Tenerife
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 838,877 making it the most populated in the archipelago.
The capital city, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, is as well as the second biggest city in the archipielago, the capital of the island and seat of the cabildo insular (island government); it is also the capital of the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and officially co-capital of the autonomous community of the Canary Islands together with Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, with whom shares the government institutions, such as Presidency, Parliament, ministries and Superior Court of Justice.
Geography
It is located at 28°19′N 16°34′W / 28.317°N 16.567°W and has a surface area of 2 034 km². Like the rest of the Canary Islands, it is of volcanic origin. The 3 eruptions that created the island finally went quiet 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 (3 718 m), is on this island. The island itself is clearly divided in 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.
Tourism
Tourism is the most prominent industry in the Canaries, being one of the most important touristic destinations in the World. In 2005, 9,276,963 tourists (excluding those from mainland Spain) came to the islands, being Tenerife the most popular of them with 3.442,787 arrivals in 2005, as stated, excluding the numbers for Spanish tourists which make up about 30% of total arrivals. As classified by nationality, the United Kingdom comes first by a tremendous margin 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 concentrated more in the south of the island, which is hotter and drier and especially around well developed resorts Playa de las Americas, and Los Cristianos. More recently coastal development has grown 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 was planned aiming for a better quality of the service given to tourism, and environmental- conscious development in mind. The Area know 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( 6 in the island), restaurants, aquaparks, animal parks, a theatre suitable for musicals or a Congress Hall, all in a very characteristic Las Vegas-like aesthetic.
In the more lavish 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 up with northern European influences. Still, the touristic 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, and notably the German and Spanish tourist.
Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Transportation
The island of Tenerife is served by two airports, the Los Rodeos or Tenerife Norte and the Reina Sofia Airport or Tenerife Sur.
Aeropuerto de Los Rodeos is located near the metropolitan area Santa Cruz-La Laguna. Of a smaller size, serves inter-insular flights as well as national and European flights, and since two years, there is a weekly service to Venezuela.
Aeropuerto Reina Sofía is the busiest Airport in Tenerife, ranking 7th in Spain. Typically serves the mass of regular and charter flights constantly arriving from the 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 just by Playa de Las Américas.
A network consisting in two fast, toll-free motorways (TF1 and TF5) almost encircles the whole 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 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 bound to start in early 2007. This, however, pales in comparison to the heated discussions concering the planned port in Granadilla, which is now in the hands of Brussels.
Away from the major motorways, theres 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 a extensive network of buses (Guaguas) and run by T.I.T.S.A. who operate a fleet of modern, air-conditioned buses 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 Railway network linking the capital with the South have been approved by both the Tenerife Council and the Canary Islands Government, for Tenerife and Gran Canaria, thought the discussion with the central Spanish Government relies now on budget.
The metropolitan Area formed by Santa Cruz and La Laguna will be served by a tranvia (tram) working in early 2007, after 2 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.
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 associated parts of 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. In Tenerife, Franco received information and 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 airline collision that took place on March 27, 1977, in Los Rodeos, an airport in the north of the island, known as the Tenerife disaster, was the deadliest aircraft disaster in history until the September 11, 2001 attacks and remains the deadliest aviation accident in history.
Other
The fictional island Kolgugev from the Video Game Operation Flashpoint is based on Tenerife.
See also
External links
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- Cabildo de Tenerife (Spanish) Tenerife Island Governing Council
- Boroughs Directory (Spanish) List of links to all Municipalities (Local Authorities) in the Island.
- Tenerife PuntoInfo (Multilingual) Official Governmental Tourist Information Service
- Tenerife map
- Interactive Map of Tenerife (English) Zoom in and out with map, satellite and/or hybrid view.
