Tenerife (English also Teneriffe), a Spanish island, is the largest of the seven Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa.

It is located at and has a surface area of 2 034 km². Like the rest of the Canary Islands, it is of volcanic origin. The highest point of Spain, Teide (3 718 m), is on this island.

The island is part of the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. It includes 31 municipalities:

The largest city, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, is 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 co-capital together with Gran Canaria of the autonomous community of the Canary Islands.

The village Güímar is the site of the mysterious Pyramids of Güímar.

The island's population is 778,071.

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, the name “Tenerife” itself is 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.

The last island to be completely conquered by the Spaniards, 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 to which they were not immune 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 organized the political 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 emigrated 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.

External link

• Cabildo de Tenerife (Spanish)
• PhotoGlobe - Tenerife offers high quality photos of Tenerife together with GPS coordinates
• Tenerife Info Online guide to Tenerife