'Tenerife', a
Spanish island, is the largest of the seven
Canary Islands in the
Atlantic Ocean off the coast of
Africa. The island's
population is 852,945 (
2006 census).
Santa Cruz de Tenerife is the second biggest city in the archipelago, the capital of the island and the head of the ''cabildo insular'' (island government); it is also officially co-capital of the
autonomous community of the
Canary Islands together with
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, with whom it shares governmental institutions such as Presidency, Parliament and ministries.
The island is home to
La Laguna University founded in
1792.
Geography
Satellite montage of Tenerife
The island is located at and has a surface area of 2,034
km² (785
sq.mi). Like the rest of the Canary Islands, it is of
volcanic origin. The last of the three eruptions that created the island happened about 3.5M years ago, although small murmurs occur. The most recent earthquake of about 4 on the
Richter scale was in
2002. The highest point of Spain,
Teide (
3 717 m), is on this island. The island itself is clearly divided into a very dry southern part and a very humid and green north.
The island is part of the
province of
Santa Cruz de Tenerife. It includes 31 municipalities:
The village
Güímar is the site of the mysterious
Pyramids of Güímar.
Puerto de la Cruz, in the North, also during winter and thus featuring background snowy mountains
Tourism
Tourism is the most prominent industry in the Canaries and it is one of the major tourist destinations in the World. In
2005, 9,276,963 tourists (excluding those from mainland
Spain) came to the Canary Islands. Tenerife had 3,442,787 arrivals that year, excluding the numbers for
Spanish tourists which make up an additional 30% of total arrivals. According to last year's Canarian Statistics Centre's (ISTAC) Report on Tourism the greatest number of tourists from any one country come from the
United Kingdom, with more than 1,600,000 tourists in 2005. In second place comes
Germany followed by
Belgium,
The Netherlands,
Sweden,
Finland,
Denmark,
Norway,
Italy,
France,
Austria,
Ireland and
Switzerland.
Tourism is more prevalent in the
south of the island, which is hotter and drier and has many well developed resorts such as
Playa de las Americas and
Los Cristianos. More recently coastal development has spread northwards from Playa de las Americas and now encompasses the former small enclave of La Caleta. After the ''Moratoria'' act passed by the Canarian Parliament in
Santa Cruz de Tenerife, no more hotels should be built on the island unless they are classified as 5 star-quality and comprise different services such as
Golf Courses or Congress facilities. This act was passed with the goal of improving the standard of tourism service and promoting environmentally conscious development.
The area known as Costa Adeje (Las Américas-Los Cristianos) comprises many world-class facilities and leisure opportunities besides sea and sand, such as quality shopping centres, golf courses ( 9 in the island), restaurants, aquaparks, animal parks, and a theatre suitable for musicals or a Congress Hall, all in a very characteristic
Las Vegas-like aesthetic.
In the more lush and green north of the island the main development for tourism has been in the town of
Puerto de la Cruz. The town itself has kept some of its old-harbour town charm mixed with northern European influences. Still, the tourist boom in the 60's changed the outlook of the town, making it cosy and cosmopolitan at the same time, and a favourite for the more mature traveller (notably the German and Spanish tourist).
Transport
The island of Tenerife is served by
Tenerife North Airport (TFN) and
Tenerife South Airport (TFS).
Green scenery at Los Rodeos Airport
The Aeropuerto de Los Rodeos, the smaller of the two, is located near the metropolitan area Santa Cruz-La Laguna (423.022 people). It serves inter-insular flights as well as national and European flights, and for the last two years, a weekly service to Venezuela. Aeropuerto Reina Sofía is the busiest Airport in Tenerife, ranking 7th in Spain. It typically serves the mass of regular and charter flights constantly arriving from most of Europe.
As it is an island, the only other way to arrive on Tenerife is by ferry, either to Santa Cruz de Tenerife or Los Cristianos, near Playa de Las Américas.
TF5 motorway approaching Santa Cruz
A network consisting of two fast, toll-free motorways (TF1 and TF5) encircles nearly the entire island, linking all the main towns and resorts with the metropolitan area. The exception is in the west from Adeje to Icod de los Vinos, which is traversed by a smaller winding mountain road. However, plans are now afoot to complete the autopista, which is causing heavy debate between the environmentalists and the local businessmen, though works are to start in early 2007. This, however, pales in comparison to the heated discussions concerning the planned port in Granadilla, which is now in the hands of Brussels.
Away from the major motorways, there is a network of secondary and communal roads, varying from wide to steep, winding narrow roads, mainly unlit and often with drops either side of the main carriageway surface.
Public transport on the island is provided by an extensive network of buses (''Guaguas'') and run by
TITSA, who operate a fleet of modern, air-conditioned buses
[1] which, generally, run on time. Drivers are helpful, and the mix of tourists and 'locals' (especially in the resort areas) makes for an interesting ride, not to mention it being one of the best ways to actually see the island. Plans for a light-rail network linking the capital with the South have been approved by both the
Tenerife Council and the Canary Islands Government, for Gran Canaria and Tenerife, though the discussion with the central Spanish Government hinges now on budget.
[2]
Santa Cruz de Tenerife
The metropolitan Area formed by Santa Cruz and La Laguna will be served by a ''tranvía'' (tram) working in early 2007, after 3 years of intensive works.
History
Known to the Romans as ''Nivaria'' (from the
Latin ''nix'', ''nivis'', "snow"), a reference to the snows atop the volcano known as
El Teide, Tenerife bears a name that is also a reference to this volcano, and was used for the island by the
Guanches of the neighboring island of
La Palma, “Tene” signifying “mountain” and “ife” white (the “r” was added by the
Spanish). To the natives of Tenerife, the island was known as ''Chenech'', ''Chinech'' or ''Achinech''. As the legend goes, many islands, among them Tenerife, were the uppermost peaks of Atlantis, a continent that sank under the ocean in a catastrophic event which left only the highest mountains above sea level.
It is also believed that nearly 3 million years ago the island known today as Tenerife was three separate islands with three mountain ranges: the Anaga, Teno and Valle San Lorenzo. Then, as the consequence of a remarkable volcanic process, they melted together forming the island of Tenerife.
[1].
Tenerife at the time of its conquest was comprised of nine distinct ''menceyatos'', as the small kingdoms of the
Guanches were known. Though the Spanish forces under the ''
Adelantado'' ("military governor")
Alonso Fernández de Lugo, suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the
Guanches in the
First Battle of Acentejo in
1494, the
Guanches, eventually overcome by superior technology and diseases to which they were not immune, surrendered to the Crown of Castile on
December 25,
1495.
As on the other islands of the same group, much of the native population of Tenerife was enslaved or succumbed to diseases at the same time as immigrants from various places in Europe associated with the Spanish Empire (
Portugal,
Flanders,
Italy,
Germany) settled on the island. Native pine forests on the island were cleared to make way for the cultivation of
sugarcane in the 1520s; in succeeding centuries, the island’s economy was centered around the cultivation of other commodities such as wine and
cochineal for making dyes, as well as bananas.
The island was attacked in
1797 by the British. On
July 25,
Horatio Nelson attacked
Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the capital town of Tenerife and headquarters of the Captain General. After a fierce engagement, the British were repelled; Nelson lost his right arm as he tried to disembark at the shore. On
September 5, another attempted landing in the region of Puerto Santiago was fended off by the inhabitants of the Valley of Santiago, who hurled stones at the British from the heights of the cliffs of Los Gigantes.
Less hostile visitors arrived at the island in succeeding centuries. The naturalist
Alexander von Humboldt ascended the peak of the
Teide and remarked on the beauty of the island. Tourists began visiting Tenerife in large numbers in the 1890s, especially the northern towns of
Puerto de la Cruz and Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
Before his rise to power,
Francisco Franco was posted to Tenerife in March
1936 by a Republican government wary of his influence and political leanings. However, Franco received information and in Gran Canaria agreed to collaborate in the military coup that would result in the
Spanish Civil War; the Canaries fell to the Nationalists in July
1936 and its population was subject to the mass executions of opponents to the new regime. In the 1950s, the misery of the post-war years caused thousands of the island’s inhabitants to emigrate to
Cuba and
Latin America.
The
Tenerife disaster, the airliner collision that took place on
March 27,
1977 at
Los Rodeos airport in the north of the island, was the deadliest aircraft disaster in history until the
September 11, 2001 attacks, and remains the deadliest aviation accident in history.
A small village by banana plantations
Notes
1. "Tenerife's main bus service, TITSA, is efficient and covers the island well. Most of the vehicles are new, air conditioned, clean and painted white and green." Barrett, Pam (2000) ''Insight Guide Tenerife and Western Canary Islands'' (4th ed.) Insight Guides, APA Publications, Singapore, p. 280, ISBN 1-58573-060-2
2. Navarro, Ricardo Melchior (23 October 2005) "Apuesta por el transporte público" ''El Dia'' ("Odds for Public Transportion")
See also
★
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
★
Observatorio del Teide
★
Tenerife disaster
External links
★
Tenerife PuntoInfo (Multilingual) Official Governmental Tourist Information Service
★
Cabildo de Tenerife (Spanish) Tenerife Island Governing Council
★
PhotoGlobe - Tenerife high quality photos with maps and GPS coordinates
★
Boroughs Directory (Spanish) List of links to all Municipalities (Local Authorities) in the Island.
★
Tenerife travel guide Information about Tenerife
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