La Gomera

La Gomera is one of the eight islands of the Canary Islands (Spain), the second smallest island (third if La Graciosa is included, considered a minor island). La Gomera is located in the Atlantic Ocean, in the western part of the Canary Islands. It belongs to the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Its capital is San Sebastián de La Gomera, where the headquarters of the Island Council are located. It was declared a Biosphere Reserve in 2012.

In the center of the island is the Garajonay National Park, declared a World Heritage Site in 1986 by Unesco, the first declared in the Canary Islands. For its part, the silbo gomero, a whistled language inherited from the aborigines of gomero, it is also a World Heritage Site since 2009. La Gomera has a population of 21,798 inhabitants (2022) making it the sixth island of the Canary Islands in terms of population. It also occupies the sixth place in extension with an area of 369.76 km².

Toponymy

There are many theories about the origin of the name «Gomera». Some of these theories do not have any rigor or foundation, such as the one that says that its name comes from Gomer, grandson of Noah. The most supported theory is that the name Gomera is related to the Berber tribes (today Arabized) of Gomara in the Chefchaouen region in northern Morocco (in Spanish we have Peñón de Vélez de La Gomera and others). These tribes are agricultural and are unaware of navigation, just like the natives of the Canary Island of the same name, with which it is thought that they could have been taken in their day by some navigating people.

The name «Gomera» appears for the first time in the book Knowledge of the Kingdoms of the World (circa 1350), a work attributed to an Aragonese friar who is believed to have castilianized the place names used by the Mallorcan cartographers in the designation of the islands. The first map in which the island and its place name appear is the Atlas de Cresques of 1375.

In Majorca, the castle of the Temple was built on a Muslim garden named Almunia Gumera, and over the years it received the name of Fortaleza Gomera and was located on the northeastern edge of the Jewish quarter so that the wall of the Fortaleza Gomera was the limit of the Jewish quarter; In that limit Abraham Cresques, co-author of the Atlas mentioned above, had his home. The Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera was conquered by Castile for its domains in 1508.

The island's aborigines referred to it precisely as Ghomara, a name that has been translated as "notable" or "chief". The Romans knew the island as Iunonia or Junonia according to the work Naturalis Historia by Pliny the Elder.

Description

Topographic map of La Gomera.

La Gomera has an area of 369.76 km². Its highest point is the Garajonay peak, with an altitude of 1,487 m above sea level, which belongs to the Garajonay National Park. The island is about 12 million years old. It is also known as the Columbian island, because it was a provisioning place for Christopher Columbus before leaving for the New World in 1492.

The legal population of the island is 21,798 inhabitants (2022). In the 1950s it had around 30,000 inhabitants.

Nature

Roque de Aguera in the national park of Garajonay

La Gomera has the Garajonay National Park, established in 1981 and later named by Unesco as a World Heritage Site, the first to be declared in the Canary Islands. This is home to a natural jewel typical of the tertiary period: the laurel forest. This subtropical plant formation is made up of a great variety of trees that preserve their foliage throughout the year thanks to the high humidity and mild temperatures. This forest, considered a living relic, covered the Mediterranean basin during the Tertiary, and almost entirely disappeared with the successive ice ages.

In Garajonay you can find fayas, heather, laurels and ferns, which present typical endemism of development in an isolated and benign environment. The area is affected by the trade winds, generating the so-called sea of clouds, so the condensation of water vapor on the leaves of the trees (horizontal rain) considerably increases the amount of water on the ground. The park can be easily explored thanks to the many trails that cross it.

Natural spaces

In total, there are 17 environments under protection according to the Canary Islands Network of Protected Natural Areas:

National Parks

• Garajonay National Park

Comprehensive nature reserves

• Benchijigua integral natural reserve

Special Nature Reserves

• Special natural reserve of Puntallana

Natural parks

• Majona Natural Park

Rural parks

• Rural Park of Valle Gran Rey

Natural monuments

• Natural monument of the Bodies
• Natural monument of Roque Cano
• Natural monument of Roque Blanco
• Natural monument of La Fortaleza
• Natural monument of the Barranco del Cabrito
• Natural monument of La Caldera
• Natural monument of the Lomo del Carretón
• Natural monument of Los Roques

Protected landscapes

• Protected Landscape of Orone

Scientific sites of interest

• Acantilados de Alajeró site of scientific interest
• Site of scientific interest of the Conde Charco
• Site of scientific interest of the Charco de Cieno

Flora and fauna

Landscape in La Gomera

In addition to the species typical of the laurel forest, the island has a large number of endemic plants, which make it rich in biodiversity. In 2019, Lotus gomerythus was described, a plant belonging to the Lotus genus of which a single specimen was located on top of a salty rock, located between two large ravines in the southeast of the island.

Among the island's endemic animals, the giant lizard of La Gomera (Gallotia bravoana) stands out, a reptile that is critically endangered according to the IUCN Red List. It was believed to be extinct until June 1999, when a team of researchers from the University of La Laguna found a small population on the cliffs of La Mérica. The current wild habitat of the lizard is located in the Risco de la Mérica, in the Valle Gran Rey. In the same municipality there is a recovery center for the captive breeding of the species managed by the island council and where more than 300 specimens have been born.

Geology

The Bodies

La Gomera, like the rest of the Canaries, is a volcanic island. However, volcanic episodes can be considered a thing of the past: the last eruptions occurred about two million years ago. The erosion of the water has created numerous ravines and prominent cliffs on the coast: an example of this is the protected natural area of Los Órganos, in the north of the island. Los Órganos is a sample of basaltic colonnades, formed by the slow cooling of lava in an ancient crater.

Climate

The climate of La Gomera does not differ greatly from the weather conditions of the western islands. The high areas of the island receive more rain than the coastal areas, the same thing that occurs in the northern area with respect to the southern area. Temperatures remain stable throughout the year, registering the highest during the summer. The phenomenon of horizontal rain is very important in the Garajonay National Park, where the water contained in the mist is deposited, creating a thick laurel forest.

Climatological table of La Gomera

Natural symbols of the island

According to a law of the Government of the Canary Islands, the natural symbols of La Gomera since 1991 are the rabiche pigeon and the viñátigo.

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  Paloma rabiche

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  Viñátigo

Economy

Crops terrified in 1977

The island's economy has historically been based on agriculture. In the flat areas, the cultivation of bananas, papaya, mango and avocado predominates. However, the production is small, of a family type, and is dedicated to the self-sufficiency of the island. On mountain slopes and ravines, crops are grown on terraces. Basically potatoes (potatoes) and some vegetables are planted. The island's livestock is made up of goats, so fresh and cured cheese, still made by hand, is another of the island's typical gastronomic products.

In recent years, economic development has been oriented towards tourism, especially in rural areas. Hiking, hiking, fishing and mountain biking are the sports most practiced by tourism on the island. Despite the fact that the island lacks large tourist centers, the Cabildo has carried out a series of programs to restore old houses and turn them into small rural hotels.

The emerging tourist centers are Valle Gran Rey, Playa Santiago and San Sebastián de la Gomera. Thanks to its image as a "virgin" island of mass tourism and with exuberant nature and landscapes.

Transportation

Port of San Sebastian de La Gomera

Generally, La Gomera is accessed by boat. Two companies make regular connections from the island to the Port of Los Cristianos in the south of Tenerife. Fred. Olsen Express makes a journey of about 45 minutes, from the Port of San Sebastián de La Gomera. For its part, Naviera Armas has updated its fleet and operates with a recently built ship, the Volcán de Taburiente, which takes about 50 minutes to make the journey between the port of Los Cristianos and San Sebastián. In addition, there is a direct connection to the island of La Palma.

In 1999, the airport of La Gomera was inaugurated, near the town of Playa Santiago, municipality of Alajeró. The landing strip is too small, so charter flights cannot operate, the airport being used only for island connections. The Binter Canarias company makes two daily flights from the airports of Tenerife North and, only in summer, Gran Canaria.

GM-1 Road Tram

The island's road network connects all the towns on the island. There is a regular bus service that connects San Sebastián de la Gomera with all towns. However, the frequency is low and it is difficult to move from one town to another using this means of transport, because the furthest point from one municipality to another is 90 minutes.

Until 2 years ago there was internal maritime transport but with the withdrawal of subsidies by the different institutions this means no longer exists, and therefore the private or rental car is the most used.

As of 2017, the internal maritime service has been reestablished by Fred Olsen Express with its ship Benchi Express, while as of 2018 Naviera Armas would start the San Sebastián de la Gomera-Valle Gran Rey route with several ships, all rented, except one of them, which is owned.

History

The first settlers

Tagor's aboriginal replica at the top of the Alto del Garajonay, with the Teide at the bottom.

The island was populated by the Gomeros or Gomeritas, indigenous people of the island. Several traditions of them are preserved, but the most famous is the language of the whistles (or silbo gomero), a form of communication to overcome the limitations of the rugged orography. Other current traditions of the aborigines are the extraction of the sap of the Canary Island palm tree (Phoenix canariensis) to produce palm honey, the salt of the shepherd and the gofio.

When the conquest began, the island was divided into four cantons: Mulagua, Hipalan, Orone and Agana, whose territories are identified with the great valleys of Hermigua, San Sebastián, Valle Gran Rey and Vallehermoso, respectively.

The Conquest and Lordship of La Gomera

It is said that La Gomera was never conquered and that over the years when the new European settlers settled on the island, the aborigines recognized their authority.

The Gomeros were a "non-conformist" and "rebellious" people who rose up every time an outrage or injustice was committed against their people. This island, like El Hierro, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, was under a lordship, which lasted until the beginning of the XIX century, unlike the realengo in which the islands of La Palma, Tenerife and Gran Canaria were. The lordship of La Gomera is related to the Peraza family that was characterized by its cruelty and tyranny. In fact, the Queen of Castile, Isabel the Catholic, would end up taking away from the Peraza family the rights to conquer the larger islands such as La Palma, Gran Canaria and Tenerife.

Hernán Peraza «el Viejo» settles in La Gomera. Due to the death of his son Guillén Peraza in a raid on La Palma, he is succeeded by Diego de Herrera, husband of Inés Peraza. And upon his death, the lordship was divided among part of his sons. La Gomera and El Hierro corresponded to Hernán Peraza "el Joven". Then began a period of significant violence, both due to the great repression against the indigenous people and revenge against other conquerors.

Torre del Conde

The death of Juan Rejón at the hands of Hernán Peraza due to old disputes causes the latter to be called to the Court of the Catholic Monarchs. He is finally saved from any trial, but is forced to marry Beatriz de Bobadilla y Ulloa. Due to a revolt by the Gomerans, they took refuge in the Torre del Conde and asked Pedro de Vera for help, who with great cruelty murdered a large number of rebels and took more than two hundred Gomerans as slaves to Gran Canaria.

Later, Hernán Peraza falls in love with Iballa, an indigenous woman from La Gomera, and in one of their love affairs he is assassinated by Hupalupo, Iballa's father, and by Hautacuperche. After his death, the people rose up again against the lordship. Pedro de Vera once again came to the aid of Beatriz de Bobadilla and the Gomerans fled to the peaks. Pedro de Vera, through cunning, wanted to take revenge, and published a proclamation in which any Gomero who did not attend the funeral of Fernán Peraza, would be accused of being an accomplice and traitor, he would also pardon those who did attend. Those who attended the funeral in the Villa would be immediately arrested, as well as some who remained in the summits. The death sentence of all indigenous people over fifteen years of age is ordered, although this measure was not fully implemented. Not satisfied with the murders, upon his arrival in Gran Canaria, he ordered the execution of all the Gomeros who were on that island and deported a large number of children and women as slaves, to the peninsula or to the other islands. Later many of those who were deported as slaves would return to the island of La Gomera.

A few years later, La Gomera entered the history books as the last land trodden on by Christopher Columbus before reaching America on his first voyage. The place where he is claimed to have stayed is now a museum known as the Casa de Colón, although there is no documentation to support that claim.

Contemporary history

Historiographical debate

Most of the few works that have approached the analysis of contemporary La Gomera society have made clear, directly or indirectly, its capitalist nature and, therefore, its economic base. These interpretations were not sui generis formulas applied to the case of La Gomera; before, on the contrary, they respond to the synthesis of some explanatory lines that were handled in the historiographical debates of the Canary Islands generated from the end of the seventies. Most of these lines or currents, although they differ in the specific form of development of the contemporary Canarian socioeconomic process (1800-1980), start from the same premise: the Canary Islands became a capitalist society between the middle of the century XIX and the first quarter of the XX, an aspect in which foreign capital played a leading role. Clinging to the impulses of the influence of maritime trade, agriculture for export and salaried work on its farms, they woven a whole argumentative discourse tending to affirm the capitalist quality of the insular economy and society. Some looking inward at island society, others outward, while ignoring the objectivity of the pre-capitalist (semi-feudal) production relations that sustained the Canarian economic base: agriculture.

Assuming the approaches of the currents of thought and interpretation on the Canarian society in vogue in those years (1970s and 1980s), the authors who approached the study of La Gomera society reached the same conclusions. In short, they came to affirm that island society was capitalist and that, in any case, some traces of pre-capitalist relations could appear that were subordinated to that mode of production. Although on many occasions they point out anachronisms in its structure, they do not stop affirming, on the other hand, that they are deformations, anomalies and imperfections typical of the capitalist mode of production. For this reason, they do not recognize or even deny semi-feudalism in order to seek theoretical solutions that combine positions in favor of the triumph of liberalism with those derived from the theses of peripheral capitalism (dependency theory).), very much in vogue in those decades.

On the contrary, there have been other researchers for whom the existence of these pre-capitalist relations in the contemporary stage of the islands responded to the failed process of transformation of the Canary Islands into a fully capitalist society. Various authors have recorded in their investigations the survival of pre-capitalist (semi-feudal) production relations, both in the field of production and property relations and in their political manifestation (caciquismo).

Along with these analyses, other arguments have also been used for La Gomera such as environmental determinism or geographic determinism. This approach is based on giving the physical, natural environment a prominent role in the organization of society. He understands Man as a product of his environment, as one more organism in a permanent process of adaptation to it. It turns the environment into a primary factor, that is, outstanding in the Nature-Society duality. The authors who rely on this interpretation justify, to a greater or lesser degree, that the limitations and adversities that La Gomera society has suffered throughout its history have their geographical environment as their starting point. For them, the poverty of the Gomeran peasant is due to the abrupt topography, the lack of soil or the aridity. And they also contain the causes of the constant emigration of the insular population. For this stream of interpretation, the horizontal and vertical relationships within the island society, the social dialectic, is mediated by these determining factors outside of human will.

Until now, the theses that defend the preponderance of capitalism and the rigor of the physical environment have been the cornerstones on which the interpretation of the contemporary historical process of La Gomera has revolved. Under this epistemological umbrella, studies related to contemporary island history were carried out in the last four decades.

Hermigua Events

The so-called Hermigua Events took place on March 22, 1933 and were the climax reached by the efforts of the Gomeran caciques to prevent any type of labor organization in order to protect their feudal status.

Since July 1932, the road under construction from La Villa to Vallehermoso was paralyzed due to pressure from the chiefs of Hermigua, the Ramón Plasencia, Nicasio León, among others, who prevented unionized workers from working on the construction sites. said infrastructure. This meant that 20% of the total population of Hermigua, some 500 workers, was unemployed, of which some 450 were affiliated with the Federación Obrera de Hermigua, of which in turn, about 300 were day laborers.

By the instances presented by the Workers' Federation before the Civil Government of Tenerife, it orders that at least 100 affiliated workers be admitted, who in turn and with the communication of the Civil Government in hand, showed up to work on March 19. The foreman of the work, following the orders of the cacique Ramón Plasencia, refuses to admit them.

The Civil Government reiterates the order by telegram on the two successive days of the 20th and 21st with the same result that the 100 workers are again rejected and have to return to Valle Alto.

On March 14, 1933, an assembly was held in the Federation and it was agreed to call a general strike for the 22nd. The follow-up to the strike was absolute and the workers went to the beach to gather there, going all over the Valley. Corporal Antonio Fuentes, head of the post, unsuccessfully tries to break up one of the groups of workers who passed by on their way to the beach in front of the Civil Guard barracks, who even hit the demonstrator Manuel Herrera with a saber flat ( The Hoses). But the monitoring of the strike is absolute throughout the Valley and more and more groups of workers and their families are concentrating on the way to the beach.

In order to break the strike and at the incitement (order) of the caciques, Corporal Fuentes sends a truck belonging to Ramón Plasencia to bring the civil guards who were serving in Agulo. The demonstrators, as the truck passed by La Castellana, tried to immobilize it without success. Upon returning from the truck with the new civil guards, at the height of Palmarejo and around two in the afternoon, they come across a barrier on the road and the workers with their wives stand in their way. According to the statements of the subsequent summary, it is the women who reproach the corporal for having broken, with the truck from Plasencia, the general strike with voices such as «Do not continue. Do not bring more guards, we only want our children's bread. The situation is heating up and some protesters, men and women, throw stones at the truck and hit it with canes.

It was then that the commander of the post, inopinately, turned back, voiced 'cargue' and 'fire' and he himself shot the gun against the crowd... Sources fired and the numbers were going to do so and the groups surrounded the guards. The crowd, by wanting to take the weapons out and the guard Garrote, throws them down the ravine; the other guard, José Cano, who resists and makes use of the armament is killed by the crowd, who exalted and attacked by his own anger, kills Fuentes who lies in the ravine while he and Garrote shot on the groups.

Report on the trial of Luis Jiménez de Asúa

The guard José Garrote de Pedro takes refuge, making fire, in the house of the cacique Nicasio León, while the worker Antonio Brito Brito, who was climbing the slope of the ravine is hit by a bullet that pierces his heart and dies in the act. Another worker, Domingo Medina, is seriously injured and several more less seriously injured. That same day, the 22nd, the Viera y Clavijo left Santa Cruz de Tenerife, disembarking 37 civil guards under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Vara Terán to join those who had already come to Hermigua since The Villa.

As a result of the events in Hermigua, Vicente Valladolid Mesa, Manuel Avelino Perdomo Plasencia, Francisco Martín Negrín, Avelino Navarro Méndez, and Leoncio Fagundo Hernández were sentenced to death. Domingo Medina Santos, the seriously injured man, was sentenced to 20 years, Juan Martín Hernández, Serafín Casanova Medina, Avelino Hernández Barrera and José León Piñero to 12 years. Fernando Ascanio Armas at 6 years. Antonia Gutiérrez González, Catalina Hernández Negrín and María Hernández Hernández at 3 years and Manuel Peraza Hernández at 2 years. Sixteen other men and one woman were acquitted.

The Popular Front Amnesty Law of February 1936 set them free. This freedom would only last until July 1936, when the Spanish Civil War began, and from then on all those involved in the events in Hermigua were arrested. The five sentenced to death are assassinated and with them also José León Piñero, Domingo Rodríguez, Juan Martín Hernández, Antonio Martín Hernández, Antonio Hernández García, Manuel Casanova Medina, Jesús Chávez, Tomás Brito, Enrique Biscarria (teacher), Antonia Pineda Prieto, Fernando Ascanio and Pablo Ascanio.

Vallehermoso blanks

The Vallehermoso Fogueo was the defense of Vallehermoso and the republican legality by its inhabitants and by the four civil guards and the brigade head of the post of that town before the attack of the rebel troops and the Falangists of Hermigua in July 1936. It ended with several summary War Councils and the execution on August 27, 1936 of the Civil Guard brigade Francisco Mas García and the leaders of the Vallehermoso Workers' Federation Ramón Cabrera Bernal and Manuel Quintana Florentino and on March 10, 1937, in the Barranco del Hierro of the also members of the Workers Federation, Juan Medina Herrera, Manuel Méndez Prieto and Nicolás Prieto Ventura and pardoned another four of those sentenced to death.

Political-administrative organization

Shield and flag of La Gomera

Municipality of La Gomera: 1. San Sebastian; 2. Hermigua; 3. Agulo; 4. Vallehermoso; 5. Great King Valley; 6. Alajeró

City Hall

The governing body of the island is the Cabildo Insular, based in San Sebastián and chaired since 1991 by Casimiro Curbelo, from the Agrupación Socialista Gomera.

Municipalities

The island is divided into six municipalities:

Demographics

Graphics of demographic evolution of La Gomera between 1900 and 2021

Official regular residents according to ISTAC population censuses.

Religion

The majority of the population of the island of La Gomera professes the Catholic religion, as in the rest of the Canary Islands and the country. The island forms the archpriesthood of La Gomera belonging to the diocese of San Cristóbal de La Laguna.

The island is under the patronage of the Virgin of Guadalupe and San Sebastián, the latter is also the patron saint of the island's capital. Island holiday on the island of La Gomera is the Monday after the first Saturday of October, the feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

Minorities of other religions are also found on the island.

Folklore

Traditions

Piece made by Doña Guadalupe Niebla in 1990, signed: GN 1990.

La Gomera is perhaps one of the islands of the archipelago that has best preserved certain traditions of the pre-Hispanic inhabitants. You can still see the crazy women artisans of clay ("mazapé"), making pottery pieces without a wheel, very similar to those used by the aborigines, using only boulders and small wooden instruments, as in North Africa The drum dance, or "tajaraste" uses the same "chácaras" and drums that the Europeans found when they arrived on the island and the agitated dance performed by the dancers has not changed for centuries. Another tourist tradition is the vertiginous pole vault that the most skilful gomeros perform to navigate the ravines.

Gomero whistle

The whistle from La Gomera is still alive; It consists of an authentic whistled language with which it is possible to communicate over a long distance of approximately 3 kilometers, using only the mouth and fingers. It has been declared a World Heritage Site.

This is taught in schools throughout the island up to compulsory secondary education, which includes Spanish language and literature, and is only for first and second ESO students.

Religious celebrations

Our Lady the Virgin of Guadalupe, patron of La Gomera.

Every five years the Descent of the Virgin of Guadalupe (patron saint of the island) is celebrated, from her hermitage in Puntallana to the capital. It is transported by boat to the beach of San Sebastián where various people will welcome it and transport it throughout the island for two months. The descent begins the Monday after the first Saturday in October, and after this pilgrimage throughout the island, the image returns to her hermitage. This return coincides with the name day of this Marian dedication, that is, December 12 or the following Saturday. Once in her temple, the image does not make this lustral appointment again for another five years. This descent is done when the years end in "3" or "8".

Other outstanding religious festivals are celebrated in San Sebastián de La Gomera in January in honor of the patron saint of the municipality, San Sebastián de Narbona (January 20) and that of the Virgin of Candelaria in Chipude (August 15). Other important festivals are the Bajada de la Virgen de los Reyes in Valle Gran Rey (December every five years) and the Virgen del Carmen de Vallehermoso (July 16 every five years), among others.

Characters from La Gomera

Twinnings

• Güímar in Tenerife (Spain, since 2001).