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. 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.
Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, also Province of Santa Cruz, is a province of Spain, consisting of the western part of the autonomous community of the Canary Islands. It consists of about half of the Atlantic archipelago: the islands of Tenerife, La Gomera, El Hierro, and La Palma. It occupies an area of 3,381 km2 (1,305 sq mi). It also includes a series of adjacent roques.
La Palma, also known as La isla bonita and historically San Miguel de La Palma, is the most northwesterly island of the Canary Islands, Spain, which is a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in Macaronesia in the North Atlantic Ocean. La Palma has an area of 708.32 square kilometres (273.48 sq mi) making it the fifth largest of the eight main Canary Islands. The total population at the start of 2023 was 84,338, of which 15,522 lived in the capital, Santa Cruz de La Palma and 20,375 in Los Llanos de Aridane. Its highest mountain is the Roque de los Muchachos, at 2,426 metres (7,959 ft), being second among the peaks of the Canaries after the Teide massif on Tenerife.
The Cumbre Vieja is an active volcanic ridge on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, Spain. The spine of Cumbre Vieja trends in an approximate north–south direction, comprising the southern half of La Palma, with both summit ridge and flanks pockmarked by dozens of craters and cones. The latest eruption began on 19 September 2021 in a forested area of Las Manchas locality known as Cabeza de Vaca. Voluminous lava flows quickly reached populated areas downslope, fanning out across settlements and banana plantations, destroying thousands of buildings and ultimately pouring over steep cliffs into the ocean to enlarge the island at several locations. The volcano went quiet on 13 December 2021, and on 25 December 2021, the local government declared the eruption to be over.
Caldera de Taburiente National Park is a national park on the island of La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain. It contains the Caldera de Taburiente, which dominates the northern part of the island, and was designated as a national park in 1954. The telescopes of the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory are situated very close to the summit.
San Cristóbal de La Laguna is a city and municipality in the northern part of the island of Tenerife in the Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, on the Canary Islands, Spain. The former capital of the Canary Islands, the city is the third-most populous city of the archipelago and the second-most populous city of the island.
Fuencaliente de La Palma, also Fuencaliente, is a municipality in the southern part of the island La Palma in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife of the Canary Islands, Spain. The seat of the municipality is the village Los Canarios. It has been the seat since 1837. The population of the municipality is 1,798 (2013) and the area is 56.42 km².
Santa Cruz de la Palma is a city and a municipality on the east coast of the island of La Palma in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife of the Canary Islands. Santa Cruz de la Palma is the second-largest city and is the capital of the island. It is along an old lava flow coming from the Caldereta, a volcano just south of the city. Santa Cruz de La Palma has the privilege of having the first democratically elected town hall in Spain.
Puntagorda is a village and a municipality in the northwestern part of the island of La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain. It is situated 23 km northwest of Santa Cruz de la Palma. The municipality consists of a number of small villages, total population 2,057 (2013). The area is 31.10 km2. The elevation of the village is around 700 m. The elevation of the municipality ranges from sea level to over 2000 m.
Tijarafe is a town and a municipality on the island of La Palma, Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. It is situated in the northwestern part of the island. The population of the municipality is 2,776 (2013) and the area is 53.76 km². Tijarafe is 7 km northwest of Los Llanos de Aridane and 19 km west of the island capital Santa Cruz de La Palma.
Los Llanos de Aridane is a municipality of the Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. It is located in the west of the island of La Palma, in the Aridane Valley. With 20,930 inhabitants (2013) it is the most populous municipality of La Palma.
Tazacorte is a town and a municipality on the island of La Palma, Province of Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. It is near the coast, in the western part of the island. The population of the municipality is 4,600 (2018) and the area is 11.37 km2. The average elevation is 60 m. Tazacorte is 2 km southwest of Los Llanos de Aridane and 17 km west of the island capital Santa Cruz de La Palma. The inhabitants are known as Bagañetes.
Alonso Fernández de Lugo was a Spanish conquistador, city founder, and administrator. He conquered the islands of La Palma (1492–1493) and Tenerife (1494–1496) for the Castilian Crown; they were the last of the Canary Islands to be conquered by Europeans. He was also the founder of the towns of San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Santa Cruz de La Palma. One biographer has written that his personality was a “terrible mixture of cruelty and ambition or greed, on one part, and on the other a great capacity and sense for imposing order and government on conquered lands,” a trait found in the conquistadors of the New World.
Tanausu was the Guanche ruler of Aceró, on the island of La Palma, whose defeat by the Castilians marked the final conquest of that island. The island of Tenerife, conquered in 1495, was the last of the Canary Islands to fall under European control. His name has been translated as "The obstinate" or "He who has kidneys."
The Diocese of San Cristóbal de La Laguna, also called Diocese of Tenerife or Diocese Nivariense, is a diocese located in the city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna in the Canary Islands and a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the Archdiocese of Sevilla in Spain. The diocese includes the islands of Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro, in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The bishop of this diocese is Bernardo Álvarez Afonso.
The geology of the Canary Islands is dominated by volcanoes and volcanic rock. The Canary Islands are a 450 km-long (280 mi), east-west aligned archipelago of volcanic islands in the North Atlantic Ocean, 100–500 km (60–310 mi) off the coast of Northwest Africa. The islands are located on the African tectonic plate. The Canary Islands are an example of intraplate volcanism because they are located far from the edges of the African Plate.
An eruption at the Cumbre Vieja volcanic ridge, comprising the southern half of the Spanish island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, took place between 19 September and 13 December 2021. It was the first volcanic eruption on the island since the eruption of Teneguía in 1971. At 85 days, it is the longest known and the most damaging volcanic eruption on La Palma since records began. The total damage caused by the volcano amounts up to 843 million euros.
The Church of Saint Pius X was a Catholic church located in Todoque, Los Llanos de Aridane, La Palma. Built in 1954 and destroyed during the 2021 Cumbre Vieja volcanic eruption, it was the world's first church dedicated to Pope Pius X.
Todoque is a ghost town belonging to the municipality of Los Llanos de Aridane, located in the southwest of the island of La Palma, Canary Islands. Its main neighborhoods were Todoque, Los Pasitos and Todoque de Arriba. The town was first badly damaged and many buildings destroyed by the Cumbre Vieja vulcano eruption in September 2021, which ended up engulfing it entirely.
