Canary Islands

The Canary Islands are a Spanish archipelago which, in turn, forms one of the Spanish Autonomous Communities and an Outermost Region of the European Union. The archipelago is located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the disputed border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The status of capital city is shared by the cities of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, which in turn are the capitals of the provinces of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas. The third city of the Canary Islands is San Cristóbal de La Laguna (City World Heritage Site) on the island of Tenerife. 

The name Islas Canarias is likely derived from the Latin term Insula Canaria, meaning "Island of the Dogs", a name applied originally only to Gran Canaria. It is speculated that the so called dogs were actually a species of Monk Seals ("sea dog" in Latin) now extinct. The dense population of seals may have been the characteristic that most struck the few ancient Romans who established contact with these islands by sea. The connection to dogs is retained in their depiction on the islands' coat-of-arms.

The Islands

Tenerife is, with its 2,034 km², the most extensive island of the Canaries. In addition, the 886,033 inhabitants make it the most populated island in Spain. Two of the archipelago's principal cities are located on it: Santa Cruz de Tenerife and San Cristóbal de La Laguna (a World Heritage Site). Santa Cruz de Tenerife is the capital and seat of the Parliament of Canaries. Santa Cruz de Tenerife shares the status of capital of the Canaries with Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The Teide, with its 3,718 m is the highest peak of Spain and also a World Heritage Site. This island is in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Gran Canaria is the province of Las Palmas' most populated island, with 829,597 inhabitants. The capital, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (377,203 inhabitants), is the most populated city and share the status of capital of the Canaries with Santa Cruz de Tenerife. In center of the island lie the Roque Nublo (1,813 m) and the Peak of Snow (1,949 m), the two highest points of the island.

 

Lanzarote, is the easternmost island and one of the most ancient of the archipelago, and it has shown recent volcanic activity. It has a surface of 845.94 km², and a population of 132,366 inhabitants. The capital is Arrecife, with 56,834 inhabitants.

 

Fuerteventura, with a surface of 1,659 km², is the second-most extensive island of the archipelago, as well as the second most oriental. Being also the most ancient of the islands, it is the one that is more eroded: its highest point is the Peak of the Bramble, at a height of 807 m. Its capital is Puerto del Rosario.

Canarian Gastronomy.

Canarian cuisine refers to the typical dishes and ingredients in the cuisine of the Canary Islands. These include plentiful fish, generally roasted, papas arrugadas (a potato dish), mojos (such as mojo picón), and wine from the malvasia grape. Mojo (pronounced mO-ho) is a sauce which may be orange, red, or green depending on its ingredients. Mojo is heavy in garlic and can be moderately spicy, referred to as mojo picón. It is usually made of oil, vinegar, salt, red pepper, thyme, oregano, coriander and several other spices. This is the father to all mojos of Latin America, especially Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela, due to heavy Canarian emigration, and have also influenced the cuisines of the non-Hispanic Caribbean islands. Papas arrugadas are small potatoes which have been boiled in salt water and are usually served with chicken and topped with mojo. Their name in Spanish means "wrinkled potatoes" and refers to their condition after being boiled and served. One very typical Canarian product is gofio, a flour created by grinding roasted sweetcorn. Gofio is produced locally and is added to many foods and also to warm milk as a drink, as well as made into a dough-like food called pella and eaten alongside meals. It is also made into a hot dip. Canarians widely use olive oil in their foods, which are often prepared from scratch.

Other typical Canarian foods include ropa vieja ("old clothes"), a dish of chicken and beef mixed with potatoes and garbanzo beans, and potaje, a generic name for one of many stews. Canarian ropa vieja is the father to Cuban ropa vieja through Canarian emigration. A sweet indulgence is bienmesabe which mean in Spanish "Tastes good to me". It's a paste made from grounded almonds, lemon rind and eggs. It's normally served as a dessert, nowadays sometime with cream or ice cream. The wine from the malvasia grape was a product of canarian export since the XVII century, inmediatley after the decline of sugar plantations and until its commerce was blocked by the British navy in the late XVIII. Nowadays the islands produce up to a dozen of protected geographical indications. Other foods include sancocho canario, puchero canario, gofio escaldado, bacalao (bacalhau), plátanos (plantain), pasteles, etc. Canarians often dye their food yellow, using either a local azafran (saffron) or food coloring. Canarians also eat foods typical of the Spanish peninsula, including Spanish tortilla and paella.

 

Canary Islands Nature and 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. Terrestrial fauna includes geckos (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. Mammals include the Canarian Shrew, Canary Big-Eared Bat, the Algerian Hedgehog (which may have been introduced) and the more recently introduced Mouflon. Some endemic mammals, the Lava Mouse and Canary Islands Giant Rat, are extinct, as are the Canary Islands Quail, Long-legged Bunting, and the Eastern Canary Islands Chiffchaff.

The Marine life found in the Canary Islands is also varied, being a combination of North Atlantic, Mediterranean and endemic species. In recent years, the increasing popularity 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, anemone, 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. 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 is 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. Marine mammals include the Short-Finned Pilot Whale, Common and Bottlenose dolphins. The Canary Islands were also formerly home to a population of the rarest Pinniped in the world, the Mediterranean Monk Seal.

     

Canary Islands 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, maize, 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 Islands Government to offer special tax concessions for investors who incorporate under the 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 is 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.

 

Canary Islands History

King Juba, Augustus's Roman protege, is credited with discovering the islands for the Western world, and he 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.[6] The pre-colonial inhabitants came to be known collectively as the Guanches, although Guanches was originally the name for the indigenous inhabitants of Tenerife. During the Middle Ages, the islands were visited by the Arabs for commercial purposes. Muslim navigator Ibn Farrukh, from Granada, is said to have landed in "Gando" (Gran Canaria) in February 999, visiting a king named Guanarigato. From the 14th century onward, numerous visits were made by sailors from Majorca, Portugal, and Genoa. Lancelotto Malocello settled on the island of Lanzarote in 1312. The Majorcans established a mission with a bishop in the islands that lasted from 1350 to 1400.

E-mail: info@enjoycanaryislands.com