 | |
| Use | Civil and state flag |
|---|---|
| Proportion | 5:3/3:2 |
| Design | White saltire on a navy blue field |
The flag of Tenerife is a white saltire (or Cross of Burgundy or St Andrew's Cross) [1] over a blue field. The arms of the cross are approximately one fifth the width of the flag and the field is navy blue (azul marino).
There is no official meaning to justify the colours of the flag, but blue and white colours have been identified with the island of Tenerife for centuries. Traditionally, navy blue has been identified with the sea and the white to the snow-covered peaks of Mount Teide in winter.
Juba II and Ancient Romans referred to Tenerife as Nivaria , derived from the Latin words nix, nivis or nives, meaning snow, in clear reference to the snow-covered peak of the Teide volcano.
The name of Tenerife is derived from the language of the Natives of La Palma. Tene(r) means 'mountain' or 'land' and ife means 'white' or 'bright'. [2]
The flag was first adopted as a maritime registry flag of the maritime province of the Canary Islands. It was initially adopted in 1845 by Royal Order and was adopted as the flag of Tenerife by an Order issued on 9 May 1989, with the order appearing in the Boletín Oficial de Canarias on 22 May 1989. [1]
The flag closely resembles the flag of Scotland, the difference being a darker shade of blue. There are two popular traditions on the island of Tenerife trying to explain the resemblance. One is that the flag was adopted as a mark of respect to the bravery of the Scottish sailors in the Battle of Santa Cruz.
An alternative theory is the most influential masters of the island of Tenerife chose a design similar to the Scottish flag belonging to the Masonic Grand Lodge of Scotland and proposed a similar flag for the maritime province of the Canary Islands, which later became the flag of Tenerife. [3]
The blue color of the Tenerife flag is defined as Pantone 280. This specific shade of blue is known to be used by different national flags such as the flag of France; that of the United Kingdom; that of Australia; and that of New Zealand, among others. [4]
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.
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.
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.
Santa Cruz de Tenerife, commonly abbreviated as Santa Cruz, is a city, the capital of the island of Tenerife, Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and one of the capitals of the Canary Islands, along with Las Palmas. Santa Cruz has a population of 206,593 (2013) within its administrative limits. The urban zone of Santa Cruz extends beyond the city limits with a population of 507,306 and 538,000 within urban area. It is the second largest city in the Canary Islands and the main city on the island of Tenerife, with nearly half of the island's population living in or around it.
Icod de los Vinos is a municipality in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife on the island of Tenerife, in the Canary Islands (Spain), located in the northwestern part of the island. Inhabitants of Icod are known in Spanish as "icodenses".
Teide, or Mount Teide, is a volcano on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, Spain. Its summit is the highest point in Spain and the highest point above sea level in the islands of the Atlantic. If measured from the ocean floor, its height of 7,500 m (24,600 ft) makes Teide the third-highest volcano in the world, UNESCO and NASA rank it as Earth's third-tallest volcanic structure. Teide's elevation above sea level makes Tenerife the tenth highest island in the world.
Tejeda is a village and a municipality in the mountainous central part of the island of Gran Canaria in the province of Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.
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.
Fasnia is a town and a municipality in the eastern part of the Spanish island of Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands, and part of the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The municipality extends for 45.1 square kilometers (17.4 sq mi) from the mountainous interior to the beaches on the Atlantic. Its population is 2,873 (2013). The TF-1 motorway passes through the municipality.
La Orotava is a town and a municipality in the northern part of Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands of Spain. The area of the municipality stretches from the north coast to the mountainous interior, and includes the summit of the Teide volcano, Canary Islands' and Spain's highest point at 3,718 m. At 207.31 km2, it is the largest municipality of the island of Tenerife. The population is 41,255 (2013).
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.
Teide National Park is a national park located in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.
The Canary Islands are an autonomous community of Spain. The headquarters of the Canary Islands military command is located in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in the Palacio de la Capitanía General de Canarias. The following components of the Spanish Armed Forces are based in the Canary Islands:
Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de Candelaria or University Hospital of the Nuestra Señora de Candelaria is a large teaching hospital of general scope in Tenerife. Located in the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Affiliated with the Servicio Canario de la Salud. The hospital has specialist facilities which not only serve Tenerife but the surrounding Canary Islands. The hospital adopted the name of the patron saint of the Canary Islands, the Virgin of Candelaria. It is the largest hospital complex in the Canary Islands.
Pico de las Nieves is the highest peak and a stratovolcano on the island of Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain. Its height is 1,949 metres (6,394 ft) above sea level. On its slopes, Canary Islands Pine was reintroduced in the 1950s.
Miguel Villalba Hervás (1837–1899) was a Spanish politician, lawyer, journalist, historian and Mason. He was born in La Orotava, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands on December 12, 1837 and died in Madrid in 1899. He was one of the leading figures of republicanism in Tenerife.
Elizabeth Murray, born Elizabeth Heaphy, was a British watercolourist. She primarily painted portraits and landscapes of the Canary Islands, where she lived for ten years. She was a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, and in 1857 was one of the founders of the Society of Female Artists in London, serving on its first committee.
Elizabeth Murray, born Elizabeth Heaphy, was a British watercolourist. She primarily painted portraits and landscapes of the Canary Islands, where she lived for ten years. She was a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, and was one of the founders of The Society of Female Artists in London in 1857.
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.