Canary Islands

Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

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Map of Spain

Canary Islands are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean belonging to the Kingdom of Spain. Pliny mentions these as Canaria.

It is an important tourist destination for holiday goers.

Macaronesia is a collection of four volcanic archipelagos in the North Atlantic, off the coasts of Africa and Europe. The region of Macaronesia consists of the islands: Canary, Cape Verde, Madeira, and the Azores.

Variants

• Canary /kəˈnɛəri/
• Spanish: Canarias, pronounced [kaˈnaɾjas]),
• Canaries
• Canaria (Pliny.vi.37)
• Gran Canaria
• Fortunate Islands (Pliny.vi.37)

Jat Gotras Namesake

• Kanara = Canaries = Canaria = Fortunate Islands (Pliny.vi.37)

Location

At their closest point to the African mainland, they are 100 kilometres west of Morocco. They are the southernmost of the autonomous communities of Spain.

The seven main islands are (from largest to smallest in area) Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera, and El Hierro. The archipelago includes many smaller islands and islets, including La Graciosa, Alegranza, Isla de Lobos, Montaña Clara, Roque del Oeste, and Roque del Este. It also includes a number of rocks, including those of Salmor, Fasnia, Bonanza, Garachico, and Anaga.

Etymology

The name Islas Canarias is likely derived from the Latin name Canariae Insulae, meaning "Islands of the Dogs", a name that was evidently generalized from the ancient name of one of these islands, Canaria – presumably Gran Canaria. According to the historian Pliny the Elder, the island Canaria contained "vast multitudes of dogs of very large size".

Other theories speculate that the name comes from the Nukkari Berber tribe living in the Moroccan Atlas, named in Roman sources as Canarii, though Pliny again mentions the relation of this term with dogs. The connection to dogs is retained in their depiction on the islands' coat-of-arms. It is thought that the aborigines of Gran Canaria called themselves "Canarios". It is possible that after being conquered, this name was used in plural in Spanish, i.e., as to refer to all of the islands as the Canarii-as.

The name of the islands is not derived from the canary bird; rather, the birds are named after the islands.

History

In ancient times, the island chain was often referred to as "the Fortunate Isles". The Canary Islands are the southernmost region of Spain, and the largest and most populous archipelago of Macaronesia. Because of their location, the Canary Islands have historically been considered a link between the four continents of Africa, North America, South America, and Europe.

The Canary Islands, especially Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, and Lanzarote, are a major tourist destination, with over 12 million visitors per year. This is due to their beaches, subtropical climate, and important natural attractions, especially Maspalomas in Gran Canaria, Teide National Park, and Mount Teide (a World Heritage Site) in Tenerife. Mount Teide is the highest peak in Spain and the third tallest volcano in the world, measured from its base on the ocean floor.

The islands have warm summers and winters warm enough for the climate to be technically tropical at sea level. The amount Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, Book 6, Chap. 37. precipitation and the level of maritime moderation vary depending on location and elevation. The archipelago includes green areas as well as desert areas. The islands' high mountains are ideal for astronomical observation, because they lie above the temperature inversion layer. As a result, the archipelago boasts two professional observatories: Teide Observatory on the island of Tenerife, and Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the island of La Palma.

During the Age of Sail, the islands were the main stopover for Spanish galleons on their way to the Americas, which sailed that far south in order to catch the prevailing northeasterly trade winds.

Mention by Pliny

Pliny mentions Fortunate Islands....There are some authors who think that beyond these are the Fortunate Islands¹, and some others;.....According to the same author, in sight of these islands is Ninguaria¹³, which has received that name from its perpetual snows; this island abounds also in fogs. The one next to it is Canaria¹⁴; it contains vast multitudes of dogs of very large size, two of which were brought home to Juba: there are some traces of buildings to be seen here.

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1 Or Islands of the Blessed—the modern Canaries.

13 Or "Snow Island," the same as that previously called Invallis, the modern Teneriffe, with its snow-capped peak.

14 So called from its canine inhabitants.

Exploration

The islands may have been visited by the Phoenicians, the Greeks, and the Carthaginians. King Juba II, Caesar Augustus's Numidian protégé, is credited with discovering the islands for the Western world. According to Pliny the Elder, Juba found the islands uninhabited, but found "a small temple of stone" and "some traces of buildings". Juba dispatched a naval contingent to re-open the dye production facility at Mogador in what is now western Morocco in the early first century AD. That same naval force was subsequently sent on an exploration of the Canary Islands, using Mogador as their mission base.

The names given by Romans to the individual islands were Ninguaria or Nivaria (Tenerife), Canaria (Gran Canaria), Pluvialia or Invale (Lanzarote), Ombrion (La Palma), Planasia (Fuerteventura), Iunonia or Junonia (El Hierro) and Capraria (La Gomera).

From the 14th century onward, numerous visits were made by sailors from Majorca, Portugal and Genoa. Lancelotto Malocello settled on Lanzarote in 1312. The Majorcans established a mission with a bishop in the islands that lasted from 1350 to 1400.