Canary Islands

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Comunidad Autónoma de
Canarias

Flag Coat of Arms
Capitals	Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Area  – Total  – % of Spain	Ranked 13th  7 447 km²  1,5%
Population  – Total (2003)  – % of Spain  – Density	Ranked 8th  1 843 755  4,4%  247,58/km²
Demonym  – English  – Spanish	Canary Islander (Canarian)  canario/a
Statute of Autonomy	August 16, 1982
ISO 3166-2	ES-CN
Parliamentary representation  – Congress seats  – Senate seats	14  2 (by Autonomic Goberment), 3 for Tenerife, 3 for Gran canaria, and one for every other island=13
President	Adán Martín Menis (CC)
Gobierno de Canarias

The Canary Islands (Islas Canarias)
(28° 06'N, 15° 24'W) are an archipelago of the Kingdom of Spain consisting of seven islands of volcanic origin in the Atlantic Ocean.

They are located off the northwestern coast of Africa (Morocco and the Western Sahara).

They form an autonomous community of Spain.

The name derives probably from a north African tribe (the Canarii) or possibly the Latin term Insularia Canaria meaning Island of the Dogs, a name applied originally only to the island of Gran Canaria. It is thought that the dense population of an endemic breed of large and fierce dogs was the characteristic that most struck the few ancient Romans who established contact with the islands by the sea.

Contents   1 History 1.1 Precolonial Times 1.2 The Spanish Conquest 1.3 1700-1900 1.4 Early 20. Century 1.5 The Franco Regime 1.6 Until Today 2 Physical geography 3 Political geography 4 Economy 5 See also 6 Sources and References 7 Other External links

History

Precolonial Times

The Canary Islands have been known since antiquity. The peak of Teide (P) on Tenerife can be seen on clear days from the African coast.

It is possible that the islands were among those discovered by the Carthaginian captain Hanno the Navigator in his voyage of exploration along the African coast.


It is barely possible that the islands were visited by the Phoenicians seeking the precious red dye extracted from the orchilla, if the Canaries are considered to be The Purple Isles, or alternatively identified with the Hesperides.

Recent discoveries have demonstrated that the Romans traded with the indigenous inhabitants of the Canary Islands, although there is no concrete evidence that any Romans actually settled.

Legendary islands in the Western Ocean that recur in European traditions are often linked with the Canaries, even the legendary voyage of Saint Brendan.

During the Middle Ages, the islands were visited by the Arabs for commercial purposes. From the 14th century onward numerous visits were made by sailors from Mallorca, Portugal, and Genoa. Lancelotto Malocello settled on the island of Lanzarote in 1312.

The Mayorcans established a mission with a bishop in the islands that lasted from 1350 to 1400. It is from this mission that the various paintings and statues of the Virgin Mary that are currently venerated in the island were preserved.

At the time of their discovery by Europeans, the Canary Islands were inhabited by a variety of indigenous communities. The pre-colonial population of the Canaries is generically referred to as Guanches, although, strictly speaking, Guanches (Pictures) were originally the inhabitants of Tenerife.

According to the chronicles,
- the inhabitants of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote
  were referred to as Maxos,
- Gran Canaria was inhabited by the Canarii,
- El Hierro by the Bimbaches,
- La Palma by the Auaritas and
- La Gomera by the Gomeros.

Despite the fact that inter-insular relations among the indigenous communities cannot be conclusively denied, evidence does seem to suggest that the interaction was relatively low and each island was populated by its own distinct socio-cultural groups.

The origins of these Canarian indigenous people have been - and indeed still are - the subject of long debates. Numerous theories have been put forward throughout the last century, achieving varying degrees of acceptance.

A common denominator to many of the theories, though, are the persisting effects of a diffusionist tradition that tends to resort to the archaeological record of different continents in the attempt to trace systematic cultural dispersions through stylistic analyses of the material productions, leading, in occasions, to rather far-fetched conclusions.

As we are dealing with a group of islands, the first settlers must evidently have arrived by sea, and archaeology suggests that, when they did so, they imported, not only domestic animals such as goats, sheep, pigs and dogs and cereals such as wheat, barley and lentils, but also a set of well defined socio-cultural practices that seem to have originated and been in use for a long period of time elsewhere.

Although the maritime currents surrounding the Canaries flow in a south-westerly and westerly direction (thus leading boats away into the Atlantic Ocean), there is enough evidence to prove that various Mediterranean civilisations in antiquity did know of the islands' existence and established contact with them (mainly Romans, Greeks and Phoenicians).

The indigenous population of the Canaries, therefore, did not develop in complete isolation. In fact, as of the 14th century, European disembarkations of Genovese, Castelian and Portuguese missionaries and pirates on Canarian shores became relatively common and the prehispanic populations were subjected to a long, continuous process of Westernisation before the colonisations.

Today, archaeological and ethnographic studies have led most scholars to accept the view
-  that the pre-colonial population of the Canaries
   were descendants of North African Berber tribes
   who lived in the Atlas region and started arriving in the Canaries
   by sea c. 1000 BC.

Two main problems remain to be solved in this field, though.

Firstly, there is no archaeological or historical evidence to prove that either the Berber tribes of the Atlas Mountains or the Canarian pre-colonial population had any knowledge or made any use whatsoever of navigation techniques.

This is particularly problematic considering that the Canary Islands are not visible from the African coast and the currents around the islands tend to lead the boats southwest and west, past the archipelago and into the Atlantic Ocean.

The second problem concerns absolute dating. Despite the fact that most scholars would now agree that the earliest reliable dates can be traced back to c. 1000 BC, different absolute dating technologies such as C¹⁴ and thermoluminscence have provided the most variable results.

Poor methodological practices in the past and an insufficient number of absolute datings carried out throughout the archipelago are mostly responsible for this sort of inconsistency and lack of information.

There still exists, however, a relatively large variety of theories regarding th origin of prehispanic Canarians.

For instance, a group of scholars (mainly from the University of La Laguna, in Tenerife) are presently defending the theory that the origins of the Canarian populations are Punic-Phoenician.

Álvarez Delgado, on the other hand, argues that the Canaries were uninhabited until 100 AD, when they were gradually discovered by Greek and Roman sailors.

In the second half of the first century AD, Juba II abandoned North African prisoners on the islands, who eventually became the prehispanic Canarians. The fact that the first inhabitants were abandoned prisoners thus explains, according to Álvarez Delgado, their lack of navigation skills.

Although denied by certain scholars (cf. Abreu Galindo 1977: 297), specialisation of labour and a hierarchy system seem to have governed the social structures of the Canarian precolonial populations .

In Tenerife the highest figure was known as the Mencey, although, by the time the first Spanish incursions in the Canaries took place, Tenerife had already been divided into nine menceyatos (i.e. separate regions of the island controlled by its own Mencey), namely Anaga, Tegueste, Tacoronte, Taoro, Icod, Daute, Adeje, Abona and Güimar.

Despite the fact that all Menceys were independent and absolute owners of their territory within the island, it was the Mencey of Taoro who acted, according to the chronicles, as primus inter pares.

Gran Canaria, on the other hand, appears to have been divided into two guanartematos (i.e. functionally, politically and structurally differentiated regions): Telde and Gáldar, each governed by a Guanarteme.

Influenced by cultural materialist and cultural ecologist approaches, numerous studies of precolonial Canarian social structures have emphasised the importance of the availability of natural resources on the islands, the different degrees of access to them and the varying forms of subsistence strategies in use by the different populations.

Thus most scholars have tended to adopt a clear-cut distinction between the agriculturalist and the pastoralist societies and ways of life in the Canaries (cf. Diego Cuscoy 1963: 44; González Antón & Tejera Gaspar 1990: 78)-- a dichotomy which is perhaps rather over-simplistic, especially if we consider the great variety in microclimates and natural resources occurring, not only throughout the archipelago, but also within certain individual islands. In any case, this division has been applied (generally in an equally clear-cut fashion) to the islands of Tenerife and Gran Canaria, the former being described as a pastoralist society and the latter as an agriculturalist one.

The religious and cosmological beliefs of the indigenous Canarians have proven to be a particularly problematic field of the islands' archaeological and historical studies.

Most of the present knowledge derives, once again, from the contradictory and biased chronicles, whose ambiguous affirmations and descriptions often make it rather difficult for scholars to distinguish between what was originally the product of the chroniclers' misinterpretations, consciously concealed data, or actual religious syncretism caused by a century of contacts with the missionaries and other Europeans before the Spanish colonisations.

Moreover, there is remarkably little archaeological evidence available, for, although certain sites containing architectonic remains have been identified as sanctuaries, the indigenous Canarian people often performed their religious practices (i.e. mainly libations and animal sacrifices) in natural sanctuaries such as cliffs, mountains and places marked by particular striking geographical features or types of vegetation (especially the tree Dracaena Drago), most of which will go unnoticed from an archaeological perspective.

The Spanish Conquest

In 1402, the conquest of the islands began, with the expedition of Juan de Bethencourt and Gadifer de la Salle to the island of Lanzarote, Norman nobles who were vassals of Henry III of Castile. From there, he conquered Fuerteventura and Hierro. Béthencourt received the title King of the Canary Islands, but recognised King Henry III as his overlord.

Béthencourt also established a base on the island of Gomera, but it would be many years before the island was truly conquered. The people of Gomera, as well as the Gran Canaria, Tenerife, and La Palma people, resisted the Spanish invaders for almost a century.

The conquest of the Canaries, which took almost 100 years, set a precedent for the conquest of the New World, with complete annhilation of the native culture and rapid assimilation to Christianity.

Due to the topology and the resistance of the native Guanches, the conquest was not completed until 1496, when the conquest of Tenerife was completed and the Canaries were incorporated into the Castilian kingdom.

Between 1448 and 1459, there was a crisis between Castile and Portugal over the control of the islands, when Maciot de Bethencourt sold the lordship of Lanzarote to Portugal's Prince Henry the Navigator, an action that was not accepted by the natives or the Castilian residents of the island, who initiated a revolt and expelled the Portuguese.

After the conquest, the Spanish imposed a new economic model based on single-crop cultivation— first, sugar cane, then wine, an important trade item with England.

In this era, the first institutions of government were founded. Both Gran Canaria, since 6 March 1480 a colony of Castille (from 1556 of Spain), and Tenerife, a Spanish colony since 1495, had separate governors, except while 1589 - 1595 part of the Captaincy-general of Canary Islands, until 1625 when both became for part of Captaincy-general of Canarias.

The islands became a stopping point in the trade routes with America, Africa, and India, and the port of Las Palmas became one of the most important ports of the Spanish Empire. The towns of Santa Cruz and Las Palmas, 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. Of particular interest to visitors is the Church of El Salvador, one of the island's finest examples of the architecture of the 1500s.

1700-1900

However, because of the crises of single-crop cultivation in the 18th century and onward, the independence of Spain's American colonies in the 19th century caused severe recessions on the islands. A new cash crop, the cochinilla, came into cultivation during this time, saving the island's economy. .

During the 19th century and the first half of the 20th, owing to economic crises in the archipelago, a series of emigrations took place, primarily for the Americas.

Early 20. Century

At the beginning of the 20th century, the English 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 Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas for the capital-ship of the islands would lead to the division of the archipelago in two provinces in 1927, though this has not laid to rest the rivalry between the two cities, which continues to this day.

During the time of the Second Spanish Republic, workers' movements with marxist and anarchist ideologies began to develop, led by figures such as Jose Miguel Perez and Guillermo Ascanio. However, outside of a few municipalities, these organisations were a minority.

The Franco Regime

In 1936, Francisco Franco traveled to the Canaries as General Commandant. From the Canaries, he launched the military uprising of July 17.

He quickly took control of the archipelago, with the exception of a few focal points of resistance on the island of La Palma and in the town of Vallehermoso, on Gomera island. Despite the fact that there was never a proper war in the islands, they were one of the places where the post-war repression 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 did not begin to organise until the late 1950s, which saw the formation of groups such as the Communist Party of Spain and various nationalist, leftist, and independence-terrorist movements, such as the Free Canaries Movement and the MPAIAC.

Until Today

After Franco's death and the installation of a democratic constitutional monarchy, a bill of autonomy was put forth for the Canary how another communities, which was approved in 1982. In 1983, the first autonomous elections were held, and were won by the Spanish socialist party, PSOE. The current ruling party is the Canarian Coalition.

Physical geography

The islands and their capitals are:

• Gran Canaria (capital Las Palmas de Gran Canaria);
• Tenerife (capital Santa Cruz de Tenerife);
• Lanzarote (capital Arrecife);
• La Palma (capital Santa Cruz de La Palma);
• La Gomera (capital San Sebastián de La Gomera);
• El Hierro (capital Valverde);
• Fuerteventura (capital Puerto del Rosario).

The nearest island is 108 km from the northwest African coast.

The islands form the Macaronesia ecoregion with the Azores, Cape Verde, Madeira, and the Savage Isles. The Teide volcano on Tenerife is the highest mountain in Spain, and the third largest volcano on Earth. According to the position of the islands with respect to the trade winds, the climate can be mild and wet or very dry. Several native species are conserved, like the dragon tree Dracaena draco and the Laurisilva forests.

Four of Spain's 13 national parks are located in the Canary Islands, more than any other autonomous community:

• Parque Nacional de la Caldera de Taburiente on La Palma,
• Garajonay National Park on La Gomera,
• Teide National Park on Tenerife,
• Timanfaya National Park on Lanzarote.

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 assembly named cabildo insular.