HISTORY
Tenerife, the largest of the seven islands that make up the Canary Island archipelago, lies between the 28th and the 29th parallel north and 16 and 17 degrees west. Slightly to the north of the Tropic of Cancer, situated in the centre of the chain, between Gran Canaria, La Gomera and La Palma.
The island is just over 300 km from the African coast, and about 1,300 km from the Spanish Mainland.
It has an area of 2,034 km 2 and a strangely triangular shape, with the gigantic Pico del Teide rising up in the centre to 3,718 metres, making it the highest point in all of Spain.
Tenerife is a volcanic island that was originally formed in the late Tertiary Age. Seven million years ago, the areas of Teno, Anaga and Adeje emerged from the sea and later joined together to form the Dorsal Mountain Range. In the centre of the island, the impressive cone of Teide (3,718 m) rises up over the Caldera de Las Cañadas, forming the highest point of the island and, indeed, of the whole of Spain.
The rugged island terrain and the variety of climates has produced a territory of many different landscapes and forms, from the Teide National Park to Los Gigantes Cliffs with their vertical walls, with semi-desert areas with their drought-resistant plants in the south, valleys of tropical and sub-tropical crops, areas of laurel forests in the Anaga and Teno massifs and large areas of pine forest above the laurel forests relicts of the Tertiary Age. The wide variety of climates and landscapes in Tenerife is matched by a wealth of ecosystems, each with its own characteristic flora and fauna.
Even before the Canary Islands were part of history as such, they were legendary as the mythical lands beyond the Pillars of Hercules, the Gibraltar Straits, toward the Dark Sea. Paradise, the Elysian Fields or the Garden of the Hesperides are often placed here by Classical authors. One of the first reliable reports of the islands comes from Pliny who, in the 1st century, spoke of an expedition sent by Juba, King of Mauritania, which brought back giant dogs as a souvenir of the adventure. This is the origin of the name of the islands: Canary Islands, from can or canes. Magnificent examples of these fierce-looking native hunting dogs can still be found in the islands, where they are called "verdinos" on some islands and "bardinos" on others. It is hardly surprising that the first legendary and historic accounts of the Canary Islands almost always mention Tenerife, also known as Nivaria, as the sight of an enormous snow-capped mountain, sticking up above the clouds at those latitudes and visible for miles around must have made quite an impression on those ancient seafarers.
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THE GUANCHES
Up until the conquest of the Islands by Europeans, which took most of the 15th century, they were inhabited by people, possibly of North African origin, living in the Stone Age, although there were signs of a more advanced culture in their religion and handicrafts. The Guanches - pre-Hispanic inhabitants of Tenerife - dressed in rough skins and there is no evidence to suggest they knew anything about sailing. They did, however, bury their dead with great care after mummifying them, often using highly efficient techniques for this, and they showed fine taste in their decorations. They worked in clay, although they did not use a wheel, and their spears (añepas) where tipped with sharp pointed heads of natural volcanic stone. Many ancient writers - and some modern ones too - thought that the Canary Islands were the visible remains of a sunken continent: Atlantis, and that the Guanches were the descendants of Atlas. They would be the sons and grandsons of the people who inhabited the mountains of that legendary world who were transformed suddenly into islanders by the catastrophe. The theory, although totally lacking in a scientific base, is supported by some based on the fact that the Guanches were not a seafaring people and that there was no communication between the islands, although they were clearly visible. These arguments also mention the enormous stature of the natives - if we are to give credit to some reports, giants were commonplace on the islands.Top of page
THE CONQUEST
Then the Spanish conquistadors arrived, Tenerife was divided into nine kingdoms; each of which was ruled by a King or "Mencey", helped with the advice of a council of elders. The conquest of the islands started officially in 1402, with the incursions of Jean de Bethencourt and Gadifier de la Salle, in the name of Henry II, in the islands of Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and El Hierro, which were won for the Crown of Castile with relative ease. Ferman Peraza did the same with the island of La Gomera. Tenerife was the last island to be conquered, by then for the Catholic Monarchs. In Tenerife, the battle was a bloody one and the Spaniards, under Captain General Alonso Fernandez de Lugo, suffered several spectacular defeats, such as the one at La Matanza in 1494. Fernandez de Lugo returned a year later with a new army and his luck on the battle field changed. Some of the Menceys made an alliance with the invaders. Others, such as Bentor, preferred to commit suicide rather than capitulating. The defeat of Bencomo, Mencey of Taoro - what is now the Orotava Valley - in 1496 completed the conquest of Tenerife and the Canary Islands.
The fact that the islands were forced to become an official part of history - whilst there was still fighting in Tenerife, Christopher Columbus arrived at La Gomera, having set out from Palos on his historic adventure - still did not mean that these lands lost their fantastic or legendary reputation for the peoples of Europe. The first man to travel to the moon in modern literature, did so from the summit of Mount Teide. He was Domingo Gonzalez from Seville, the hero of Francis Goldwin's tale "A man in the moon". In the story, this happened in 1600. Throughout its history, the Canary Islands have had ties with America as an obligatory port of call for vessels sailing for the New World. As settlers, the Canary Islanders played an active part in founding nations and cities. For example, families from the Canary Islands founded the cities of Montevideo, San Antonio de Texas and San Bernardo (Louisiana), and the list of people who defended El Alamo is full of Canary Island surnames.Top of page
MODERN TIMES
Overseas trade and the farming wealth of the Islands - Malmsey became the most famous and highly appreciated wine in the world - , together with their strategic position, attracted a widely varied and cosmopolitan mixture of people, including Spaniards, Portuguese, Englishmen and Dutchmen, who were the forefathers of the current population of the islands. For exactly the same reasons, the Canary Islands have often been in the sights of pirates and foreign powers. There have been constant skirmishes. In 1797, Admiral Nelson tried to take the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife with his fleet but was defeated by General Gutierrez, loosing an arm in the battle. The letters and gifts the two sides exchanged, before Horatio Nelson left the waters of Tenerife, bear witness to the cordial and hospitable nature of the islanders, even in times of war. Throughout their history, the Canary Islands have maintained certain financial and administrative peculiarities, in comparison with the rest of Spain, because of their geographical position. In recent times, these differences were embodied in the Free Ports Act (1872), the establishment of Island Cabildos, which, as has been said in other sections, are a kind of island government, (1912) and with the approval of a special tax and financial system for the islands (REF). In 1982, the Canary Islands became an Autonomous Community and they joined the European Economic Community in 1986, along with the rest of Spain, but with a special status.Top of page
HISTORY UP TO 15th CENTURY
500 B.C. Arrival of first settlers from North Africa.
25 B.C. Euphorbius, a scholar heading an expedition sent out by King Juba II of Mauritania, reports the existence of Tenerife, which he calls Nivaria.
1312 First documented European voyage to the Canary Islands, led by Lancelotto Malllocello.
1392 According to legend, Guanche herdsmen found the Virgen de Candelaria on the coast of the Guimar valley, 104 years before Tenerife was conquered.
1434 Pope Eugene IV's papal bull establishing a complete prohibition on selling the natives of the Canary Islands into slavery.
1458 Franciscan friar Alonso de Bolaños laid the first foundations for missionary activity in Guimar.
1464 Diego de Herrera, Lord of the Canary Islands, reached agreements with the Guanches and took formal possession.
1477 Tenerife was declared a free island, when the Crown of Castile purchased the rights from the family of Hernan Peraza.
1492 Francisco Maldonado, Governor of Gran Canaria, attempted to conquer Tenerife, without success.
1494 Captain General Alonso Fernandez de Lugo started the conquest with a major defeat at Acentejo. The city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife was founded.
1495 Second attempt by Fernandez de Lugo. The troops of Castile won first at La Laguna and, a month later, at Acentejo.
1496 Alonso Fernandez de Lugo completed the conquest of Tenerife.Top of page
HISTORY OF THE 16th and 17th CENTURIES
1501 The Captain General appeared before the Royal Council to hear charges brought against him by Guanche slaves who claimed that, despite belonging to peaceful tribes and professing the Christian religion, they were generally sold into slavery, ill-treated and harassed.
1502 The Captain General decreed that the owners of irrigated land were obliged to grow sugar cane.
1511 The release of captive Guanches was ordered.
1519 Fernando de Magallanes sailed from Tenerife on the important voyage that would lead him to discover the Magellan Straits.
1536 Pedro Fernandez de Lugo, second Captain General of the Canary Islands, set sail with 1500 men to conquer South America.
1657 Santa Cruz was attacked by English Admiral Robert Blake. His intention was to capture the cargo of the fleet from New Spain. He was beaten off by island troops.
1666 The uprising known as the "wine spilling" took place in Garachico, putting an end to the English monopoly over the wine trade.Top of page
HISTORY OF THE 18th and 19th CENTURIES
1704/5 Volcanic eruptions of Siete Fuentes, Fasnia and Afafo.
1706 Trevejo volcano, in Garachico, erupted. The eruption lasted 40 days, burying the harbour, part of the town and farmland. Rear Admiral John Jennings, with a fleet of 13 ships, tried to occupy Santa Cruz harbour, without success.
1726 The twenty families of islanders that founded Montevideo (Uruguay) sailed from Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
1730 The twenty families that founded San Antonio (Texas) sailed from Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
1751 The first printing press in the Canary Islands started operating in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
1778 Santa Cruz bid farewell to the Canary Islander pioneers who set out for Louisiana. They founded towns like San Bernardo.
1792 The Castile Chambers published the Royal Decree in which King Charles IV ordered the founding of a Literary University in La Laguna. The Ecclesiastic University of San Agustin had already been established in 1744, by converting an Augustine religious college, established there in 1701.
1797 General Gutierrez fought off a Royal Navy attack led by Rear Admiral Horatio Nelson.
1798 Eruption of the western slopes of the Pico Viejo volcano.
1819 King Ferdinand VII confirmed the creation of the Bishopric of Tenerife, with its seat in La Laguna.
1821 The General Courts awarded Santa Cruz de Tenerife the title of capital of the province of the Canary Islands, which it maintained until 1927.
1852 The Islands started operating as free ports.
1853 A Royal Order authorising freedom of emigration was published; this marked the start of the legal exodus of Canary Islanders to America.
1883 On the 6th of December, Santa Cruz received the first telegram to reach the Canary Islands. The cable was sent from Cadiz.
1893 The Italian vessel El Remo, brought another epidemic of cholera to Tenerife, the fourth epidemic recorded in the 19th century. This one caused hundreds of deaths.Top of page
HISTORY OF THE 20th CENTURY
1906 King Alphonse XIII visited the islands, with an entourage of several ministers. His first port of call was Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
1909 Eruption of the Chinyero volcano, the last eruption to be recorded in Tenerife. Lava flowed for ten days.
1912 The Island Cabildos Act came into force. Eduardo Dominguez was President of the Tenerife Island Cabildo.
1927 Primo de Rivera's military junta divided the Canary Island region into two provinces and Santa Cruz lost its status as capital of the Islands.
1935 The capital of Tenerife hosted the II Universal Surrealism Exhibition. Andre Breton signed the manifesto of this cultural movement, officially declaring Tenerife a surrealist island.
1936 The newly appointed Captain General of the Canary Islands, Francisco Franco, who had arrived in Tenerife in March, rose up against the Republican Government, triggering the Civil War.
1941 The airport of Los Rodeos (La Laguna) was opened, remaining the only airport on the island until the Reina Sofia airport started operations in the south of Tenerife in 1978. 1946 The Canary Islands Economic Command, an organisation set up in 1941 to prevent the isolation of the Islands if Spain joined in the Second World War, ceased operating.
1948 The Greek sailing ship "Emilio" took 51 Canary Islanders to Venezuela. They embarked without authorisation in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Clandestine emigration continued until the seventies. 2,000 islanders left Tenerife this way.
1950 The Tenerife South Canal came into service, a major work of hydraulic engineering that irrigated extensive areas of land.
1954 A decree created the Teide National Park, one of the first three to be awarded this status of the nine parks that make up the national network. Four of these parks are in the Canary Islands.
1964 The Government approved the Canary Island Economic Development Plan. Laureano Lopez Rodo was to be the Commissioner.
1969 The Canary Island Financial and Tax System (REF) was established, creating an Inter-Provincial Island Duties Board.
1974 Santa Cruz held the I International Street Sculpture Exhibition. The installation of a large number of works of art changed the face of the city.
1978 The Canary Island Council, a pre-autonomous governing body, was established in Las Cañadas del Teide. Draft statutes had been drawn up in 1873 and 1936, both of which were aborted, the former by the Republican government and the latter by the coup. Reina Sofia - Tenerife South airport started operating.
1982 The Canary Islands Statutes of Autonomy were approved. These state that the Islands shall have two capitals; Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
1983 The Canary Island Parliament was established, with its seat in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
1985 The King and Queen of Spain opened the Canary Island Institute of Astrophysics (IAC) and the Teide observatory. The ceremony was attended by three other European monarchs and two heads of state.
1990 The Canary Island Parliament applied for full membership of the European Community.
1992 The E.C. approved POSEICAN (Programme of Specific Conditions due to the Distance and Island Factors for the Canary Islands), which takes into consideration the differential factors of the Islands and establishes measures aimed at achieving full development. The Tenerife Archaeology Museum reported the discovery of a stone engraved with tifinagh-zanata characters, which, according to museum experts, proves the theory that the Canary Islands were settled by peoples from the north of the Atlas mountains (Africa).
1994 Santa Cruz de Tenerife the V centenary of its foundation with an extensive programme of activities.Top of page
