Canary canarias islands baleares spain

The Canary islands, otherwise known as the “Canaries” or “Islas Canarias” in Spanish, are Spain’s largest archipelago. Situated off the northwestern seaboard of mainland Africa, approximately 100km at the west of Morocco and the Western Sahara.

Known once by the Romans as the “Fortunate Islands”, the Canary Islands were then named after the large dogs known as the “Canes” which were discovered living on the said islands. The Canary Islands are considered as one of the most widely popular tourist spot on the planet, especially when it comes to most Europeans.

The Canary Island’s archipelago is composed of seven major islands, which are all remnants of very steep, extinct volcanoes. Deemed to possess a “perfect” weather condition, Canary Islands are also considered to have the best beaches, the best in the planet, in fact.

As previously mentioned, the Canary Islands are consists of seven major islands, and they are the following: Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera, and El Hierro. Apart from the seven major islands, here are also the name of the smaller islands: Alegranza, Granciosa, Montaña Clara, Roque Del Este, Roque Del Este, Roque Del Oeste and Lobos. Apparently, the landscape of these islands differ from one another.

Apart from being known as the “Fortunate Islands”, the Greeks and the Romans cited on this archipelago of volcanic origins, and also referred to the Canary Islands as the “Happy Islands”, “Garden of the Hesperides” and “Atlantida”. In fact, several historians believe that the mythical continent named “Atlantis” was once situated at this particular archipelago.

Canary Islands turned out to be a part of the Spanish kingdom during the year 1496, and the ships of Christopher Columbus stopped here while they were on their way to travel onwards to discover the “New World”.

Due to the island’s great and popular attractions as well as its highly desirable climate, the Canary Islands turned out to be a major tourist destination, which are now being visited annually by nearly 12 million people (11,986,059 during the year 2007, particularly Britons, 22% non-Canarian Spanish, and 21% of them Germans).

The Tenerife Island, among all of the islands receives the most number of tourists each year, then followed by the island, Gran Canaria and then Lanzarote. The Tiede National Park, which is known as the archipelago’s main tourist attraction, (situated in Tenerife) where the highest mountain in Spain and also the third largest volcano in the world the Mount Tiede, is situated. Apparently, Mount Tiede and the Tiede National Park receives more than 2.8 million visitors per year.

With a current population of 2,098,593 inhabitants known as the “Guanches” the Canary Islands is known as the eight most populated areas in Spain’s autonomous communities, along with a density of 281.8 inhabitants for each km2. The Canary Islands extends up to nearly 7447 Km2.

Canary Islands is famous for its traditional cuisine, which combines the traditional Spanish recipes with African and latin-american influences.