In today’s article we will be discussing the history of the largest Spanish Canary Islands, Tenerife. We will discuss when it was discovered, who it was discovered by, and its original purpose, & its purpose now, in the eyes of its inhabitants and rulers. We will also discuss the current economic state of Tenerife & the property rates of Tenerife. We will also do a small segment on Canarian Spanish as well as the Guanche people. Now we shall delve into the complicated & interesting history of Tenerife.
The Discovery Of Tenerife & The Spanish Colonization
Tenerife was known to Europeans and Africans since at least the time of the Romans and their client king Juba II of Mauretania. We don’t know if the island was inhabited then. The Gaunches started living on Tenerife at some point. The Spanish began conquering Tenerife in 1494. As far as we know the island is 3 million years old. Its “original” inhabitants were the Guanche people who were promptly colonized. The Spanish Colonization Era Lasted From 1402 when Castile, one of the kingdoms that later unified to form Spain, began colonizing the Canary Islands. It stopped in 1496, when Castile finished conquering the islands. Tenerife as far as we can tell had multiple independent nations until the Spanish of Castile claimed it. The Canary Islands didn’t serve as much for the Spanish up until 1492 when La Palma, another of the islands, was used as a way-station for Christopher Columbus. All of the Canary Islands were used as way-stations for trade between Europe and the Americas after that. After Tenerife was used as a way station it turned into a tourism hot spot. During the era from 1494-1800 most of the Guanche people were either vacated or used as slaves in The Spanish Slave Trade. Some intermarried with the Spanish and other newcomers. During the late 1800’s Spain began to industrialize Tenerife as it began to rise in popularity among upper-class Europeans. Tenerife is still vastly undiscovered due to the hands of the Spanish explorers. Much of Tenerife’s history has been erased or is simply written in dead languages. A contributing factor to this may be that rising water levels wiped out many remaining artifacts. Scientists hope to uncover more of Tenerife’s history in the future.
The Guanche People
The Guanche people were the original inhabitants of Tenerife. Evidence suggests that they have been there since the 6th Century BC, but we do not know for sure. Unfortunately, the Guanche people are a dead society & are considered a lost culture. During the conquest of Tenerife most of the Guanche were murdered by the Spanish. The Guanche People spoke Guanche which is a language isolate. No other language was like it meaning we can’t exactly know what they spoke. They weren’t very technologically advanced even for the time. Other than the Spanish they were mostly isolated from surrounding countries. Nobody is exactly sure how they arrived on the island in the first place. We don’t know much about the Guanche & unfortunately we might not ever know much.
A Brief Overview Of The Conquest Of The Canary Islands
The Conquest Of The Canary Islands officially took place between 1402 and 1496. Modern day historians label this as a mass genocide of the islanders who occupied the Canary Islands. It is now regarded as the first instance of European settler colonialism in Africa & extended to areas of Africa. Officially it is divided into 2 Main eras; Conquista Señorial & Conquista Realenga. Conquista Señorial was carried out by Castilian nobility in exchange for a covenant of allegiance to the Crown, as well as Conquista Realenga carried out by the Spanish Crown itself, during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs & the Catholic Monarchy.
The Current Economic State Of Tenerife
Ever since 1970 Tenerife has heavily relied on tourism as its main industry. As of 2022 60% of it’s wealth comes from the tourism industry broadly speaking. The economy is somewhat stable in Euros but it is not as stable when converted into USD. The median property value of Tenerife is currently 268,000€ (273,360 USD currency) as of 2021. However, they seem to be on a steady decline. This could change in the future but the crashing economy of the world is a contributing factor as of 2022. As one would expect Tenerife took a massive hit to its economy during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Unfortunately, the economy does not show any signs of recovering any time within the near future.
All Of Tenerife’s Main Disasters
The Great Airport Disaster Of Tenerife
The Great Airport Disaster Of Tenerife occurred on March 27th 1977. 2 Boeing 747 aircrafts containing up to 416 passengers collided on the runway of Los Rodeos Airport. This collision happened because KLM Flight 4805 initiated its takeoff while the Pan Am flight 1736 was still on the runway. The impact resulted in a fire which unfortunately led to the death of all passengers aboard the KLM Flight 4805. This also caused the death of most occupants aboard the Pan Am flight, with only 61 total survivors. There were 583 recorded fatalities making this the deadliest & most horrific accident in all of aviation history. Accident reconstructions show us that a likely reason for this is due to the immense amount of fog on that day. It has been dubbed the apocalypse of the runway.
Tenerife’s Flood Of 2002
Tenerife had a flash flood on march 31st 2002 resulting in the death of 8 residents. Approximately 200-236 liters (52.8344 to 62.3446 gallons) of rain fell on each square meter of Santa Cruz, Tenerife for 4 hours. This blocked off all main roads leading to the airport in Santa Cruz. Since Santa Cruz as a high tourist industry a few unlucky souls got caught in the mixt of the floods. In officials’ first evaluation of the damage they found that this flood cut off upwards of 35% of all electricity was cut off. This also cut off at least 150,000 phone lines of residents. This completely threw communications with the outside world into utter chaos. 400 individuals were left without homes because of this disaster, as well as thousands of people being stranded at the airport after coming home from their Easter holiday. As Pilar Merino Tromboso said, “The City Was Virtually In Darkness”. The Red Cross has said that it had deployed 120 volunteers & 10 ambulances & boats to help aid those who were impacted by this disaster.
Our Conclusion
Tenerife has a long history that deserves more recognition. More of the Guanche Peoples’s history needs to be uncovered or at least looked for. We know that Tenerife has ancient surfs & hopefully researchers can find more information about them. Tenerife is a beautiful, majestic, & incredibly diverse island.
Directories & Credits
Gallery
Strategic Partnerships
Reel Guppy Outdoors
Our Loyal Patrons
Ms. Ochoa
Comments