The 1826 Canary Islands storm (also known as San Florencio Storm [1] ) was the worst weather-related disaster in the history of the Canary Islands, claiming at least 298 lives. It was likely either a tropical cyclone or a storm system derived from a tropical cyclone.
The November 1826 storm [2] has been explained as a tropical storm that intensified after an interaction with a mid-latitude trough and moved close to the Canary Islands; [3] atmospheric pressures dropped to 966–947 hPa (28.5–28.0 inHg) at 500 metres (1,600 ft) elevation. [4] Alternatively, the storm might have been an extratropical cyclone that formed from a tropical system. [5] The French naturalist Sabin Berthelot explicitly called this storm a "hurricane". [5]
The storm impacted the entire Canary Islands, with some islands disproportionately hit. It is still the worst known weather-related disaster in the history of the Canary Islands. [6]
Trees and plantations were flattened and winds [7] with gusts probably exceeding 120–150 kilometres per hour (75–93 mph) [8] damaged houses (reportedly 603 in Tenerife alone) and ships in ports (of which six were reportedly lost); [7] the death toll in Tenerife reached 298 and sources speak of "floating cadavers" and "infinite number of dead". [9] Most of the destruction and death toll was caused by the precipitation; [8] with some places seeing over 500 mm (20 in) of rain.
Geomorphological changes also took place in the islands as a consequence of the storm, an alluvial fan on Teide [10] and flood deposits on Lanzarote were most likely formed by it. [1]
Research on past tropical cyclone activity in the Canary Islands has gained importance after Tropical Storm Delta passed through the islands in 2005, amid concerns of global warming. [11] Other storm events with rainfall that affected the Canary Islands aside from Tropical Storm Delta occurred in December 1645, January 1713, October 1722, November 1922, January 1957 and December 1975; none, however, was as intense as the 1826 event. [12]
The Canary Islands, also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish region, autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are 100 kilometres west of Morocco and the Western Sahara. They are the southernmost of the autonomous communities of Spain. The islands have a population of 2.2 million people and are the most populous special territory of the European Union.
The Guanche were the indigenous inhabitants of the Spanish Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean some 100 kilometres (60 mi) to the west of modern Morocco and the North African coast. The islanders spoke the Guanche language, which is believed to have been related to the Berber languages of mainland North Africa; the language became extinct in the 17th century, soon after the islands were colonized.
Tenerife is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 42.9% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of 2,034.38 square kilometres (785.48 sq mi) and a population of 948,815 inhabitants as of January 2023, it is also the most populous island of Spain and of Macaronesia.
Lanzarote is a Spanish island, the easternmost of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, 125 kilometres off the north coast of Africa and 1,000 kilometres from the Iberian Peninsula. Covering 845.94 square kilometres, Lanzarote is the fourth-largest of the islands in the archipelago. With 152,289 inhabitants at the start of 2019, it is the third most populous Canary Island, after Tenerife and Gran Canaria. Located in the centre-west of the island is Timanfaya National Park, one of its main attractions. The island was declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 1993. The island's capital is Arrecife, which lies on the eastern coastline. It is the smaller main island of the Province of Las Palmas.
Jean de Béthencourt was a French explorer who in 1402 led an expedition to the Canary Islands, landing first on the north side of Lanzarote. From there he conquered for Castile the islands of Fuerteventura (1405) and El Hierro, ousting their local chieftains. Béthencourt received the title King of the Canary Islands but he recognized King Henry III of Castile, who had provided aid during the conquest, as his overlord.
Tropical Storm Delta was a late-forming tropical storm during the extremely active 2005 Atlantic hurricane season which struck the Canary Islands as a strong extratropical storm where it caused significant damage. It then crossed over Morocco before dissipating. It was the 26th tropical or subtropical storm to form in the 28-storm 2005 season.
The flag of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands is a vertical tricolour of three equal bands of white, blue, and yellow. The state flag includes the coat of arms of the Canary Islands in the central band; the civil flag omits this. The designs were made official by the Statute of Autonomy of the Canarian Autonomous Community on 16 August 1982.
The Diocese of Canarias or Diocese Canariense-Rubicense is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church located in the Canary Islands in the ecclesiastical province of Seville in Spain. The dioceses includes the islands of Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote. However, it does not include the whole archipelago, since the Diocese of Tenerife includes the Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. For this reason, the use of the name of the archipelago is currently a very controversial topic in the Canary Islands. It has recently emerged between the society of Lanzarote the desire to recover the diocesan headquarters of San Marcial del Rubicón.
Tourism is an essential part of the economy of the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago located in the Atlantic Ocean, 100 kilometres west of Morocco. Seven main islands and six islets make up the Canary Islands. They had 16 million visitors in 2023. Tourists seeking sunshine and beaches first began to visit the Canaries in large numbers in the 1960s. The Canary Islands are a leading European tourist destination with very attractive natural and cultural resources.
The Kingdom of the Canary Islands was a vassal state of the Crown of Castile located in North Africa, lasting from 1404 to 1448.
Fernando Estévez was a Spanish sculptor of the 18th century from La Orotava, Tenerife. He is considered one of the Canary Islands most noted sculptors.
The conquest of the Canary Islands by the Crown of Castile took place between 1402 and 1496 in two periods: the Conquista señorial, carried out by Castilian nobility in exchange for a covenant of allegiance to the crown, and the Conquista realenga, carried out by the Spanish crown itself during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs. It has been described as the first instance of post-Roman European settler colonialism in Africa.
As in the rest of Spain, the majority religion in the Canary Islands is the Catholic Church. The Catholic religion has been the majority since the Conquest of the Canary Islands in the fifteenth century. This religion would largely replace the Canarian aboriginal religion through the prohibition of the latter and syncretism. According to a survey conducted in 2019, Canary Islands is the fifth autonomous community in Spain with the highest percentage of people who declare themselves to be Catholics after the Region of Murcia, Extremadura, Galicia, Aragon, and Castile and León. 76.7% of the population is Catholic.
The geology of the Canary Islands is dominated by volcanoes and volcanic rock. The Canary Islands are a group of volcanic islands in the North Atlantic Ocean, near the coast of Northwest Africa. The main islands are Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Gomera, La Palma, and El Hierro. There are also some minor islands and islets. The Canary Islands are on the African tectonic plate but they are far from the plate's edges; this controls the type of volcanic activity, known as intraplate volcanism, that has formed the islands.
Inés Peraza de las Casas was the territorial lady of the Canary Islands, which she inherited from her father Hernán Peraza the Elder and her late brother Guillén Peraza.
Alfred Diston was a British merchant and writer on a wide variety of subjects who lived in Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife, between 1810 and 1861.
Tropical Storm Hermine was a short-lived tropical cyclone that formed in the far eastern tropical Atlantic Ocean and brought record-breaking rains to the Canary Islands in September 2022. Hermine originated from a tropical wave first noted over West Africa on September 20. After emerging over the far eastern Atlantic Ocean, the system organized into a tropical depression on September 23. It soon became the eighth tropical storm of the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season as it progressed north. Increasing wind shear created a hostile environment for the cyclone and it failed to intensify beyond minimal tropical storm intensity as its convection was stripped far to the northeast. By September 24, Hermine's structure had sufficiently degraded to mark its degeneration into a remnant low. The residual system persisted for another two days before it was last noted over open ocean.
The history of the Jews in the Canary Islands dates to the 15th century, when converted Jews moved to the islands from the Iberian Peninsula and continued practicing their religion in secrecy. The contemporary Jewish community is small and is mostly composed of Sephardi Jews who migrated to the islands in their mid-twentieth century and their descendants.