El Hierro Canary canarias islands spain

El Hierro, known as the “Isla Del Meridiano” or the “Meridian Island” is known to the smallest island and located at the farthest southwestern part of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic ocean off the coast of Africa.

Similar to the rest of the archipelago, the island of El Hierro is sharply mountainous. It extends up to nearly 278 Km2. It’s highest point is located in the middle of the island, in Malpaso, around 1501 meters high. Numerous unique species can be located in the island of El Hierro including the “El Hierro Giant Lizard” otherwise known as the “Gallotia Simonyl”. Further, like all of the Canary Islands, El Hierro Island is in fact a tourist spot, which is served by a small airport, known as the “El Hierro Airport” at Valverde and a ferr terminal, which is both connected to Tenerife.

It was mentioned in history that Ptolemy believe that the Zero Meridian happened to pass through the eastern most part of the island, or also known as the “end of the earth”, and was known as such until it moved to Greenwich, England during the second century. “Bimbaches” the first settlers on the island of El Hierro, who were known as a peaceful group of inhabitants possessed a complicated social structure in spite of living in a Neolithic culture. During the beginning of the 15th century, throughout the time when all of the entire archipelago was conquered by the Castillians, it was said that the Norman Jean De Bethencourt conquered the island of El Hierro. Confronted with minor resistance from the aboriginals, the peasants which were from the mainland Spain colonized the islands immediately and in no time mixed with the population.

Similar to all of the native inhabiters of the archipelago, the origin of the “Bimbache” of the El Hierro appears to be still covered in mystery. Nevertheless, they have bequeathed countles petroglyphs that can still be admired at varied sites all over the island, and up to this moment, left undeciphered.

Considered as the home of natural swimming pools and crystal clear waters, the island has the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve designation and it is in fact perfect for swimming and scuba diving. It also has huge areas of guarded woods located in the central part of the island.

Those reasons made the island of El Hierro indeed a perfect location to spend luxurious holidays in direct contact with mother nature. Although it appears El Hierro’s steep rocky coastline is exceptionally varied from the wide beaches that overlooks the entire Canary Islands, the beach of Golf which extends up to approximately 14km can still be located in the said island as well.

The island of El Hierro is known to have a documented population of 10,753 inhabitants. Though it has been noted that the island have apparently suffered a decline in population due to economic crisis apparentlynd prolonged droughts. This, however did not last, and has reversed recently attributable to the return of the countless immigrants from the country of Venezuela. According to the Census which was conducted during the year of 2008, the island of El Hierro came up with the following population results: Valverde: 4,938; Frontera: 3,941; El Pinar De El Hierro: 1,874; Entire Percentage of Canarias: 0.5%

As previously mentioned, the island of El Hierro is composed of countless extraordinary landscape, as well as great beaches, and picturesque villages. El Hierro is really an ideal place to visit, especially if one enjoys a sumptuous and a relaxing holiday with a direct contact to mother earth.