![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/07\/Canary-Islands-in-Relation-to-Spain-300x272.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>The eight main islands are (from largest to smallest in area)\u00a0Tenerife<\/a>,\u00a0Fuerteventura<\/a>,\u00a0Gran Canaria<\/a>,\u00a0Lanzarote<\/a>,\u00a0La Palma<\/a>,\u00a0La Gomera<\/a>,\u00a0El Hierro<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0La Graciosa<\/a>. The archipelago includes many smaller islands and islets, including\u00a0Alegranza<\/a>,\u00a0Isla de Lobos<\/a>,\u00a0Monta\u00f1a Clara<\/a>,\u00a0Roque del Oeste<\/a>, and\u00a0Roque del Este<\/a>. It also includes a number of rocks, including those of Salmor, Fasnia, Bonanza,\u00a0Garachico<\/a>, and\u00a0Anaga<\/a>. In ancient times, the island chain was often referred to as “the Fortunate Isles”.<\/sup>\u00a0The Canary Islands are the southernmost region of\u00a0Spain<\/a>, and the largest and most populous archipelago of Macaronesia.\u00a0Because of their location, the Canary Islands have historically been considered a bridge between the four continents of\u00a0Africa<\/a>,\u00a0North America<\/a>,\u00a0South America<\/a>, and\u00a0Europe<\/a>.<\/sup><\/p>\n In 2019, the Canary Islands had a population of 2,153,389<\/sup>\u00a0with a density of 287.39 inhabitants per km2<\/sup>, making it the eighth most populous autonomous community. The population is mostly concentrated in the two capital islands: around 43% on the island of\u00a0Tenerife<\/a>\u00a0and 40% on the island of\u00a0Gran Canaria<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Canary Islands, especially Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, and Lanzarote, are a major tourist destination, with over 12\u00a0million visitors per year. This is due to their beaches, subtropical climate, and important natural attractions, especially\u00a0Maspalomas<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Gran Canaria<\/a>,\u00a0Teide National Park<\/a>, and Mount\u00a0Teide<\/a>\u00a0(a World Heritage Site) in\u00a0Tenerife<\/a>. Mount Teide is the highest peak in Spain and the third tallest volcano in the world, measured from its base on the ocean floor.<\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0Because of the islands\u2019\u00a0subtropical climate<\/a>, it has long, hot summers, and moderately warm winters.<\/sup> The amount of precipitation and the level of maritime moderation vary depending on location and elevation. The archipelago includes green areas as well as desert areas.<\/p>\n During the era of the\u00a0Spanish Empire<\/a>, the Canaries were the main stopover for\u00a0Spanish galleons<\/a>\u00a0on their way to the\u00a0Americas<\/a>, which sailed that far south in order to catch the prevailing northeasterly\u00a0trade winds<\/a>.<\/p>\n The islands may have been visited by the\u00a0Phoenicians<\/a>, the\u00a0Greeks<\/a>, and the\u00a0Carthaginians<\/a>. King\u00a0Juba II<\/a>, Caesar\u00a0Augustus<\/a>‘s\u00a0Numidian<\/a>\u00a0prot\u00e9g\u00e9, is credited with discovering the islands for the Western world. According to\u00a0Pliny the Elder<\/a>, Juba found the islands uninhabited, but found “a small temple of stone” and “some traces of buildings”.<\/sup>\u00a0Juba dispatched a naval contingent to re-open the dye production facility at\u00a0Mogador<\/a>\u00a0in what is now western Morocco in the early first century\u00a0AD<\/a>.<\/p>\n When the Europeans began to explore the islands in the late Middle Ages, they encountered several\u00a0indigenous peoples<\/a>\u00a0living at a\u00a0Neolithic<\/a>\u00a0level of technology. Although the prehistory 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\u00a0Berbers<\/a>\u00a0on the nearby North African coast.<\/sup>\u00a0The precolonial inhabitants came to be known collectively as the\u00a0Guanches<\/a>, although\u00a0Guanches<\/i>\u00a0had been the name for only the indigenous inhabitants of Tenerife.<\/sup>\u00a0From the 14th\u00a0century onward, numerous visits were made by sailors from\u00a0Majorca<\/a>,\u00a0Portugal<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Genoa<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 1402, the Castilian conquest of the islands began, with the expedition of the French explorers\u00a0Jean de B\u00e9thencourt<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Gadifer de la Salle<\/a>, nobles and\u00a0vassals<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0Henry III of Castile<\/a>, to Lanzarote. From there, they went on to conquer Fuerteventura (1405) and El Hierro. B\u00e9thencourt received the title King of the Canary Islands, but still recognised King Henry III as his overlord.<\/p>\n B\u00e9thencourt also established a base on the island of La Gomera, but it would be many years before the island was fully 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 B\u00e9thencourt sold the lordship of Lanzarote to Portugal’s Prince\u00a0Henry the Navigator<\/a>, an action that was accepted by neither the natives nor the Castilians. Despite\u00a0Pope Nicholas V<\/a>\u00a0ruling that the Canary Islands were under Portuguese control, the crisis swelled to a revolt which lasted until 1459 with the final expulsion of the Portuguese. In 1479, Portugal and Castile signed the\u00a0Treaty of Alc\u00e1\u00e7ovas<\/a>, which settled disputes between Castile and Portugal over the control of the Atlantic. This treaty recognized Castilian control of the Canary Islands but also confirmed Portuguese possession of the\u00a0Azores<\/a>,\u00a0Madeira<\/a>, and the\u00a0Cape Verde islands<\/a>, and gave the Portuguese rights to any further islands or lands in the Atlantic that might be discovered.<\/p>\n The Castilians continued to dominate the islands, but due to the topography and the resistance of the native Guanches, they did not achieve complete control until 1496, when Tenerife and La Palma were finally subdued by\u00a0Alonso Fern\u00e1ndez de Lugo<\/a>. After that, the Canaries were incorporated into the\u00a0Kingdom of Castile<\/a>.<\/p>\n After the conquest, the Castilians imposed a new economic model, based on single-crop cultivation: first\u00a0sugarcane<\/a>; then wine, an important item of trade with\u00a0England<\/a>. In this era, the first institutions of colonial government were founded. Gran Canaria, a colony of the\u00a0Crown of Castile<\/a>\u00a0since 6 March 1480 (from 1556, of Spain), and Tenerife, a Spanish colony since 1496, each had its own governor. There has been speculation that the abundance of\u00a0roccella tinctoria<\/a>\u00a0on the Canary Islands offered a profit motive for\u00a0Jean de B\u00e9thencourt<\/a>\u00a0during his conquest of the islands. Lichen has been used for centuries to make dyes. This includes royal purple colors derived from roccella tinctoria, also known as orseille.<\/sup><\/p>\n The cities of\u00a0Santa Cruz de Tenerife<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Las Palmas de Gran Canaria<\/a>\u00a0became a stopping point for the Spanish\u00a0conquistadors<\/a>, traders, and missionaries on their way to the\u00a0New World<\/a>. 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 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 16th century. Civilian architecture survives in forms such as\u00a0Casas de los S\u00e1nchez-Ochando<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Casa Quintana<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Canaries’ wealth invited attacks by\u00a0pirates<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0privateers<\/a>.\u00a0Ottoman<\/a>\u00a0Turkish<\/a>\u00a0admiral<\/a>\u00a0and privateer\u00a0Kemal Reis<\/a>\u00a0ventured into the Canaries in 1501, while\u00a0Murat Reis the Elder<\/a>\u00a0captured Lanzarote in 1585.<\/p>\n The most severe attack took place in 1599, during the\u00a0Dutch Revolt<\/a>. A\u00a0Dutch<\/a>\u00a0fleet of 74 ships and 12,000 men, commanded by\u00a0Pieter van der Does<\/a>, attacked the capital Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (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.<\/p>\n 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 Br\u00edgida. 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 de Gran Canaria, attempting to burn it down. The Dutch pillaged\u00a0Maspalomas<\/a>, on the southern coast of Gran Canaria,\u00a0San Sebasti\u00e1n<\/a>\u00a0on La Gomera, and\u00a0Santa Cruz<\/a>\u00a0on La Palma, but eventually gave up the siege of Las Palmas and withdrew.<\/p>\n In 1618 the\u00a0Barbary pirates<\/a>\u00a0attacked Lanzarote and La Gomera taking 1000 captives to be sold as\u00a0slaves<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0Another noteworthy attack occurred in 1797, when\u00a0Santa Cruz de Tenerife<\/a>\u00a0was attacked by a British fleet under\u00a0Horatio Nelson<\/a>\u00a0on 25 July. The British were repulsed, losing almost 400 men. It was during this battle that Nelson lost his right arm.<\/p>\n The sugar-based economy of the islands faced stiff competition from Spain’s\u00a0Caribbean<\/a>\u00a0colonies. Low sugar prices in the 19th century caused severe recessions on the islands. A new cash crop,\u00a0cochineal<\/a>\u00a0(cochinilla<\/i>), came into cultivation during this time, reinvigorating the islands’ economy. During this time the Canarian-American trade was developed, in which Canarian products such as cochineal, sugarcane and rum were sold in American ports such as\u00a0Veracruz<\/a>,\u00a0Campeche<\/a>,\u00a0La Guaira<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Havana<\/a>, among others.<\/p>\n At the beginning of the 20th century, the British introduced a new\u00a0cash-crop<\/a>, the\u00a0banana<\/a>, the export of which was controlled by companies such as\u00a0Fyffes<\/a>.<\/p>\n 30 November 1833 the\u00a0Province of Canary Islands<\/a>\u00a0had been created with the capital being declared as Santa Cruz de Tenerife.<\/sup>\u00a0The rivalry between 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\u00a0archipelago<\/a>\u00a0into two provinces on 23 September 1927.<\/p>\n In 1936,\u00a0Francisco Franco<\/a>\u00a0was appointed General Commandant of the Canaries. He joined the military revolt of 17 July which began the\u00a0Spanish Civil War<\/a>. Franco quickly took control of the archipelago, except for a few points of resistance on La Palma and in the town of\u00a0Vallehermoso<\/a>, on La Gomera. Though there was never a war in the islands, the post-war suppression of political dissent on the Canaries was most severe.<\/p>\n After the death of Franco, there was a pro-independence armed movement based in\u00a0Algeria<\/a>, the\u00a0Movement for the Independence and Self-determination of the Canaries Archipelago<\/a>\u00a0(MAIAC). In 1968, the\u00a0Organisation of African Unity<\/a>\u00a0recognized the MAIAC as a legitimate\u00a0African independence movement<\/a>, and declared the Canary Islands as an African territory still under foreign rule.<\/sup><\/p>\n After the establishment of a democratic\u00a0constitutional monarchy<\/a>\u00a0in Spain,\u00a0autonomy<\/a>\u00a0was granted to the Canaries via a law passed in 1982, with a newly established autonomous devolved government and parliament. In 1983, the first autonomous elections were held.<\/p>\n Tenerife<\/a>\u00a0is the largest and most populous island of the archipelago.\u00a0Gran Canaria<\/a>, with 865,070 inhabitants, is both the Canary Islands’ second most populous island, and the third most populous one in Spain after\u00a0Majorca<\/a>\u00a0and Tenerife. The island of\u00a0Fuerteventura<\/a>\u00a0is the second largest in the archipelago and located 100\u00a0km (62\u00a0mi) from the African coast.<\/p>\n The islands form the\u00a0Macaronesia<\/a>\u00a0ecoregion<\/a>\u00a0with the\u00a0Azores<\/a>,\u00a0Cape Verde<\/a>,\u00a0Madeira<\/a>, and the\u00a0Savage Isles<\/a>. The Canary Islands is the largest and most populated archipelago of the Macaronesia region. The archipelago consists of seven large and several smaller islands, all of which are volcanic in origin.<\/p>\n The economy is based primarily on\u00a0tourism<\/a>, which makes up 32% of the GDP. The Canaries receive about 12\u00a0million 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\u00a0arid<\/a>\u00a0islands, are being\u00a0overexploited<\/a> but there are still many agricultural resources like tomatoes<\/a>,\u00a0potatoes<\/a>,\u00a0onions<\/a>,\u00a0cochineal<\/a>,\u00a0sugarcane<\/a>,\u00a0grapes<\/a>,\u00a0vines<\/a>,\u00a0dates<\/a>,\u00a0oranges<\/a>,\u00a0lemons<\/a>,\u00a0figs<\/a>,\u00a0wheat<\/a>,\u00a0barley<\/a>,\u00a0maize<\/a>,\u00a0apricots<\/a>,\u00a0peaches<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0almonds<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Canary Islands have eight airports altogether, two of the main ports of Spain, and an extensive network of autopistas (highways) and other roads.<\/p>\n Large ferry boats and fast ferries link most of the islands. Both types can transport large numbers of passengers, cargo, and vehicles.<\/p>\n The largest airport is the\u00a0Gran Canaria Airport<\/a>. Tenerife has two airports,\u00a0Tenerife North Airport<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Tenerife South Airport<\/a>. The island of Tenerife gathers the highest passenger movement of all the Canary Islands through its two airports. The two main islands (Tenerife and Gran Canaria) receive the greatest number of passengers. Tenerife 6,204,499 passengers and Gran Canaria 5,011,176 passengers.<\/p>\n The flag of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands is a vertical tricolor of three equal bands of white, blue, and yellow. The designs were made official by the Statute of Autonomy of the Canarian Autonomous Community (Organic Law 10\/82) on 16 August 1982.<\/p>\n The tricolor flag has its origins in the Canarias Libre movement of the 1960s. It was designed by Carmen Sarmiento and her sons Arturo and Jesus Cantero Sarmiento, and first displayed (in paper form) on 8 September 1961. \u00a0It combined the blue and white colors of the Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife<\/a> (Province of Canary Islands) with the blue and yellow colors of the\u00a0Province of Las Palmas<\/a>.<\/sup><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The tricolor flag has its origins in the Canarias Libre movement of the 1960s. It was designed by Carmen Sarmiento and her sons Arturo and Jesus Cantero Sarmiento, and first displayed (in paper form) on 8 September 1961. It combined the blue and white colors of the Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Province of Canary Islands) with the blue and yellow colors of the Province of Las Palmas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9513,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[19,66,59,26,5,6,7,29,60],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8809"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8809"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9514,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8809\/revisions\/9514"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/07\/Tenerife-300x204.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>History:<\/h2>\n
Ancient and Pre-Colonial:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/07\/Guanche-Mummy-of-a-Woman-830-AD-300x225.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Castilian Conquest:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/07\/Jean-de-Bethencourt-201x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/07\/Alonso-Fernandez-de-Lugo-300x194.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/07\/Houses-of-the-Sanchez-Ochando-300x193.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/07\/Van-der-Doess-Attack-on-Las-Palmas.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>18th to 19th Century:<\/h3>\n
Early 20th Century:<\/h3>\n
Franco Regime:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/11\/Francisco-Franco-217x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Self-Governance:<\/h3>\n
Geography:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/07\/Map-of-the-Canary-Islands-300x133.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Economy:<\/h2>\n
Transportation:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/07\/Gran-Canaria-Airport-300x200.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Flag of the Canary Islands:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/07\/Flag-of-the-Canary-Islands-300x200.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>