The Aridane Plains

Los Llanos de Aridane is a Spanish municipality belonging to the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in the autonomous community of the Canary Islands. It is located in the west of the island of La Palma, in the Aridane valley, on the leeward and sunny slopes of the island, which constitutes a very favorable location, in addition to the fact that the western part of the island is quite well irrigated and has less slopes than in the remaining areas, and hence the name of the city. With 20,551 inhabitants, Los Llanos de Aridane is the most populous municipality on La Palma, surpassing Santa Cruz de La Palma, the capital of the island, in this respect.

Geography

	North: Tijarafe
West: Tazacorte		This: The Pass
	South: Fuencaliente de La Palma

Etymology

In the middle of the XVI century, the Portuguese traveler Gaspar Frutuoso gave a brief description of the place. He points out that the place, which is called Los Llanos , owed its name to the soft fullness of the land on which it sits, dedicated, at that time, to dryland cultivation of cereals and cattle grazing.. At the beginning of the 40s of the XX century, a group of residents asked the City Council to include the place name Aridane, to differentiate it from other places with the same name. With the agreement of the Royal Geographical Society and the favorable report of the civil governor of the province, the municipality was renamed Los Llanos de Aridane.

According to Álvarez Delgado, "Aridane" in the aboriginal language it meant Llanos.

History

In August 1812, the municipality of Los Llanos was formed, with the population of the same name as the head, plus El Paso, Argual and Tazacorte as the main payments.

On April 13, 1837, a proposal was presented to the provincial council of the Canary Islands requesting that the payment of El Paso, with that of Tacande and other immediate ones, form an independent municipality from Los Llanos, with its own Town Hall. A few months later, El Paso managed to separate itself from the Llanos, which thus lost a considerable part of its geographical extension.

On September 16, 1925, the Government of Primo de Rivera granted the decree by which Tazacorte obtained the independence of Los Llanos. At the time of the segregation, Tazacorte was the nucleus with the largest population in the municipality, with 2,316 inhabitants, and also the one with the greatest economic development at that time.

The municipality

Barrios de Los Llanos de Aridane

It has an area of 35.79 km² and a population of 20,043 inhabitants (INE, 2016). Its altitude is 325 meters above sea level and its coastline is 6.43 km long. Its main neighborhoods ordered by population are: Los Llanos (3,606), Argual (2,645), Retamar (2,585), Montaña Tenisca (2,567), Los Barros (2,109), Triana (1,806), La Laguna (1,589), Todoque (1,406), Puerto Naos (970), Las Manchas (884) and Tajuya (728). Its postal code is 38760. It is currently the most populated municipality on the island of La Palma, surpassing the capital Santa Cruz de la Palma in population.

The municipality is one of the economic engines of the island, with an economy based on bananas and tourism. The possible end of European aid for banana cultivation, initially scheduled for 2006, could have caused a major economic crisis that would surely have forced its farmers to diversify the economy. But the subsequent negotiation with the European Economic Community managed to extend the period of the support program.

Places of interest

Facade of the City of Los Llanos de Aridane.

• City Council: was initially located in a traditional house located in the place now occupied by the modern House of Culture. The current building of the Regionalist Houses of Consistorials, according to the project of the architect Tomás Machado, was started to build in 1945. On its facade there are open balconies and covered with tiles and, on the latter, a mutejar window with lattice. The hall of events holds seven oils from the painter Antonio González Suárez, who reproduces historical events and coastal scenes.
• Plaza de España: The Plaza de España and its surroundings are the center of administrative, playful, historical place of obligatory visit and meeting and rest center for all the inhabitants and visitors, where most of the representative buildings of this city are located. The Plaza is located in the nerve centre of the municipality, and with the recent renewal of its pavement (year 2000) and pedestrianization of its adjacent streets has driven the dynamism of it in the lives of its people. In its surroundings there are 11 stunning laurels of Indias (Ficus microcarpa) that along with the royal palm trees were brought from Cuba by migrants in the mid-centuryXIX to beautify the walk of his hometown. These laurels have become a symbol of the city and inspiration of poets and travellers, undoubtedly the longest of the island.
• Church of Our Lady of Remedies: Originally built by the first Spanish conquerors, it is the parent parish of the municipality of Los Llanos de Aridane. In this church, the images of the Virgin of the Remedios, a flamenco carving of the century stand out.XVI, which is the patron of the municipality and the Christ of Health, moulded by a technique in maize paste by the Tarascos Indians of Mexico.

Casa Massieu, located in the Llano de Argual

• Llano de Argual: Place where the economic history of the Aridane Valley began and which speaks of the splendour of an era, thanks to the exploitation of the waters of La Caldera de Taburiente, to water the canelands before, and now, the silver zones. They are located in El Llano four old manor houses of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, house Vélez de Ontanilla, house Massieu Van Dalle where you can find the best almond cover of the Canary Islands (ownership of the Insular Cabildo and converted into exhibition center, sales room and tourist information office), house Poggio Maldonado and the house of Sotomayor (the oldest that is preserved).
• Plaza de los Cuatro Caminos: This Plaza or Mirador designed by the multifaceted palm artist Luis Morera, was made between 1993 and 1996, and stands out for its beautiful works in mosaics in which pergolas have been integrated with benches covered with stumbled ceramic tiles, a stage made in lava stones and arietes populated with plants belonging to the native Canarian flora

Playa de Puerto Naos

• Playa de Puerto Naos: It is located in the best area of the west palm tree, with good temperatures all year round, which has allowed it to obtain the Blue Flag award thanks to its services and crystal clear waters. It has a boulevard that borders the entire natural beach of black sand, where you can walk or sit on some of the bar-terrace to contemplate the sea, the beach or a beautiful sunset.
• Playa de Charco Verde: Black sand cove located south of Puerto Naos, and where you will find an ancient source of thermal waters that in their time were used for medicinal purposes. He won the Blue Flag award for the first time in 2009.
• Benahoarita Archaeological Museum: This is the museum institution dedicated to the most important archeology of the island of La Palma. It is dedicated to the benahoarite culture, the Aboriginal people of the island.

Administration and politics

Election results

The following table shows the number of councilors obtained by each party in the post-transition elections:

City Government

Currently the municipality is governed by the Popular Party, a group headed by Noelia García Leal, also the mayor of the municipality.

Climate

Average climate parameters of Los Llanos de Aridane
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Average temperature (°C)	25.9	27.4	28.6	23	25.7	29.7	33.7	31.2	29.5	27.2	26.3	29.1
Temp. medium (°C)	10.8	11.7	12.9	12.3	13.1	13.8	15	16.9	16.7	15.7	14	12.5	13.7
Total precipitation (mm)	48	228.4	19.3	45.8	7	0	0	0	52.9	45.1	141.3	179.6	767.4
Source: 31 December 2010

Adverse Weather Events

On February 1, 2010, a front crossed Los Llanos de Aridane, discharging abundant water and electrical equipment. It affected the entire island and left 228.8 liters per square meter in this municipality. The State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) ruled out that it was a tropical storm and described it as a very active storm.

Education

CEIP XXV Years of Peace in 2012. Substituted by CEIP Mariela Cáceres Pérez.

The municipality has an extensive educational system, both at the primary and secondary level as well as university. The public network of infant and primary education centers and secondary schools depend on the Ministry of Education of the Government of the Canary Islands. Among them are:

• C.E.I.P. El Roque
• C.E.I.P. Mariela Cáceres Pérez
• C.E.I.P. Mayantigo
• C.E.I.P. Puerto Naos (María Milagros Acosta García)
• C.E.I.P. La Laguna
• C.E.I.P. Everything
• C.E.I.P. The Manchas
• C.E.I.P. The Campites

In addition to two secondary schools, I.E.S. Eusebio Barreto Lorenzo and the I.E.S. José María Pérez Pulido is home to the Los Llanos Agrarian Training School, the Princesa Acerina Special Education College and the Los Llanos Official School of Languages. The university presence in Los Llanos de Aridane is made up of the National University of Education a Distance (UNED).

There is a private center for infant, primary and secondary education in the municipality, the Colegio Sagrada Familia.

Libraries

Los Llanos de Aridane has 2 libraries, the main one in the municipality's House of Culture and the other in the Argual Cultural Center.

Population

According to INE data from January 1, 2016, the city has 20,043 inhabitants, being the first in La Palma, the 24th in the Canary Islands and the 380th in Spain in population. According to data from the Government of the Canary Islands, as of January 1, 2016, the population of the city is 3,574 inhabitants, and the rest is distributed among the many towns that the municipality has. In 1930 it had 3,357 fewer due to the segregation of Tazacorte. Starting in 1950, urban development was spectacular, surpassing 15,311 in 1981. With democracy, growth was slower, reaching 17,774 in 1998. Since then, the increase in immigration has caused a new demographic boom that has led to more than 20,000 inhabitants, being 19.6% of the population of other nationalities, among which Germans and Venezuelans stand out, the latter being 50.6‰ (see table).

Foreign nationalities (2016)
Position	Nationality	Population
1. a	Venezuela	998
2. a	Germany	786
3. a	Cuba	612
4. a	Colombia	317
5. a	Italy	100
6. a	Morocco	90
7. a	United Kingdom	89
8. a	Switzerland	77
9. a	Dominican Republic	51
10. a	China	47
11. a	Portugal	26
12. a	Argentina	24
13. a	Austria	22

Graphic of demographic evolution of Los Llanos de Aridane between 1900 and 2020

Population in fact (1860) Population of law (1842 and 1877-1991) or resident population (2001) according to population censuses of the INE.

Panoramic Los Llanos de Aridane view from the castle of La Montaña Tenisca.

Religion

Catholicism in Los Llanos de Aridane is the predominant religion in statistical, sociological and historical terms. The Archpriesthood of Los Llanos de Aridane, dependent on the Diocese of San Cristóbal de La Laguna, has 9 temples in the municipality.

• Church of N.S. de Los Remedios (Los Llanos)
• Hermitage of N.S. de Las Angustias (Argual)
• Church of Saint Peter (Argual)
• Church of the Holy Martyrs (Montaña Tenisca)
• Church of N.S. de Fátima (Retamar)
• Church of San Isidro Labrador (La Laguna)
• Church of San Pius X (Todoque), destroyed in 2021 by the volcanic Eruption of La Palma of 2021
• Church of N.S. del Carmen (Puerto Naos)
• Church of El Remo.