundamentally cereal-based agriculture, based on
varieties of wheat and barley used as ingredients for the traditional
gofio that is still consumed in the Canary Islands. Economic activity
was completed with fruit gathering, shellfish harvesting and occasional
hunting.
Culturally, the Canarian aborigines are apparently an
"insularized" branch of the conglomerate of North African Berber
peoples. We usually talk about the Neolithic horizon of the Guanches,
although this was largely determined by the absence of metals in island
soil. The existence of alphabetic inscriptions (Libyan-Berber writing or
tifinagh) tells us instead of peoples with a protohistorical cultural
horizon. Archeology has set its sights on manifestations such as
ceramics (made without a wheel, with techniques that have been
maintained to this day), rock engravings (spirals, geometric shapes,
alphabetic signs, podomorphs, etc.) and, in the case of Gran Canaria,
cave painting, of which the Painted Cave of Gáldar is the main exponent.
The dwellings were mainly natural caves but also artificially made in
the central islands; There were towns of houses of a certain size in
Gran Canaria or Lanzarote.
The Canarian aboriginal religion was
polytheistic although astral worship was widespread. Along with him
there was an animist religiosity that sacralized certain places, mainly
rocks and mountains (El Teide in Tenerife, Idafe in La Palma or Tindaya
in Fuerteventura). There were a large number of gods on the different
islands. Among the main gods, for example, of the island of Tenerife, we
could highlight: Achamán (god of the sky and supreme creator), Chaxiraxi
(mother goddess later identified with the Virgin of Candelaria), Magec
(god of the sun) and Guayota (the demon) among many other gods and
ancestral spirits. Especially unique was the cult of the dead, with the
mummification of corpses being practiced. In this aspect, it was on the
island of Tenerife where greater perfection was achieved. It is also
worth highlighting the manufacture of clay or stone idols.
In the 14th century, the "rediscovery" of the islands by Europeans
occurred, with numerous visits by Mallorcans, Portuguese and Genoese.
This process is part of the so-called European expansion across the
Atlantic, which would have its peak in the arrival of Columbus to
America. Advances in navigation facilitated the feat, whose main
motivation, in this first moment, was the most direct access possible to
the gold of central Africa. In this context, the Genoese navigator
Lancelloto Malocello landed in Lanzarote in 1312 and the Biscayan Martín
Ruiz de Avendaño in 1377. The Mallorcans established a mission on the
islands (Bishopric of Telde), which remained in force from 1350 to 1400.
Likewise, they They were under the watchful eye of the kings of Castile,
with Pope Clement VI who on their behalf named the infante Luis de la
Cerda monarch of the "Kingdom of the Canary Islands" or Principality of
Fortuna in 1355.
In 1402 the conquest began with the expedition
to Lanzarote of the Normans Jean de Bethencourt and Gadifer de la Salle,
motivated by the possibilities of exploiting the orchilla. In this first
phase, the conquest of the Canary Islands was carried out on the
initiative of individuals, and not by the Crown, hence it is called a
conquest of lordship, although Bethencourt had become a vassal of the
king of Castile. The conquest of dominion included the islands of
Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Gomera and El Hierro: these were the least
populated of the archipelago, and their surrender was relatively easy.
La Gomera, however, maintained a mixed organization, in which conquerors
and indigenous people agreed to coexist until the so-called "Los Gomeros
Rebellion" of 1488, which marked the effective conquest of said island.
The next phase of the conquest, or royal conquest, was carried out
at the request of the Crown of Castile, after the lords of the islands
had ceded their rights over Gran Canaria, La Palma and Tenerife –
islands that were still to be conquer – to the Catholic Monarchs in
1477. The hardest part of the process then began, given that these were
the most populated territories, best organized and with the most
difficult terrain. The conquest of Gran Canaria began in 1478 with the
founding of the Real de Las Palmas next to the Guiniguada ravine, and
ended with the surrender of Ansite in 1483.
Alonso Fernández de
Lugo, who had participated in the conquest of Gran Canaria, obtained the
right to conquer La Palma and Tenerife. The invasion of La Palma began
in 1492 and ended in 1493 with the deception and capture of the
indigenous chief Tanausú. Tenerife is the last of the islands to be
conquered. The first battle of Acentejo, from which the Guanches would
emerge as victors, was followed by a "guerrilla war" and the
transcendental Castilian victories of the battle of Aguere and the
second battle of Acentejo. The conquest officially ended with the Peace
of Los Realejos in 1496, although some indigenous people maintained
pockets of resistance in the peaks (the so-called "insurrectionary
guanches"). Finally, on December 7, 1526, Emperor Charles and Queen
Juana issued a Royal Decree creating in the islands a Court of Appeal
with residence in Gran Canaria – previously the Chancellery of Granada
was considered competent – which with the time he would end up becoming
the common hierarchical superior of all the Cabildos and exercising an
authentic function of government of the archipelago, evident from 1556
until in 1589 he was named the first captain general of the islands,
which was consolidated in 1625 when the count-duke of Olivares sends the
Marquis of Valparaíso to the Canary Islands, naming himself commander
general.
The process of human and cultural miscegenation that characterized
the islands after the conquest resulted in modern Canarian society.
Immigrants from Europe came to the Canary Islands, and emigrants also
left the Canary Islands for America, even forcibly at certain times. The
descendants of the indigenous people were joined by a large number of
Portuguese, new settlers from Castile to whom land had been distributed,
Normans, North African Berbers, black slaves who were brought to work on
the sugar plantations, Jews, Genoese merchants, Flemish, English, etc. A
cultural and human amalgam that merged according to the new laws and
institutions of Castilian origin (Fueros, Councils or Cabildos, Royal
Court, Governors), and the religious practices of Catholicism. In this
sense, the Bishopric of the Canary Islands was located in the city of
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, as the only center of the Canarian
ecclesiastical hierarchy until the creation of the Diocese of Tenerife
in 1819.
The economic model of the islands was based, in addition
to agricultural and livestock self-consumption, on export products such
as orchilla, wine and cane sugar. Sugar will be the first export crop in
the history of the Canary Islands, and the islands' letter of
introduction to the new world economy that was being created. From the
Canary Islands, sugar and rum will be transplanted to America.
Competition from Indian sugars will be precisely one of the causes that
would explain the subsequent decline of this crop on the islands.
On the voyage that Christopher Columbus made when he discovered
America, he passed the archipelago: in Gran Canaria he boarded the ship
La Pinta to repair the rudder and change sails. From Gran Canaria he
moved to the island of La Gomera and from this island, in the port of
San Sebastián de La Gomera, continued its expedition in 1492 to the
Americas, on its first voyage. Then the Canary Islands became a stopover
on the routes to the New World. In fact, the islands were an exception
to the monopoly exercised by the Spanish Crown from the Casa de
Contratación of Seville with respect to American trade. From the Canary
Islands, European smuggled products, as well as island productions,
mainly wine, left for America. This turns the islands and their ports
into commercial hubs between the two shores of the Atlantic. In return,
the Canary Islands would also become a prey area for pirates and
privateers. The sugar crisis is followed by the stage of vine
development, associated with wine production. The Canarian malvasia
wines were especially accepted in England, and the Canary Islands
economy was mainly based on trade with this country until the 18th
century. On the other hand, commercial relations with the rest of Spain
were scarce during this period, due to the lack of complementarity
between the island and peninsular economies.
The 18th century
begins for the Canary Islands with a long series of attacks by
privateers on the islands, but without a doubt it is the English attack
by the famous Rear Admiral Nelson that wrote one of the most decisive
pages in the history of the Canary Islands. The British army with 4,000
troops could not conquer Santa Cruz de Tenerife with just 500 regular
Spanish soldiers, a French detachment and local militias. On July 25,
1797, Nelson was defeated by the defending forces, and every year in the
city events are held to commemorate that day when he could change the
destiny of the archipelago.
The crises in agricultural exports that the Canary Islands suffered
in the 18th century caused deep recessions, which would worsen with the
subsequent independence of the American colonies and the turn of the
Spanish economy towards protectionism. This will be disastrous for the
Canary Islands, which had never maintained close commercial relations
with the Iberian territories. Periodically, some droughts produced,
especially on the smaller and less prominent islands, periods of serious
famine and mortality; During some such periods, the authorities of the
larger islands went so far as to prohibit the emigration of people to
the larger islands, to protect themselves from the invasion of the
hungry.
In this context of misery, an authentic migratory exodus
began towards Cuba, Puerto Rico and the young American republics. In the
midst of this deep crisis, which will last until the middle of the 19th
century, the theoretical foundations of the so-called island free trade
are laid, with the islands betting on an economic system different from
that of the rest of the State. The political pressures of the island
oligarchies ultimately resulted in the Free Ports Decree of 1852, which
established a regime of commercial freedom for the Canary Islands. The
first crop that benefits from this will be the cochineal, a prickly pear
insect from which a natural dye is extracted. With it, commercial
relations were reopened with an England that needed dyes for its
industry, but from 1870 onwards, artificial dyes replaced cochineal,
causing an acute crisis in the islands. At the end of the 19th century,
the British introduced tomatoes and bananas to the Canary Islands, whose
export would be in the hands of commercial companies such as Fyffes.
European colonialism in Africa and the growing commercial movement once
again turn the ports of the islands into strategic stopping points for
the Atlantic routes.
Another crucial phenomenon to understand the
contemporary history of the Canary Islands will be the rivalry between
the elites of the cities of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de
Gran Canaria for the capital of the islands. With the creation of the
province of the Canary Islands in 1833, this unique capital was located
in the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Although, after decades of
disagreements, in 1927, during the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, the
creation of the province of Las Palmas, grouping the eastern half of
what until then was the only existing province in the Canary Islands,
the province of the Canary Islands. The western half was officially
renamed the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The island dispute
weakened the possibilities of Canarian nationalism, which had little
presence on the islands until the last years of the Franco dictatorship,
having greater relevance until then among the colonies of Canary
Islanders who emigrated to America. It was precisely on this continent
where Secundino Delgado, considered the father of Canarian nationalism,
developed a good part of his political work. It would also be on the
other side of the Atlantic, specifically in Havana, where the Canarian
Nationalist Party was founded in 1924 by José Cabrera Díaz.
On July 17, 1936, General Franco, then commander general of the
Canary Islands and residing in Tenerife, traveled from Gran Canaria to
the Spanish Protectorate of Morocco to take command of the Army that
revolted against the Government of the Second Republic (which a A year
later, the Gran Canarian doctor Juan Negrín would preside, thus breaking
out the Spanish Civil War.
Once the Civil War was over, the
dictatorship began until the death of General Franco in 1975. The
postwar period and a good part of the military dictatorship will be
marked in the Canary Islands by a new interruption of its centuries-old
relationship with other economies outside the Spanish sphere. They will
be times of misery and emigration, mainly to Venezuela. Since the 1960s,
in the so-called Spanish economic miracle (1959-1973), mass tourism
emerged on the islands as a new economic alternative, which lasts to the
present day.
In 1972, the Law on the Economic and Fiscal Regime
of the Canary Islands was enacted, which proposed a framework of
development for the Islands, in which not only was the traditional
Canary franchise system updated, but a wide repertoire of economic
measures was incorporated and articulates its own island Treasury.
The dictatorial situation prior to the creation of the current
democratic and autonomous Spanish state, as well as the economic
underdevelopment of the islands until the arrival of tourism, the
maintenance of certain unjust caciquil structures and the habitual
occupation of political positions and jobs by foreigners (due to the
lack of an adequate educational system on the islands, the great role of
the army during the dictatorship, and the authoritarian centralism that
existed during the Franco regime), and the decolonization of the African
domains, led to the emergence in the last years of the Franco regime and
the first of the democracy certain leftist/independence movements with
pan-Africanist pretensions (such as the MPAIAC), which sought to fight
against the "colonial occupation" of the islands by the Spanish
"metropolis." Some occasional drift into terrorism by some of these
groups had to be avoided through police repression. The pan-Africanist
tendency clashed, however, with the European vocation of the islands,
and such contradiction, together with the hegemonic pretensions of
Morocco, revealed in the Sahara War, the economic development, and the
democratic and autonomous political normalization of the islands made
lose momentum to such movements.
The political transition towards democracy in the Canary Islands is
marked by several fundamental issues: a) the debate on the economic
model, which will begin years before with the debate on the Economic and
Fiscal Regime of the Canary Islands (REF) and, later, with the process
of incorporation into the European Economic Community, which forced them
to opt for the mode of full or less full accession to the European Union
and the common customs policy (with the consequences that this would
have on the Economic and Fiscal Regime); b) the inclusion of the Canary
Islands in the autonomous state, the relationship and distribution of
powers between the pre-existing Island Councils and the new "Autonomous
Community", and c) the electoral system, which, while remaining
representative and democratic, must also, on the one hand, avoid the
predominance of one province over the other (and help overcome the
centuries-old "island dispute"), and on the other hand, grant the
smaller islands a certain over-representation to help them increase
their influence to eliminate the inconveniences of the so-called "double
"insularity" (that is, to compensate for its remoteness and smallness
and the inconveniences derived from it), and finally, limit despotism.
The Spanish decolonization of Western Sahara will have multiple
effects on Canarian society and politics in the 1970s and 1980s. Among
them, the economic and demographic impact of the return-expulsion of the
Canarians who lived in the Sahara occupied by Morocco, the new border
situation of the islands in the middle of the Sahrawi-Moroccan conflict,
or the effects on the fishing bank. Stimulated by the events in the
Spanish Sahara, starting in 1976, a nationalist movement of
unprecedented strength developed in the islands, which would have as its
greatest exponent the Pueblo Canario Unidos party, later Unión del
Pueblo Canario.
After the approval of the Spanish Constitution, the debate began for
the elaboration of the Statute of Autonomy of the Canary Islands,
finally approved in August 1982. The failure to present a statutory
project before the coup d'état of 1936 made the Canary Islands begin the
path towards autonomy almost from scratch, through the process explained
in article 143 of the Constitution (or slow track), instead of 151 (or
faster track). However, the desire of broad sectors to turn the Canary
Islands into one of the autonomous communities with the greatest powers,
at the same level as the so-called "historical nationalities", will
cause tense debates on the islands between the political groups that
will lead, through the formula of consensus, to the LOTRACA (Organic Law
of Transfers to the Canary Islands): this would allow for autonomy with
a level of development similar to the historical nationalities. A
partial reform of the Statute in 1996 gave the Canary Islands
nationality status.
With democracy and entry into the European
Union, the establishment of an autonomous regime and freedoms for the
islands, and economic and educational development, left-wing or
independence nationalism has practically disappeared as an autonomous
movement, being absorbed and having given way to several parties of
moderate center-right nationalism or that seek to overcome the
left-right dichotomy and that are incorporated into the Spanish party
system, seeking to play a role both at the Canarian level and in the
Spanish parliament (party-hinge).
After intense debates and
partisan blockades, in 2018 a new Statute of Autonomy for the Canary
Islands was approved, which, among others, changes the name of La
Graciosa from islet to island, redefining the island geography.
The population density on the islands is 292.19 inhabitants/km², a
figure more than three times higher than the Spanish average.
Historically, since the conquest of the Canary Islands, Tenerife was the
most populated island of the Canary archipelago until the 20th century.
Since the Aranda Census of 1768, Tenerife and Gran Canaria were always
the two most populated islands of the Archipelago, with Tenerife
occupying the first place until 1940. In the last half century, Gran
Canaria has been the most populated of the Canary Islands, until 2002
when Tenerife surpasses it again. On the other hand, Gran Canaria is the
most densely populated island of the Canary Islands. Today, the two
central islands are home to more than 80% of the total population of the
archipelago. Historically, there has been a strong internal migration
from the less populated islands to the capital islands, as well as
another external migration in the direction of America (especially to
Cuba, Puerto Rico and Venezuela). The population is almost entirely
Mediterranean in appearance.
Despite the strong birth rate growth
recorded in the 1960s, which created a very young demographic pyramid in
the 1980s (the population under 30 years of age was then close to half
of the total population), the lower fertility rates In recent years they
point to an aging process. This phenomenon is being partially offset by
the rise in immigration, which has made the Canary Islands a destination
for many service and construction workers from other autonomous
communities in Spain, as well as retired northern Europeans (settled all
year round or only in the winter period), Ibero-Americans (mostly from
Colombia, Cuba, Venezuela and Argentina), Moroccans and people from
sub-Saharan Africa.
According to the 2020 census, the population
of the Canary Islands amounts to 2,237,309 inhabitants. In the province
of Las Palmas, the most populated, there are 1,131,065 people; in Santa
Cruz de Tenerife, 1,044,887 inhabitants. The population density in both
provinces is; 304.03 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and 268.23 in Las
Palmas. The municipality with the highest number of inhabitants is Las
Palmas de Gran Canaria (379,925 inhabitants), followed by Santa Cruz de
Tenerife (207,312 inhabitants), San Cristóbal from La Laguna (157,503),
Telde (102,647), Arona (81,216) and Santa Lucía de Tirajana (53,443).