About Gran Canaria
History of Gran Canaria
Much of the Canary Islands' history between their conquest in the late 15th century and the present is tied up with that of the Spanish mainland. As a vital point for trade with the Americas, Gran Canaria briefly shared in the prosperity of Spain's Golden Age, although it suffered economic decline thereafter. And in the late 20th century, the islands, along with Spain, became part of the European Union. But long before the Spaniards ever set foot here, there was a flourishing civilization.
More things to do Gran Canaria
Land of the brave was the proud name given to Gran Canaria by the Guanches, the pre-Hispanic people of the islands. No one is quite sure where the Guanches came from. Some historians and scientists think they were related to the Canarii tribe, who lived on the Saharan side of the Atlas Mountains. The few fragments of writing that can be reconstructed are similar to scripts used by the ancient Berber people, and some Canarian place names are similar too. But as far as can be deduced, the Guanches had no boats, so how they crossed from the African coast remains a mystery. Perhaps, having settled on the islands, they simply forgot how to sail.
Quite a lot has been discovered about the culture of these original islanders. Language and social structure varied from island to island. On Gran Canaria, the rulers were called guanartemes and shared some of their power with a jaycan, who combined the role of judge and priest. Next on the social ladder came the aristocracy, the guayres.
The Guanches were a settled, agricultural people, who lived in groups of caves. Gofio, toasted flour originally made from barley, was their staple, but, as well as roots, they could pick a variety of wild fruits and berries. Pigs, sheep and goats provided meat as well as the materials for shelters, containers and clothes, and milk also came from sheep and goats. Fish formed a part of their diet, even when they had to travel some distance down to the coast to find it.
The Guanches did not have the wheel, they knew nothing of metalworking and did not use bows and arrows. Their domestic implements were made from stone and bone or from obsidian, a black, volcanic glass. Porous lava was made into millstones and mortars. Their vessels and containers were made from pottery, wood, leather and woven cane. They mummified their dead and buried them in caves or stone lined graves, and it is evidence from mummies so far discovered that has led scientists to place the original islanders' ethnic origins in northwest Africa. The Museo Canario has a number of mummies and skulls in its collection, along with domestic items, remarkably well preserved in the dry climate.
The Normans and the Canary Islands
The first conquering force, in 1403, was led by a Norman lord, Jean de Bethencourt, and funded by the king of Castile, but he failed to take the two main prizes Gran Canaria and Tenerife. It wasn't until 1478 that another attempt was made, under the aegis of the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella of a newly united Spain. As the force was undermanned and the indigenous people put up quite a fight, it took several years to subdue them. Pedro de Vera was the man for the job. Arriving as military governor in 1480 he is said to have killed Doramas, the most warlike of the chiefs, with his own hands on the Montana de Arucas. This coup, and the capture and conversion two years later of chief Tenesor Semidan brought the native people under control, but not before many of them had been killed, starved to death or committed ritual suicide.
De Vera remained governor for 10 years, during which time, in the interests of security, he had many of the local population deported or enslaved. This, together with an influx of European farmers and entrepreneurs, plus two severe outbreaks of plague, meant that within half a century the indigenous population was outnumbered. Those who survived had been forcibly 'converted'.
Slavery and the Gran Canaria
Because of their location, the Canary Islands became a proving ground for future Spanish colonization strategies in the Americas. These revolved around slavery and sugar cane, both of which were were introduced to the Americas from the Canaries. The sugar boom on the Canaries only lasted until the mid-16th century, when competition from Brazil and the Caribbean became too strong. While Tenerife was able to switch to a lucrative wine industry, conditions on Gran Canaria were unsuitable for viniculture and the island became something of a poor relation, locked in fierce rivalry with flourishing Tenerife, which became the residence of the Captain General and location of the first university. The problems Gran Canaria suffered during the 16th and 17th centuries were intensified by the fact that the island and her ships were frequently attacked by pirates. The worst outrage was in 1599, when the Dutch buccaneer Pieter van der Does sacked and burned Las Palmas.
Gran Canaria began to assert its independence from Tenerife and mainland Spain in 1808 when the Napoleonic Wars destroyed Tenerife's wine trade. Ajunta was formed in Las Palmas, calling for 'a patriotic government, independent of the peninsula', but it was unsuccessful. Not until the 1860s did the island's fortunes begin to recover, with the introduction of cochineal, the red dye produced from a beetle of the same name that feeds on cacti. The boom was short-lived, as the invention of cheaply produced aniline dyes brought a virtual end to the industry. Poverty and unemployment forced many islanders to emigrate to the Americas, mainly Cuba and Venezuela.
It was only in the 1880s that things really began to get better, largely due to Fernando Leon y Castillo, a local politician who became foreign minister in the Spanish government. With the collaboration of his brother, Juan, an engineer, he embarked on a project to transform Las Palmas into the major port on the island. Within about six years, the Puerto de la Luz was dealing with most of the steamship trade that passed through the islands.
Canary Islands agriculture
The last of the briefly successful mono-cultures was bananas, introduced by the British in the late 19th century. But World War I had a disastrous effect on the trade, thereby creating more poverty and more emigration. Contact with the New Agriculture is still a labor-intensive activity World, where Cuba had won freedom from Spain in 1898, led to calls for Canarian independence, but most people simply wanted the division of the archipelago into two separate provinces.
Franco and the Canary Islands
Formalization of this came in 1927 but no new economic solutions had been found when the three-year Spanish Civil War began in 1936, initiated by Francisco Franco, military governor of the Canary Islands. He spent the last night before launching his coup in the Hotel Madrid in Las Palmas. (The Canaries are the only parts of Spain where you will still see main streets named 'Generalissimo Franco' or 'Primo de Rivera, the latter after a Falangist leader executed in 1936.)
After the civil war and World War II, the Canaries, like the rest of Spain, initially suffered from isolation and economic hardship. Things improved a little in the 1950s, when Spain was once more recognized by the interactional community, but it was the advent of tourism in the following decade that really turned the tide. Franco remained in power until his death in 1975, when his authoritarian regime was replaced by democratic government. The new Spanish Constitution of 1978 created the Autonomous Region of the Canary Islands now one of 17 such regions. The archipelago is not completely separate from Spain but the island movement, the Cabildo Insular, does have a great deal of freedom.
The islands have enjoyed considerable commercial freedom and tax exemptions ever since the 19th century, but when Spain became a full member of the European Union, fiscal changes had to be introduced. In order to protect trade and industry the Puerto de la Luz and the industrial area round Arinaga were confirmed as a Free Trade Zone, governed by a local consortium. The agricultural sector finds it difficult to compete in the wider market. Until the end of 1995, Spain guaranteed a market for Gran Canaria's bananas but since then, despite subsidies, the industry has been uneconomical. Production costs are high and bananas need a lot of water a scarce commodity. The island is a major producer of tomatoes for the European market, but countries with lower labor costs, such as Morocco, have been able to undercut the Canarian growers. The only real money-spinner is tourism.
Much of the Canary Islands' history between their conquest in the late 15th century and the present is tied up with that of the Spanish mainland. As a vital point for trade with the Americas, Gran Canaria briefly shared in the prosperity of Spain's Golden Age, although it suffered economic decline thereafter. And in the late 20th century, the islands, along with Spain, became part of the European Union. But long before the Spaniards ever set foot here, there was a flourishing civilization.
More things to do Gran Canaria
Land of the brave was the proud name given to Gran Canaria by the Guanches, the pre-Hispanic people of the islands. No one is quite sure where the Guanches came from. Some historians and scientists think they were related to the Canarii tribe, who lived on the Saharan side of the Atlas Mountains. The few fragments of writing that can be reconstructed are similar to scripts used by the ancient Berber people, and some Canarian place names are similar too. But as far as can be deduced, the Guanches had no boats, so how they crossed from the African coast remains a mystery. Perhaps, having settled on the islands, they simply forgot how to sail.
Quite a lot has been discovered about the culture of these original islanders. Language and social structure varied from island to island. On Gran Canaria, the rulers were called guanartemes and shared some of their power with a jaycan, who combined the role of judge and priest. Next on the social ladder came the aristocracy, the guayres.
The Guanches were a settled, agricultural people, who lived in groups of caves. Gofio, toasted flour originally made from barley, was their staple, but, as well as roots, they could pick a variety of wild fruits and berries. Pigs, sheep and goats provided meat as well as the materials for shelters, containers and clothes, and milk also came from sheep and goats. Fish formed a part of their diet, even when they had to travel some distance down to the coast to find it.
The Guanches did not have the wheel, they knew nothing of metalworking and did not use bows and arrows. Their domestic implements were made from stone and bone or from obsidian, a black, volcanic glass. Porous lava was made into millstones and mortars. Their vessels and containers were made from pottery, wood, leather and woven cane. They mummified their dead and buried them in caves or stone lined graves, and it is evidence from mummies so far discovered that has led scientists to place the original islanders' ethnic origins in northwest Africa. The Museo Canario has a number of mummies and skulls in its collection, along with domestic items, remarkably well preserved in the dry climate.
The Normans and the Canary Islands
The first conquering force, in 1403, was led by a Norman lord, Jean de Bethencourt, and funded by the king of Castile, but he failed to take the two main prizes Gran Canaria and Tenerife. It wasn't until 1478 that another attempt was made, under the aegis of the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella of a newly united Spain. As the force was undermanned and the indigenous people put up quite a fight, it took several years to subdue them. Pedro de Vera was the man for the job. Arriving as military governor in 1480 he is said to have killed Doramas, the most warlike of the chiefs, with his own hands on the Montana de Arucas. This coup, and the capture and conversion two years later of chief Tenesor Semidan brought the native people under control, but not before many of them had been killed, starved to death or committed ritual suicide.
De Vera remained governor for 10 years, during which time, in the interests of security, he had many of the local population deported or enslaved. This, together with an influx of European farmers and entrepreneurs, plus two severe outbreaks of plague, meant that within half a century the indigenous population was outnumbered. Those who survived had been forcibly 'converted'.
Slavery and the Gran Canaria
Because of their location, the Canary Islands became a proving ground for future Spanish colonization strategies in the Americas. These revolved around slavery and sugar cane, both of which were were introduced to the Americas from the Canaries. The sugar boom on the Canaries only lasted until the mid-16th century, when competition from Brazil and the Caribbean became too strong. While Tenerife was able to switch to a lucrative wine industry, conditions on Gran Canaria were unsuitable for viniculture and the island became something of a poor relation, locked in fierce rivalry with flourishing Tenerife, which became the residence of the Captain General and location of the first university. The problems Gran Canaria suffered during the 16th and 17th centuries were intensified by the fact that the island and her ships were frequently attacked by pirates. The worst outrage was in 1599, when the Dutch buccaneer Pieter van der Does sacked and burned Las Palmas.
Gran Canaria began to assert its independence from Tenerife and mainland Spain in 1808 when the Napoleonic Wars destroyed Tenerife's wine trade. Ajunta was formed in Las Palmas, calling for 'a patriotic government, independent of the peninsula', but it was unsuccessful. Not until the 1860s did the island's fortunes begin to recover, with the introduction of cochineal, the red dye produced from a beetle of the same name that feeds on cacti. The boom was short-lived, as the invention of cheaply produced aniline dyes brought a virtual end to the industry. Poverty and unemployment forced many islanders to emigrate to the Americas, mainly Cuba and Venezuela.
It was only in the 1880s that things really began to get better, largely due to Fernando Leon y Castillo, a local politician who became foreign minister in the Spanish government. With the collaboration of his brother, Juan, an engineer, he embarked on a project to transform Las Palmas into the major port on the island. Within about six years, the Puerto de la Luz was dealing with most of the steamship trade that passed through the islands.
Canary Islands agriculture
The last of the briefly successful mono-cultures was bananas, introduced by the British in the late 19th century. But World War I had a disastrous effect on the trade, thereby creating more poverty and more emigration. Contact with the New Agriculture is still a labor-intensive activity World, where Cuba had won freedom from Spain in 1898, led to calls for Canarian independence, but most people simply wanted the division of the archipelago into two separate provinces.
Franco and the Canary Islands
Formalization of this came in 1927 but no new economic solutions had been found when the three-year Spanish Civil War began in 1936, initiated by Francisco Franco, military governor of the Canary Islands. He spent the last night before launching his coup in the Hotel Madrid in Las Palmas. (The Canaries are the only parts of Spain where you will still see main streets named 'Generalissimo Franco' or 'Primo de Rivera, the latter after a Falangist leader executed in 1936.)
After the civil war and World War II, the Canaries, like the rest of Spain, initially suffered from isolation and economic hardship. Things improved a little in the 1950s, when Spain was once more recognized by the interactional community, but it was the advent of tourism in the following decade that really turned the tide. Franco remained in power until his death in 1975, when his authoritarian regime was replaced by democratic government. The new Spanish Constitution of 1978 created the Autonomous Region of the Canary Islands now one of 17 such regions. The archipelago is not completely separate from Spain but the island movement, the Cabildo Insular, does have a great deal of freedom.
The islands have enjoyed considerable commercial freedom and tax exemptions ever since the 19th century, but when Spain became a full member of the European Union, fiscal changes had to be introduced. In order to protect trade and industry the Puerto de la Luz and the industrial area round Arinaga were confirmed as a Free Trade Zone, governed by a local consortium. The agricultural sector finds it difficult to compete in the wider market. Until the end of 1995, Spain guaranteed a market for Gran Canaria's bananas but since then, despite subsidies, the industry has been uneconomical. Production costs are high and bananas need a lot of water a scarce commodity. The island is a major producer of tomatoes for the European market, but countries with lower labor costs, such as Morocco, have been able to undercut the Canarian growers. The only real money-spinner is tourism.
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