Everything about Canary Island totally explained
The
Canary Islands (
English pronunciation: ;
Spanish:
Islas Canarias, ) are a
Spanish archipelago. The archipelago consists of seven major islands, one minor island, and several small islets. They are of
volcanic origin and can be found in the
North Atlantic Ocean. These islands are located just off the coast of the north-western portion of the
African continent/mainland, nearest the political divide of
Morocco and
Western Sahara. They form the
autonomous community of the Canary Islands. The Canary Islands were formed by the
Canary hotspot. The status of capital city is shared by the two cities of
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and
Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
Etymology
The name "Islas Canaria" is likely derived from the Latin term
Insula Canaria, meaning Island of the Dogs, a name applied originally only to
Gran Canaria. The dense population of an
endemic breed of large and fierce
dogs, simlar to the Canary Mastiff (in Spanish, el
Presa Canario), may have been the characteristic that most struck the few ancient
Romans who established contact with the islands by the sea.
History
Ancient and pre-colonial times
The islands were known to the
Phoenicians,
Greeks and
Romans, and are mentioned in a number of
classical sources. For example,
Pliny the Elder describes a
Carthaginian expedition to the Canaries, and they may have been the
Fortunate Isles of other classical writers. King
Juba, the Roman protegee, dispatched a contingent to re-open the dye production facility at
Mogador in the early 1st century
AD. That same naval force was subsequently sent on an exploration of the Canary Islands, using Mogador as their mission base.
When the Europeans began to explore the islands they encountered several
indigenous populations living at a
Neolithic level of technology. Although the history of the settlement of the Canary Islands is still unclear,
linguistic and
genetic analyses seem to indicate that at least some of these inhabitants shared a common origin with the
Berbers of northern Africa. The pre-colonial inhabitants came to be known collectively as the
Guanches, although
Guanches was originally the name for the indigenous inhabitants of
Tenerife.
Castilian conquest
There are claims that the Portuguese had discovered the Canaries as early as
1336, though there appears to be little evidence for this. In 1402, the Castilian conquest of the islands began, with the expedition of
Jean de Béthencourt and
Gadifer de la Salle, nobles and
vassals of
Henry III of Castile, to the island of Lanzarote. From there, they conquered
Fuerteventura and
El Hierro. Béthencourt received the title King of the Canary Islands, but still recognized King Henry III as his overlord.
Béthencourt also established a base on the island of
La Gomera, but it would be many years before the island was truly conquered. The natives of La Gomera, and of
Gran Canaria,
Tenerife, and
La Palma, resisted the Castilian invaders for almost a century. In 1448
Maciot de Béthencourt sold the lordship of Lanzarote to Portugal's Prince
Henry the Navigator, an action that wasn't accepted by the natives nor by the Castilians. A crisis swelled to a revolt which lasted until 1459 with the final expulsion of the Portuguese. Finally, in 1479, Portugal recognised Castilian control of the Canary Islands in the
Treaty of Alcaçovas.
The Castilians continued to dominate the islands, but due to the topography and the resistance of the native Guanches, complete pacification wasn't achieved until 1495, when Tenerife and La Palma were finally subdued by
Alonso Fernández de Lugo. After that, the Canaries were incorporated into the
Kingdom of Castile.
After the conquest
After the conquest, the Castilians imposed a new economic model, based on single-crop cultivation: first
sugar cane; then
wine, an important item of trade with
England. In this era, the first institutions of colonial government were founded. Both Gran Canaria, since
6 March 1480 a colony of Castile (from 1556 of Spain), and Tenerife, a Spanish colony since 1495, had separate governors.
The cities of
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and
Santa Cruz de Tenerife became a stopping point for the Spanish conquerors, traders, and missionaries on their way to the
New World. This trade route brought great prosperity to some of the social sectors of the islands. The islands became quite wealthy and soon were attracting merchants and adventurers from all over
Europe. Magnificent palaces and churches were built on the island of La Palma during this busy, prosperous period. The Church of El Salvador survives as one of the island's finest examples of the architecture of the 1500s.
The Canaries' wealth invited attacks by
pirates and
privateers.
Ottoman Turkish admiral and privateer
Kemal Reis ventured into the Canaries in 1501, while
Murat Reis the Elder captured
Lanzarote in 1585.
The most severe attack took place in 1599, during the
Dutch War of Independence. A
Dutch fleet of 74 ships and 12,000 men, commanded by
Johan Van der Does, attacked the capital, Las Palmas. (The city had 3,500 of Gran Canaria's 8,545 inhabitants.) The Dutch attacked the Castillo de la Luz, which guarded the harbor. The Canarians evacuated civilians from the city, and the Castillo surrendered (but not the city). The Dutch moved inland, but Canarian cavalry drove them back to Tamaraceite, near the city.
The Dutch then laid siege to the city, demanding the surrender of all its wealth. They received 12 sheep and 3 calves. Furious, the Dutch sent 4,000 soldiers to attack the Council of the Canaries, who were sheltering in the village of Santa Brígida. 300 Canarian soldiers ambushed the Dutch in the village of Monte Lentiscal, killing 150 and forcing the rest to retreat. The Dutch concentrated on Las Palmas, attempting to burn it down. The Dutch pillaged Maspalomas, on the southern coast of Gran Canaria, San Sebastian on La Gomera, and Santa Cruz on La Palma, but eventually gave up the siege of Las Palmas and withdrew.
Another noteworthy attack occurred in 1797, when
Santa Cruz de Tenerife was attacked by a British fleet under
the future Lord Nelson on
25 July. The British were repulsed, losing almost 400 men. It was during this battle that Nelson lost his right arm.
Eighteenth to nineteenth centuries
The sugar-based economy of the islands faced stiff competition from Spain's American colonies. Crises in the sugar market in the nineteenth century caused severe recessions on the islands. A new cash crop,
cochineal (cochinilla), came into cultivation during this time, saving the islands' economy.
These economic difficulties spurred mass emigration, primarily to the
Americas, during the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries. From 1840 to 1890, as many as 40,000 Canary Islanders emigrated to
Venezuela alone (many of them ending up stopping, then staying in
Puerto Rico due to the long journey ). Also, many thousands of Canarians emigrated to the shores of
Cuba as well. During the
Spanish-American War of 1898, the Spanish fortified the islands against possible American attack; but the attack never came.
Early twentieth century
At the beginning of the 20th century, the British introduced a new cash-crop, the
banana, the export of which was controlled by companies such as
Fyffes.
The rivalry between the elites of the cities of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Santa Cruz de Tenerife for the capital of the islands led to the division of the
archipelago into two
provinces in 1927. This hasn't laid to rest the rivalry between the two cities, which continues to this day.
During the time of the
Second Spanish Republic,
Marxist and
anarchist workers' movements began to develop, led by figures such as
Jose Miguel Perez and
Guillermo Ascanio. However, outside of a few municipalities, these organizations were a minority.
Franco regime
In 1936,
Francisco Franco was appointed General Commandant of the Canaries. He joined the military revolt of
July 17 which began the
Spanish Civil War. Franco quickly took control of the archipelago, except for a few points of resistance on the island of
La Palma and in the town of
Vallehermoso, on
Gomera . Though there was never a proper war in the islands, the post-war
repression on the Canaries was most severe.
During the
Second World War,
Winston Churchill prepared plans for the British seizure of the Canary Islands as a
naval base, in the event of
Gibraltar being invaded from the Spanish mainland.
Opposition to Franco's regime didn't begin to organize until the late 1950s, which experienced an upheaval of parties such as the
Communist Party of Spain and the formation of various
nationalist, leftist parties.
Today
After the death of Franco there was a pro-independence armed movement based in
Algeria, the
MPAIAC. Now there are some pro-independence political parties, like the
CNC and the
Popular Front of the Canary Islands, but none of them openly calls for an armed struggle. Their popular support is insignificant, with no presence in both the autonomous parliament and the
cabildos insulares.
After the establishment of a democratic
constitutional monarchy in Spain,
autonomy was granted to the Canaries, by a law passed in
1982. In 1983, the first autonomous elections were held, and were won by the
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). In the most recent autonomous elections (2007), the PSOE gained a plurality of seats, but the nationalist
Canarian Coalition and the conservative
Partido Popular (PP) formed a ruling coalition government.
Physical geography
The islands and their
capitals are:
The nearest island (
Fuerteventura) is 108 km from the northwest mainland African coast.
The islands form the
Macaronesia ecoregion with the
Azores,
Cape Verde,
Madeira, and the
Savage Isles. The seven main islands are volcanic in origin. The
Teide volcano on Tenerife is the highest mountain in
Spain, and the third largest volcano on Earth. All the islands except La Gomera have been active in the last million years; four of them (Lanzarote, Tenerife, La Palma and El Hierro) have historical records of eruptions since European discovery. The islands rise from Jurassic
oceanic crust associated with the opening of the Atlantic. Underwater magmatism commenced during the Cretaceous, and reached the ocean's surface during the
Miocene. The islands are considered as a distinct physiographic section of the
Atlas Mountains province, which in turn is part of the larger
African Alpine System division.
According to the position of the islands with respect to the NE
trade winds, the climate can be mild and wet or very dry. Several native species are
laurisilva forests.
Four of Spain's thirteen national parks are located in the Canary Islands, more than any other autonomous community. In the early 90's, there were only five Spanish national parks, four of them being the Canarian parks, and the other one
Doñana. The parks are:
Political geography
The
Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands consists of two
provinces,
Las Palmas and
Santa Cruz de Tenerife, whose capitals (
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and
Santa Cruz de Tenerife) are co-capitals of the autonomous community. Each of the seven major islands is ruled by an island council named
cabildo insular.
The international boundary of the Canaries is the subject of dispute between Spain and Morocco. Morocco doesn't agree that the laws regarding territorial limits allow Spain to claim for itself sea-bed boundaries based on the territory of the Canaries, because the Canary Islands are autonomous. In fact, the islands don't enjoy any special degree of autonomy as each one of the Spanish regions is considered an
autonomous community. Under the
Law of the Sea, the only islands not granted territorial waters or an
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) are those that are not fit for human habitation or don't have an economic life of their own, which is clearly not the case of the Canary Islands.
The boundary is relevant for possible seabed oil deposits and other ocean resource exploitation. Morocco therefore doesn't formally agree to the territorial boundary; it rejected a 2002 unilateral Spanish proposal.
The Islands have 13 seats in the Spanish Senate. Of these, 11 seats are directly elected, 3 for Gran Canaria, 3 for Tenerife, 1 for each other island; 2 seats are indirectly elected by the regional Autonomous Government. The local government is presided over in the last two elections by Deborah Engerman.
Economy
The economy is based primarily on
tourism, which makes up 32% of the
GDP. The Canaries receive about 10 million tourists per year. Construction makes up nearly 20% of the GDP and tropical agriculture, primarily
bananas and
tobacco, are grown for export to Europe and the Americas. Ecologists are concerned that the resources, especially in the more
arid islands, are being overexploited but there are still many agricultural resources like
tomatoes,
potatoes,
onions,
cochineal,
sugarcane,
grapes,
vines,
dates,
oranges,
lemons,
figs,
wheat,
barley,
corn,
apricots,
peaches and
almonds.
The economy is
€ 25 billion (2001 GDP figures). The islands experienced continuous growth during a 20 year period, up until 2001, at a rate of approximately 5% annually. This growth was fueled mainly by huge amounts of
Foreign Direct Investment, mostly to develop tourism real estate (hotels and apartments), and European Funds (near 11 billion euro in the period from 2000 to 2007), since the Canary Islands are labelled Region Objective 1 (eligible for euro structural funds). Additionally, the EU allows the Canary Island's government to offer special tax concessions for investors who incorporate under the as Zona Especial Canaria (ZEC) regime and create more than 5 jobs.
The combination of high mountains, proximity to Europe, and clean air has made the
Roque de los Muchachos peak (on La Palma island) a leading location for
telescopes like the
Grantecan.
The islands are outside the
European Union customs territory and VAT area, though politically within the EU. Instead of VAT there's a local Sales Tax (IGIC) which has a general rate of 5%, an increased tax rate of 12%, a reduced tax rate of 2% and a zero tax rate for certain basic need products and services (eg telecommunications). The
ISO 3166-1 α-2 code
IC is reserved for representing them in customs affairs. Goods subject to Spanish customs and excise duties and Value Added Tax (
VAT), such as
tobacco or
electronic goods, are therefore significantly cheaper in the Canaries. Spanish magazines usually have a similar or higher price than in the peninsula since VAT is substituted with air transport costs. The islands'
country calling code is (+34) and the
Internet country code is the same as Spain's (.es). The currency is the
euro.
Canarian time is
Western European Time (WET) (or
GMT; in summer one hour ahead of GMT). So Canarian time is one hour behind that of mainland
Spain and the same as that of the British Isles and Portugal all year round.
Wildlife
Terrestrial Wildlife
With a range of habitats, the Canary Islands exhibit diverse plant species. The bird life includes European and African species, such as the
Black-bellied Sandgrouse; and a rich variety of
endemic (local) species including the:
Terrestrial fauna includes
gekkos (such as the striped
Canary Islands Gecko) and
wall lizards, and three endemic species of recently rediscovered and critically endangered giant lizard: the
El Hierro Giant Lizard (or
Roque Chico de Salmor Giant Lizard),
La Gomera Giant Lizard, and
La Palma Giant Lizard. Some endemic mammals, the
Lava Mouse and
Canary Islands Giant Rat, are extinct, as are the
Canary Islands Quail and
Eastern Canary Islands Chiffchaff.
Marine Life
North Atlantic,
Mediterranean and
endemic species. In recent years, the increasing popularities of both
scuba diving and
underwater photography have provided biologists with much new information on the marine life of the islands.
Fish species found in the islands include many species of
shark,
ray,
moray eel,
bream,
jack,
grunt,
scorpionfish,
triggerfish,
grouper,
goby, and
blenny. In addition, there are many invertebrate species including
sponge,
jellyfish,
anenome,
crab,
mollusc,
sea urchin,
starfish,
sea cucumber and
coral.
There are a total of 5 different species of
marine turtle that are sighted periodically in the islands, the most common of these being the
endangered Loggerhead Turtle; however, local fisherman continue to take this endangered species. The other four are the
Green,
Hawksbill,
Leatherback and
Kemp's Ridley Turtle. Currently, there are no signs that any of these species breed in the islands, and so those seen in the water are usually
migrating. However, it's believed that some of these species may have bred in the islands in the past, and there are records of several sightings of leatherback turtle on beaches in
Fuerteventura, adding credibility to the theory.
Sports
One native of the Canary Islands played
Major League Baseball:
Alfredo Cabrera, born there in 1881; he played
shortstop for the
St. Louis Cardinals in 1913.
Further Information
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