The Palm

La Palma, also nicknamed The Beautiful Island and whose historical name is San Miguel de La Palma is an island in the Atlantic Ocean belonging to the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands (Spain). Together with Tenerife, La Gomera and El Hierro it forms the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. With an area of 708.32 km² and a population of 83,439 inhabitants (INE 2022), it ranks fifth in both extension and population in the Canary Islands. In addition, it is the second highest altitude island in the Canary Islands, with the 2,426-meter Roque de los Muchachos.

The city of Santa Cruz de La Palma is the capital of the island, with a total of 17,716 inhabitants (INE 2019), although the most populous municipality on the island is Los Llanos de Aridane, with a population of 20 467 inhabitants (INE 2019).

Since 2002, the entire island has been a Biosphere Reserve and, after Lanzarote and El Hierro, it is the third Canary Island that Unesco recognizes with this protection. In the center of the island is the Caldera de Taburiente National Park, where the largest emerged volcanic crater in the world is located.

Toponymy

The name "la Palma" (with the lowercase el) already appears in the first writings that Europeans wrote about the Canary Islands. In a text from 1341 that recounts the expedition of Niccoloso da Recco accompanied by three ships belonging to Alfonso IV of Portugal, mentions each one of the islands and La Palma is already mentioned under its current name as imposing and cloudy. Apparently, the current name of the island is due to the extensions of Canary Islands palm trees (Phoenix canariensis) that it possesses. However, this explanation has certain inconsistencies, since the palm tree is not the most representative tree of the island's flora, nor is La Palma the Canary Island that has the most palm trees.

One of the theories cited by the enlightened man from Tenerife, José de Viera y Clavijo, is that the name of La Palma was given to him by Mallorcan navigators of the 17th century XIV, which gave it the name of the capital of the island from which they came, that is, from Palma or Palma de Mallorca, although adding the syllable & #34;la" to differentiate it from this one.

It is also traditionally called San Miguel de La Palma, which is the historical name of the island.

Throughout history La Palma has received many names. The Junonia Maior that appears in the text by Pliny the Elder may refer to La Palma, although some researchers maintain that the name referring to La Palma would be Ombrion. Aboriginal people called it Benahoare, which has been translated as: "My land", or, "place of the ancestor& #34;. Currently the nicknames La Isla Bonita, La Isla Verde and La Isla Corazón are very popular.

Description

Tilos Forest.

The island has an area of 708.32 km² (9.45% of the Canary Islands territory) and a registered population of 83,439 inhabitants (INE, January 2022). Its territory is very rugged and reaches 2,426 m at Roque de los Muchachos, the highest point on the island, which makes it, after Tenerife, the second highest island in the Canary Islands. In the northern third of La Palma there is a large depression of erosive origin that forms the Caldera de Taburiente, declared a national park in 1954. From the center of the island to the south, in the so-called Cumbre Vieja, there is a series of volcanoes among which the San Antonio volcano, the San Juan volcano and the Teneguía (penultimate terrestrial volcanic eruption in Spain, in 1971) stand out. La Palma also has the Cumbre Vieja natural park, the Las Nieves natural park and a series of protected entities of smaller size and degree of protection.

In 1983, the area of "El Canal y Los Tilos" as a Biosphere Reserve by Unesco. This area was expanded in 1997 to form the "Los Tilos Biosphere Reserve". Finally, in 2002, the reserve was extended to the entire island under the name of La Palma Biosphere Reserve.

La Palma is one of the Canary Islands with the largest forest area, both pine and laurel. As for agriculture, the main crops are bananas from the Canary Islands and vines.

Currently, the most populous municipality on the island is Los Llanos de Aridane, which in this respect surpasses the island capital Santa Cruz de La Palma and is, therefore, the only Canary Island whose most populous municipality It is not the island capital.

Arenales del Llano de las Bruges at the Old Summit.

Municipalities

Island municipalities: 1. Santa Cruz de La Palma; 2. Puntallana; 3. San Andrés and Sauces; 4. Windward; 5. Warranty; 6. Puntagorda; 7. Tijarafe; 8. Tazacorte; 9. The Plains of Aridane; 10. El Paso; 11. Fuencaliente; 12. Villa de Mazo; 13. Low and 14. Breña Alta.

La Palma is divided into 14 municipalities: 7 on its western slope (Sotavento) and 7 on its eastern slope (Barlovento):

Geology

Volcanism

Volcano Teneguía.

La Palma, like the rest of the Canary Islands, is an island of volcanic origin. With an estimated geological age of two million years, it is one of the youngest in the archipelago. It arose from an underwater volcano located 4,000 meters below sea level. The volcanic edifice of the island has an altitude of 6500 m from the Atlantic abyssal platform and all types of volcanic rocks are found on it. The island is divided into two well-differentiated climatic zones by a chain of volcanoes called Cumbre Vieja.

The last eruption began on September 19, 2021 in Las Manchas. On October 26, 1971, there was an eruption from which the Teneguía volcano arose at the southern tip of the island, in the municipality of Fuencaliente, which continues to be in the crosshairs of scientists because it is still hot. The northern area is dominated by the Caldera de Taburiente, an underwater caldera created by eruptions and erosion that rose to a height of 3,500 m above sea level. This caldera is the largest emerged crater in the world. The interior of the caldera was emptied in the geological past by a rapid lava emission through a breach that opened near the current Balcón de Taburiente, in what is today the Las Angustias ravine. The traces of this lava emission can be seen inside the caldera, since these traces (ravines in the internal walls) are oriented towards the center of the crater and not towards the outside, as would have happened in a crater with explosive eruptions (as it happened in Mount Saint Helens). The caldera measures 9 km in diameter, 28 in circumference and 1500 meters deep. The only way out is the Barranco de las Angustias, the only river course in the Canary Islands, a place that can only be accessed on foot. There are only two people in charge of the water intakes. In 1954 the Caldera de Taburiente National Park was created.

Roque de los Muchachos.

It is surrounded by peaks between 1,700 and 2,406 m above sea level, where the highest altitude on the island is located, Roque de los Muchachos, at 2,426 m above sea level. On this peak is the Roque de los Muchachos observatory.

Some peaks and volcanoes on La Palma are:

• Roque de los Muchachos (2426 m)
• Pico de Fuente Nueva (2376 m)
• Pico de la Cruz (2351 m)
• Roque Palmero (2306 m)
• Snowflake (2239 m)
• Piedrallana (2231 m)
• Volcano of the Desire (1944 m)
• Pico Bejenado (1853 m)
• Roque de los Cuervos (1609 m)
• Volcano Martín (1597 m)
• Teneguía (433 m)

Historical eruptions

• 1470-1492: Burning Mountain or Volcano of Tacande.
• 1585: Volcano Tajuyain the municipality of El Paso.
• 1646: Volcano Martin or San Martín.
• 1677: Volcano Fuencaliente.
• 1712: Volcano The Charco.
• 1949: Volcano San Juan (Craters of the Duraznero, Hoyo Negro y Llano del Banco) in El Paso.
• 1971: Volcano Teneguía in Fuencaliente.
• 2021: Old Summit Eruption.

The data of these eruptions have been obtained through the craters, the ash fields and the length of the lava flows.

Volcanic activity is a constant risk. Although it is concentrated in the southern part of the island, there are theories that predict that an eruption could make the western part of the island unstable and fall into the sea. A study from the 1990s found that the Cumbre Vieja natural park is full of water due to the porosity of the stone, but, in reality, the explosive characteristic of a volcano is found in the higher or lower temperature of the lava: if it is very high, the lava (like the one normally found in a caldera)) is very liquid, which decreases the explosive nature of its eruptions and increases the possibility of spillage, either by breaching the top of the crater or by exiting through an opening in the crater wall.

Theories about a tsunami

There is a theory that a volcanic eruption could heat the water inside Cumbre Vieja causing it to collapse. Fortunately, the explosion by water vapor inside a volcano or caldera is rather a rare phenomenon, since the formation of geysers tends to predominate in this case. In some cases in the Canary Islands (as in Lanzarote) this possibility exists, although due to the dry climate it is necessary to throw a bucket of water into an opening for the eruption of steam to occur.

In the 1949 eruption it was possible to verify how a fault opened, so that the southern part of the island sank four meters into the Atlantic, which supports this theory. If fulfilled, it is possible that a megatsunami of catastrophic dimensions would be generated. On the other hand, scientists estimate that what can happen is that the western part of the island fragments into small parts, as happened in 1949, without reaching generating no tsunami or causing a wave of lesser intensity. In any case, most scientists argue that there is no current evidence that leads to think that this event may occur in the coming decades, but in the coming centuries. The geological history of the island of La Palma supports this idea, since it is an extraordinarily volcanic island, with hundreds of craters of all types and sizes and this does not justify a gigantic explosion on the island because there is no magma chamber common to all these craters. In other words, the eruption of a volcano on La Palma does not usually affect other volcanoes even if they are very close, which indicates that the expansive force of these eruptions would have to be distributed over a large number of openings to affect the entire island.

In a BBC Horizon documentary broadcast on 12 October 2000, two geologists (Day and McGuire) cited the breach as evidence that the half of Cumbre Vieja had slipped into the Atlantic Ocean. They suggested that this process was driven by pressure caused by rising magma heating water trapped within the island structure. The suggested hypothesis stated that, in a future eruption, the western flank of Cumbre Vieja, with a mass of approximately 1.5x10¹⁵ kg, could slide into the ocean. This could generate a tidal wave, triggering a "mega-tsunami" 900 m high in the region of the islands. The wave would move across the Atlantic and inundate the east coast of North America, the Caribbean, and the northern coasts of South America about six to eight hours later. They estimated that the tsunami would possibly have waves of 300 m or more in height and would cause enormous devastation along the coasts. The models depicted indicated that the tsunami could inundate up to 25 km inland, depending on the topography. Ward and Day's (1999) theory resulted in the collapse of a much larger portion of the western flank of the visible surface. In this paper they argue that a large part of the western flank has been built on the scar of a previous fall and therefore sits on unstable debris.

This was also the subject of a BBC docudrama called Four Ways to End the World which went through several what-if scenarios of disastrous proportions.

However, the Tsunami Society (Pararas-Carayannis, 2002) released a statement stating that "...We would like to stop the unfounded scaremongering of these reports...". The main points raised in this report include:

• The claim that half of the Old Summit descended 4 meters in the eruption of 1949 is wrong and in contradiction with physical evidence.^{[chuckles]required]}
• It was neither treated nor demonstrated that there is a dividing line that separates a "block" from La Palma from the other half.^{[chuckles]required]}
• Physical evidence shows a 4-kilometre long line on the rock, but models represent a 25-kilometre line, for which there is no physical evidence. Furthermore, there is no evidence that the 4-kilometre long line extends beyond the surface.^{[chuckles]required]}
• There's never been a megatsunami in the Atlantic in history.^{[chuckles]required]}

There are other studies that also disagree with the hypothesis of Day et al.; (1999) and Ward and Day (2001).

However, there is a consensus among geologists and volcanologists that the "edifice" of a volcanic island can undergo major modifications, uplift or subsidence and that there may have been large tsunamis in the Atlantic in the geological past. Despite this, there is still no reliable evidence proving a cause and effect. All the documents about large-scale tsunamis in the Atlantic have been attributed to earthquakes and not volcanoes (the case of the sinking of Port Royal in Jamaica and the Lisbon earthquake in the XVIII, for example). Evidence of tsunami deposits has been reported from the Caribbean and the Canary Islands. Since the 1990s the area has been (and continues to be) monitored and circulation has not been detected.

Climate

Data for Santa-Cruz de La Palma^{[citation required]}

Data for Los Gallegos (Barlovento)^{[citation required]}

Data for Tazacorte^{[citation required]}

Nature

Vegetation

Pinares at the Summit, south of the Caldera de Taburiente.

Due to its formation and location, La Palma presents a great variety of landscapes, due to the diversity of ecosystems that it presents, from coastal arid areas to the very humid laurel forest formation, as well as pine forests and an ecosystem high mountain. All this diversity has given it the nicknames La Isla Bonita and La Isla Verde.

The island receives water through precipitation and also through a phenomenon known as horizontal rain. The trade winds bring clouds to a low level colliding with the relief constantly during almost the whole year and forming mists that the vegetation, especially the laurel, condenses, producing horizontal rain. An example of taking advantage of this fact in plant species is the case of the Canary Island pine, which, having its needle-shaped leaves, act as a condenser filter and allow the mist to fall on the foot of the tree.

The wooded formations of La Palma are formed according to their altitude and orientation, from lava fields to laurel forests, passing through areas of pine forests, thermophilic vegetation, summit and coastal vegetation. Among the plants that grow on the island, 170 are endemic to the Canary Islands, the most characteristic being the dragon tree, the Canary Island pine and the Canary Island palm.

The vegetation can be divided into a series of more or less differentiated floors, around the two slopes of the island, being generally more humid in the eastern zone than the western one, and likewise, also drier in the southern than in the northern.

Aeonium davidbramwellii, variety of endemic palm trees.

West

• Xerophile vegetation (from 0 to 200 meters)
• Cardonal - Tabaibal (50 to 500 meters)
• Thermophile forest (from 100 to 900 meters)
• Pinar Seco (from 700 to 2000 meters)
• summit (from 2000 to 2400 meters)

East

• Xerophile vegetation (from 0 to 50 meters)
• Cardonal - Tabaibal (50 to 200 meters)
• Thermophile forest (from 100 to 500 meters)
• Pinar y Fayal-Brezal (from 500 to 1500 meters)
• Laurisilva (from 600 to 800 meters, only in the northeast)
• Dry pine (from 1500 to 2000 meters)
• Summit (from 2000 to 2400 meters)

Landscapes

Dorsal de La Palma.

The landscapes of the island are made up of four main colors, the black of the basalt and the solidified lava in the form of badlands, the red of the volcanic tuff, the green of the dense vegetation and the eternal blue of the Atlantic Ocean and the clean sky. From north to south of the island, with greater predominance in the northern half, there are deep ravines through which the water deposited on the peaks flows. In the north and central zone there are pine forests and fayal-brezal, in the northeast zone laurisilva and in the south-southwest zone, volcanic lands due to recent volcanic activity. However, this is a slight approximation of what the island can offer, with landscapes as spectacular as the sea of clouds or the majestic interior slopes of the Caldera de Taburiente, among many others.

Nature with appeal

The Caldera de Taburiente National Park stands out above all, located in the north center of the island, coinciding with the geographical feature of La Caldera de Taburiente, with a maximum axis of 7 km. Apart from its magnificent views, it has really striking aspects such as Roque Idafe or the La Caldera stream, the only continuous stream of water in the Canary Islands. As for the vegetation, the Canarian pine is the almost absolute king in the entire Caldera. The island of La Palma concentrates the only torrents with continuous flow in the Canary Islands and they are found within this national park.

The Route of the Volcanoes is also a great tourist attraction, which runs through the southern half of the island through the mountain ridge, crossing huge extinct volcanoes surrounded by a series of spectacular volcanic landscapes.

There are also some natural pools called La Fajana and located in the municipality of Barlovento. They are made of salt water coming entirely from the sea that is right next to it. This complex has three swimming pools, located at different levels, and with stairs to facilitate bathing. It has a swimming pool for the disabled but it is not currently in use.

Wildlife

Among the endemic species of the island are:

• The graja
• The pigeon rabiche
• Sea jellyfish and hedgehogs on some beaches
• Poisonous centipede
• The palm tree
• Multitud of insect species, especially beetles

Natural symbols of the island

According to a law of the Government of the Canary Islands, the natural symbols of the island since 1991 are the jackdaw and the Canary pine tree.

• 

  Graja

• 

  Canary Pine

Protection of the environment

Visitor center of Los Tilos.

Since 1983, the laurel forest Los Tilos has been classified as a Biosphere Reserve by Unesco. In 2002 this declaration was extended to the entire island. La Palma was the first Canary Island to house a place of this type. On the other hand, there is the Caldera de Taburiente National Park as well as other environments subject to different conservation formulas as established by the Canary Islands Network of Protected Natural Spaces.

The Government of the Canary Islands approved the Special Territorial Plan for the Tourist Use of La Palma (PTE), which includes the construction, in the coming years, of 4 to 5 18-hole golf courses with their respective hotels and luxury villas. One of them, the Aridane Golf, would invade the Protected Landscape of Tamanca, which is also a Site of Community Interest (SCI) with several endemic species of fauna and flora in danger of extinction. The project has two unfavorable rulings from the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC). The other projects also affect SCIs, Special Protection Areas for Birds (ZEPAs) and Natural Parks. The PTE document also allows the construction of several sports ports, marinas and conventional tourism hotels in virgin areas of the Palmera coast. Thousands of allegations were filed against these plans, for going against the objectives of the La Palma World Biosphere Reserve, for sustainable tourism that is respectful of nature and for directly harming protected natural areas and their endemic species. of fauna and flora in danger of extinction.

More recently, the Government of the Canary Islands has approved the law of Urgent Measures in matters of Tourism Management whose amendments 39 and 40 allow the construction of tourist infrastructures inside protected natural spaces, contravening the environmental laws of the Canary Islands, Spain and the Community. Biologists from the La Palma World Reserve have warned of the poor state of the seabed, mainly due to overfishing, which continues to use non-selective and aggressive gear such as traps. The most direct consequence of the lack of fishing control is the proliferation of the Lima sea urchin, a plague that destroys the algal cover, leaving behind a whitish wasteland. The creation of the Fuencaliente marine reserve has served to recover the most important populations of fish in this coastal strip, although the fishermen, lurking in its limits, do not allow the recovery of other adjacent areas.

Other threats could worsen the current situation on La Palma's coasts: marina and marina projects; increase in the urbanization of the coast or installation of floating cages for aquaculture.

Natural spaces

The island has a total of 20 spaces with various protection categories:

National Parks

• Caldera de Taburiente National Park. It is one of the four national parks with which the Canary Islands count.

Comprehensive nature reserves

• Integral natural reserve of the Pinar de Garafía

Special Nature Reserves

• Guelguén Special Nature Reserve

Natural parks

• Las Nieves Natural Park
• Vieja Natural Park

Natural monuments

• Natural monument of Sulphur Mountain
• Aridane Volcano Natural Monument
• Natural monument of the Risco de La Concepción
• Natural monument of the Costa de Hiscaguán
• Natural monument of the Barranco del Jorado
• Natural monument of the Teneguía Volcanoes
• Natural monument of the Volcanic Tube of Todoque
• Natural monument of Idafe

Protected landscapes

• Protected Landscape of El Tablado
• Protected landscape of the Barranco de las Angustias
• Protected Landscape of Tamanca
• Protected Landscape of the Remo

Scientific sites of interest

• Site of scientific interest of Juan Mayor
• Site of scientific interest of the Barranco del Agua
• Site of scientific interest of the Salinas de Fuencaliente

History

Aborigines

Cave of Belmaco in La Palma, used as a house for benahoaritas.

The primitive inhabitants of La Palma were the Benahoaritas, Auaritas or Awaras. At the time of the conquest, it was divided into twelve cantons. The first texts on La Palma date from the Late Middle Ages (XIV and XV). Although there is a lack of concrete data in this regard, it is estimated that the population, at that time, could oscillate around 4,000 inhabitants. The aborigines lived mainly by grazing goats, sheep and pigs and collected fruits and roots with which they made a kind of flour they called "gofio", made with fern and amagante roots, which they roasted and ground..

The most accepted hypothesis about the origin of the aborigines of the island of La Palma links them to Berber tribes from the northwest of the African continent. It is unknown if they arrived on the island of their own free will or expelled from their places of origin by invaders such as the (Romans or Phoenicians). The remains found in the deposits show that the average height was 1.70 meters for men and 1.65 meters for women. Many historians have highlighted the bellicosity of the aborigines (as was also the case with the Guanches of Tenerife). These very frequently had civil wars and all kinds of confrontations, which were not restricted to one canton, but frequently affected the entire island. An example of strong confrontation is the one that took place between Atogamtoma (lord of Tijarafe) with Tanausú (Aceró) or Mayantigo (Aridane).

The natives of La Palma also had a system of government that, although primitive, allowed them to discuss many existing problems without fighting. This institution was the Tagoror. Likewise, within the community, family was given great importance and allowed several members to be united in groups by the same blood lineage. This union could be first order or nuclear (parents and children), or retrospective or extensive (a common ancestor).

It is believed that the Benahorite people had a history of around 2000 years, until, in 1493, Alonso Fernández de Lugo landed on the island with the intention of conquering it. La Palma was the penultimate Canary Island to be conquered shortly before Tenerife (1496). The conquest put an end to the internal wars of the aborigines both in La Palma and in Tenerife.

Pre-Hispanic territorial division

Territorial division of the island of la Palma in pre-Hispanic times.

Although, depending on the sources, the data may change, internal subdivisions or different place names sometimes appear to designate the same territory, it is usually accepted that the 12 cantons or segments into which the island was divided and their respective lords, -indicated in parentheses- at the time of the conquest they were:

1. Aridane (Mayantigo). It was extended by much of the Aridane Valley (the current municipalities of El Paso, Los Llanos and Tazacorte).
2. Tihuya (Chedey). It spread from the previous to the mountain of Tamanaca (El Paso). It would cover the areas currently known as Tajuya, Todoque, Puerto Naos, La Laguna and part of Las Manchas.
3. Tamanca (Tamanca). It spread to El Charco. It would cover part of what is today Las Manchas (El Paso)
4. Hold me. (Echentire and Azuquahe). It would correspond to the current Fuencaliente.
5. Tigalate (Juguiro and Garehagua). Sometimes it appears also called Mazo. It would cover the territory of the municipality of Mazo today.
6. Tedote (Tinisuaga, Agacensie and Ventacayce). It corresponds to Santa Cruz de la Palma and Las Breñas.
7. Tenagua (Atabara). It's up to Puntallana.
8. Adeyahamén (Bediesta). It corresponds to the current municipality of San Andrés and Sauces.
9. Tagaragre (Tediaba and Autinmara). It would correspond to Barlovento
10. Tegalgen (Bediesta). The current Garafía
11. Tijarafe (Atogmatoma). It would cover the current municipalities of Tijarafe and Puntagorda.
12. Aceró (Tanausú) Correspondient to La Caldera, in El Paso. His name in the Aboriginal language was "place strong and invulnerable."

Unlike Tenerife or Gran Canaria, on La Palma there was no superstructure above these units. In fact, this system of power is not permanent and these units or segments could be divided into smaller ones (in the sources of the XVI century< /span> other units are referred to as the "Gazmira band").

Economy of the Old Regime and first monocultures

Church of Santo Domingo, Santa Cruz de La Palma. Built in the foundation of the hermitage of San Miguel, founded by Fernández de Lugo.

From the XVI century, the colonization of La Palma offered the new settlers various possibilities for economic progress: land cultivation, entry into the commercial circuit between America and Europe and the supply of manufactures to the islands. Along with the Spanish settlers, the Portuguese, Genoese, French and Flemish will arrive, who will mix with the indigenous people who remained after the conquest. They will be dedicated mainly to agriculture, which will revolve around the production and trade of monocultures for export, benefiting from the Canarian climate and whose control will generate great fortunes.

The first of these products will be sugar cane, which from the second half of the XVI century will be replaced for Canarian wines. Likewise, groups of the Moorish population and black Africans will arrive, captured to be used as slaves in the plantations, or as labor in the use of agricultural machinery, despite a papal letter of 1434, in which Eugenio IV declared them free people, prohibiting the trafficking of men on the island. In 1514, when they were equal in rights, they were being baptized, mixing with the European settlers.

Sugar cane was introduced by Alonso Fernández de Lugo. The island's territories were divided among European merchants, farmers, and artisans. In this way, in 1508, Juan Fernández de Lugo sold his sugar cane crops as well as water reserves in Tazacorte and Argual to an Andalusian surnamed Dinarte; He sold them a year later to the Welser Family, who would transmit them to the Belgian Jakob Groenenberch (Jacobo Monteverde), who would end up selling them to his compatriot Van de Valle.

Starting in 1553, sugarcane cultivation became unprofitable due to mass production from Central and South America. Many of the plantations became dedicated to the production of wine. Malvasia wine produced from the young volcanic soils of the south of the island became the main export of the island. The main customer for La Palma wines was England. The splendor of La Palma wine lasted until the XIX century, when there was a decline caused by changing consumer tastes.< sup>[citation required] However, even today Malvasia wine continues to be cultivated and produced, although it is not the wine preferred by the masses of consumers.

American trade and pirate raids

Sir Francis Drake, who failed to loothe the city of Santa Cruz de La Palma.

In the XVI century, La Palma received, after Antwerp and Seville, the privilege of trade with America. The port of Santa Cruz de La Palma quickly became one of the most important ports of the Spanish Empire. This new source of wealth in turn attracted pirates who attacked the island to appropriate the treasures from the Indies. François Le Clerc and his group of French pirates took over the city in 1553, stealing everything that could be transported and burning what could not be transported. After that catastrophe it was necessary to rebuild the houses, churches and convents of the city as well as its defensive forts. With the new defenses, it was possible to repel the attack of Francis Drake in 1585, which could not land.

Trade with America also generated another series of activities such as shipyards. Santa Cruz de La Palma attracted many foreign merchants (Flemish, French, Castilian, Italian, Portuguese, etc.) giving the town an international air. Streets with foreign names are still today witnesses of that time, such as O'Daly Street (Irish) or Vandale Street (Flemish). The decline began in the mid-17th century 17th due to a 1657 concession that required all ships bound for America to register with Tenerife. In 1778, Carlos III opened all the ports of Spain to trade with America, preventing Santa Cruz de La Palma from recovering from the economic crisis in which it was immersed at that time.

Silk, cochineal and bananas

Example of chochinilla.

Without the pirate threat, life on La Palma continued its course calmly. The island rose from each economic crisis suffered, not because it possessed mineral wealth but because of the fertility of its land. After the cultivation of sugar cane and grapevines, they switched to the production of honey, tobacco and silk. Since the beginning of the century XVI the plantation of mulberry trees had begun, turning La Palma into a center of silk production. In 1830, cochineal cultivation was introduced from Mexico, a parasite of prickly pears from which carmine was extracted. With the development of synthetic dyes in the 1880s, cochineal cultivation became unprofitable. To get out of this crisis, banana cultivation was introduced promoted by Elder and Fyffes, two British companies in 1878.

Poverty

Meanwhile, the common people hardly saw themselves benefiting from the wealth that the island produced. As late as the 19th century, most of the island's inhabitants lived in wooden houses with thatched roofs, due to the high costs involved in erecting stone houses. One of the main problems was the lack of consumer goods. Due to the monoculture practiced on the island, there was a lack of land on which to grow grain to feed the population. Since the XVI century, grain had to be imported, paying very high prices for it. The parish priest of La Palma paid his taxes with a million, which prompted the population to do the same. The Inquisition dictated an anathema over the entire island, causing no Christian burial to take place for several years. Poverty in the countryside was so great that in many families the malnourished and badly dressed men and women, as the missionary Juan de Medinilla recounted in 1758 in a letter to the bishop, had to go in turns to the mass on Sundays and holidays, due to the lack of clothing.

Red Week

When the military uprising of 1936 took place, which would give rise to the Spanish civil war, the island of La Palma resisted the coup and maintained republican legality between July 18 and 25, when it reached the city of Santa Cross of La Palma the Canalejas gunboat. This period of time will be known as Red Week.

The military coup failed on this island when the message sent by the coup leaders to the military commander Baltasar Gómez Navarro, who was supposed to lead the coup on La Palma, was intercepted by the telegraph chief. At that time he was a government delegate on the island Tomás Yanes Rodríguez, from the Republican Left. When the news of the coup arrived, the Popular Front declared a general strike, and the popular militias were formed, but the Government Delegation did not authorize the takeover of the military barracks and always tried to prevent the workers' organizations from taking too much power (at the moment the figure of the communist José Miguel Pérez, and in some municipalities like Tazacorte communist organizations are very important). Upon the arrival of the Canalejas gunboat, the Government Delegation decided not to offer any type of armed resistance and ordered the demobilization of the popular militias, trusting that the Government of the Republic would send reinforcements, that the coup would fail and that legality would be restored throughout the nation..

Dictatorship and democracy

The Civil War was not fought in the Canary Islands, but despite this, the consequences of it were suffered. The post-war period, together with the economic crisis produced, brought years of hardship to the island. Due to the lack of imported goods, the palmeros had to base their diet on bananas, generating a wide variety of products derived from it, such as banana flour. Once the post-war period was over, La Palma gradually developed its economy and infrastructure. Banana exports recovered and the construction of roads and canals began to transport water from the streams to the cultivated fields. The most important work of the time was the construction of the summit road, which linked the municipalities of Santa Cruz de La Palma and Los Llanos de Aridane through a tunnel under the peaks of the island, greatly shortening the duration of the route linked to the commissioning of the airport. With the advent of democracy, the island's economy, heavily dependent on banana farming, gradually diversified towards other sectors, especially tourism, which is today the main engine of the Canarian economy.

Administration

Shield and flag of La Palma

La Palma, as part of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands, depends on the different powers of the Government of Spain, the Government of the Canary Islands and the Island Council of La Palma.

Insular Directorate of the Government Delegation in the Canary Islands

This institution is in charge of representing the Government of Spain on the island and managing all those powers that have not been transferred to the Government of the Canary Islands. The headquarters of the Insular Directorate is located on the maritime avenue of Santa Cruz de La Palma. Since July 2018, the insular director of the General State Administration in La Palma is Ana María de León Expósito.

La Palma Island Council

The councils, formed from the Council Law of 1912, are the governmental and administrative forms typical of the Canary Islands and mainly fulfill two functions. On the one hand, they provide services and exercise the powers of the Autonomous Community and on the other, they are the local entity that governs the island. In the 2003 elections, José Luis Perestelo Rodríguez, from the Canary Islands Coalition, was elected president, a group that obtained 49.7% of the votes, followed by the PSOE, with 22.6%, and the PP, with 21.6%. of the votes.

In the 2019 elections and after a motion of no confidence presented by the PP and the PSOE, the president of the corporation is the popular Mariano Hernández Zapata.

Deputy of the Commonwealth

The deputy of the Common is the ombudsman in the Canary Islands. He is appointed by the Parliament of the Canary Islands for the defense of constitutional rights and freedoms at the autonomous level. Its headquarters are located on O'Daly street in Santa Cruz de La Palma, with offices on each island. It is not an administrative body of La Palma as it exercises its functions at the regional level.

Demographics

Foreign populations (2021)
Position	Nationality	Population
1. a	Germany	3005
2. a	Venezuela	1440
3. a	Cuba	1048
4. a	Italy	550
5. a	Colombia	389
6. a	Spain	293
7. a	United Kingdom	211
8. a	Netherlands	207
9. a	Switzerland	206
10. a	France	172
11. a	China	108
12. a	Austria	95
13. a	Belgium	84

The island of La Palma is the fifth most officially populated in the Canary Islands and the eighth in Spain: as of January 1, 2020, and according to INE sources, it had a total of 83,439 registered inhabitants. Other islands of the archipelago that follow La Palma in population are La Gomera, with 21,678 inhabitants, and El Hierro, with 11,147 inhabitants in 2020. Historically, La Palma was (after Tenerife and Gran Canaria) the third most populous island in the Canary Islands until 1998, since then it has been Lanzarote.

Around 25% of the total population of the island of La Palma (20,043 inhabitants) resides in the municipality of Los Llanos de Aridane, and close to 40% (34,651 people) in the Aridane Valley. La Palma's population is highly concentrated in two cities: Santa Cruz de La Palma (12,783 inhabitants) and Los Llanos de Aridane (3,547 inhabitants). The municipality of Los Llanos de Aridane is followed in population by Santa Cruz de La Palma (15,711), El Paso (7,457), Breña Alta (7,086) and Breña Baja (5,377), all of them with more than 5,000 inhabitants. The municipality of Garafía is the one with the smallest population on the entire island (1607). In addition, La Palma registers a high level of population not included in the census, which shows the number of tourists it receives annually and the growing migratory phenomena. However, it is considered that the theoretical figures do not reflect reality, since a large part of the legal population of the island does not actually reside on it: it is estimated that it is reduced to about 55,000 real inhabitants at most (including tourists and residents not registered).

In recent years, La Palma has experienced a notable population stagnation. In 1990, a total of 82,131 inhabitants were registered on the island, a figure that increased to 82,483 inhabitants in the year 2000. These data reflect an increase of 352 people. However, between the years 2000 and 2010, the population increased by 4,841 inhabitants, reaching 87,324.

Graphic of demographic evolution of La Palma between 1900 and 2021

Official regular residents according to ISTAC population censuses.

Religion

As in the rest of the archipelago and the country, the population of the island of La Palma is mostly Catholic, although there are also minorities of other religions such as small Muslim communities. The island has two archpriestships belonging to the Diocese of San Cristóbal de La Laguna: that of Santa Cruz de La Palma and that of Los Llanos de Aridane.

The island is under the patronage of the Virgen de las Nieves and San Miguel Arcángel. An insular holiday on the island is August 5, the feast of the Virgen de las Nieves.

Economy

The Canaries banana.

Currently, about 3000 hectares of bananas are cultivated on the island. After Tenerife, it is the second most cultivated island in the Canary Islands; In addition, there are plantations of citrus, avocados, vegetables, potatoes and grapes (destined for wine making). The transfer of water from the peaks to the orchards is done through a network of filtering galleries and channels. Livestock is mainly goats, intended to obtain milk and cheese making. A growing source of income is tourism, which is concentrated in the areas of Los Cancajos and Puerto Naos.

Industry and commerce

Small industries and establishments

Contrary to agriculture, manufacturing and industry have little presence on La Palma. On the island there are some establishments that transform local products into consumer products or works of art. Also, thanks to tourism, the construction industry has a growing presence on the island. There was only one factory, the El Paso Cigar Factory, with 300 workers, producing large quantities of cigars. The main market is German. There are also small embroidery and silk workshops.

Trade

The main exports of La Palma are agricultural products. Despite this, the balance of imports and exports continues to be negative on the island, that is, more is imported than exported. Among the exported products are bananas, oranges, lemons and agricultural products. The main imports, generally from mainland Spain, are oil, consumer products and mechanical and electrical products.

Tourism

Development

In 1890 there were more hotels on La Palma than there are today. Late 19th century and early XX many convalescent Englishmen visited the island in search of cures. A few decades later modern tourism began, reaching its highest point in the 1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s the number of tourists fell, moving the island away from the mass tourism that was developing on the neighboring island of Tenerife.. At the end of the 1980s, with the expansion of the airport, charter flights began to arrive from various European cities.

Resorts

With an offer of 7,500 beds, on La Palma one cannot speak of mass tourism. There are few large hotels, since tourists usually rent apartments or houses. Germans make up 80% of the visitors to the island. In the area of Los Llanos de Aridane and El Paso there is an important colony of German residents who have chosen the island as their place of permanent residence.

Near the southern end of the island is an underwater 'cemetery' with 40 stone crosses built on sand and rock. The dive to this unique place is known as Las Cruces de Malpique and is one of the most requested on this island, declared a Biosphere Reserve by Unesco. Occasionally strong currents, excellent visibility, maximum depth of 25 meters and easy access from the coast.

A superb attack by the pirate Jacques de Sores occurred in 1570 off the coast of Fuencaliente with the massacre of the martyrs of Tazacorte, 39 Portuguese and Spanish Jesuit friars who were thrown overboard from their ship. In homage to them, at a depth of 20 meters, today there are 39 crosses that are regularly visited by underwater photographers, lovers of night diving and divers in general. The nearby Marine Reserve of La Palma encourages the place to also have remarkable marine biodiversity.

Perspectives

It cannot be established if La Palma will continue to be a quiet place with little tourism or if it will succumb to mass tourism. The authorities (both from the council and from the different town halls) and environmental groups do not agree on the maximum number of beds that the island could support. Some data put it at 80,000 although the most moderate estimates only 20,000.

Although the need to evolve towards sustainable tourism is increasingly appreciated and the majority of tourists who currently visit La Palma do so looking for a differentiated destination based on small (rural) hotels and leisure infrastructures integrated into the landscape and respectful of the environment, there are some urban and tourist projects, promoted by City Councils and the Island Council, which seriously threaten the integrity of several protected natural spaces: 18-hole golf courses and their hotels threaten the Protected Landscape of Tamanca, a pine forest of great value in Fuencaliente, the monteverde and a special protection area for birds (ZEPA) in La Pavona, etc. Since the mid-1990s, about 140,000 tourists have visited the island every year, of whom 100,000 are German. Agriculture remains, however, the largest source of wealth on the island. The beaches of Los Cancajos and Puerto Naos hold the blue flag, which guarantees a high level of quality.

Rural tourism

For some years, the so-called Rural Tourism has been implemented on the island. This tourist modality consists of the remodeling and modernization of old houses to turn them into guest houses, respecting both interior and exterior architecture. This project, initially financed by the LEADER project of the European Union, helps to preserve the island's landscapes since old houses can only be remodeled by making small extensions. The first entity, established in 1992, to promote this sector was the Isla Bonita Rural Tourism Association, which brings together the islanders who own establishments.

The Isla Bonita Rural Tourism Association is an organization that promotes this activity.

Transportation

Road network

Viaducto de los Tilos

The roads of La Palma form a network of 510.06 kilometres. All the roads are paved and in good condition, although practically all of them have many curves, some very tight. To access some hamlets in the north, you have to travel along dirt tracks. There is a ring road around the island, about 157.88 kilometres. Strictly speaking, this ring road is made up of two highways, the General Highway of the North (LP-1) and the General Highway of the South (LP-2). The LP-1, 102.43 km northern ring road, starts in Santa Cruz de La Palma and ends in Argual, passing through (or near) Puntallana, Los Sauces, Barlovento, Garafía, Puntagorda and Tijarafe. The LP-2, southern ring road, of 55.45 km, starts in Santa Cruz de la Palma and ends in the Port of Tazacorte, passing through (or near) Breña Baja, Mazo, Fuencaliente, Los Llanos and Tazacorte.

The 25.9 km LP-3, also known as the "Carretera de la cumbre", is a mountain road that crosses the island from east to west, passing through two tunnels dug under Cumbre New. Its origin is on the LP-2, 3 km from Santa Cruz, and ends at the Tajuya (El Paso) junction. The 47.84 km LP-4, the Roque road, goes up to the Roque de los Muchachos astrophysical observatory, going down to Hoya Grande (Garafía) on the northern slope of the island. The 3.8 km LP-5, Airport highway, starts in the Fuerte neighborhood (Breña Baja), and ends at the La Palma airport. The LP-20, via exterior of Santa Cruz de La Palma, is a 3.7 km bypass that avoids passing through the urban center of the capital, it has five tunnels that, with their 1831 m long length make up 49% of the total track. The insular network is completed with 47 more roads, of a secondary nature. The origin of all roads, kilometer zero of the island, is set at the access roundabout to the port of Santa Cruz (Glorieta de Blas Pérez González).

Public transport

Part of the fleet of the La Palma guaguas.

There are several bus lines that connect the main towns of the island at different times. To find out current details about the service, you can access the official page of Transportes Insulares de La Palma. They have buses adapted for people with reduced mobility, such as elevators for wheelchairs. They also have tourist trains to visit the island.

Sea transport

Oil in Puerto Naos, La Palma.

The bay of the capital has been used as a port since the conquest of the island in 1493. Currently, ferries leave from Santa Cruz de La Palma to the other islands, especially Tenerife, where the companies Naviera Armas, Acciona operate Trasmediterranea and Fred. Olsen Express, with variable times and schedules depending on the ship and company, ranging from 2 hours to 5 hours. There is also a line that connects Santa Cruz de La Palma with Cádiz once a week.

The new port of Tazacorte had a weekly connection with Tenerife, via Santa Cruz de La Palma. On the other hand, the municipality of Los Llanos de Aridane, located next to the previously mentioned Tazacorte, has a coastal town called Puerto Naos that, despite the fact that its name could be confusing, does not have any port in use.

Air transportation

Extrem north of the track of La Palma airport.

In 1950, the Buenavista Airport came into service, the first airport on La Palma, which was located in Breña Alta. However, due to weather problems and the impossibility of expanding it to accommodate the new jet planes, it fell out of use in 1970 as a new airport on the Mazo coast came into operation. On February 24, 1970, the first plane landed at the airport, a DC-3 of the Air Force. In 1987, La Palma airport became sixth in the archipelago in number of operations. Currently, Binter Canarias and Canaryfly make air connections with the other islands. Iberia offers connections with the peninsula and Transavia and other charter and low-cost operators connect the island with various European cities.

Astronomy

The MAGIC Telescope, in the Roque de los Muchachos.

Due to the location of the island and the height it reaches above sea level, several telescopes have been installed at the Roque de los Muchachos observatory. The geographical location, in the middle of the Atlantic, and the peculiar climate cause the formation of clouds between 1,000 and 2,000 m above sea level, which act as a mirror and prevent light pollution from coastal towns from hindering stargazing.

In order to protect the quality of the sky, the Spanish Government, at the proposal of the Parliament of the Islands, approved on October 31, 1988 the Law on Protection of Astronomical Quality and on March 13, 1992 the Regulation that regulates it The Law of the Sky protects the island from light pollution, radioelectric pollution, air pollution and regulates air traffic over the observatories avoiding interference. By way of example, a large part of the island's municipalities have public lighting with orange light and pointed towards the ground.

The Law of Heaven was a pioneering regulation in Europe and has favorable effects on environmental conservation, energy saving and the preservation of animal species on the island (especially nocturnal ones). However, the restrictions on economic activity implied by the Law of Heaven may have negative effects on industrial development on La Palma.

Telescopes

• The Isaac Newton Telescope Group (ING) operates three: the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope, the 2.5 m Isaac Newton Telescope and the 1 m Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope.
• The Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT), 2.5 m
• The Swedish Solar Telescope (SST), 1 m, operated by the Solar Physics Institute.
• The Dutch Open Telescope (DOT), 0.45 m
• A 0.6 m telescope for the location of areas to investigate
• Carlsberg Meridian Telescope (CMT)
• The Mercator Telescope, 1.2 m
• The 2 m Liverpool Telescope
• Gran Telescopio de Canarias, (GRANTECAN), 10.4 m
• The Galileo Nazionale Telescope (TNG), 3.6 m
• The MAGIC Telescope, a Cherenkov-type open telescope to watch high-energy radiation (Rayos gamma)

DOT and SST have been built to study the Sun.

Sports

Basketball

Basketball has been practiced massively in schools on the island and has become very popular, especially among the young population. Currently the highest representative of the island is C.B. Aridane plays in regional leagues. In addition there are other teams that play in regional and local leagues.

Football

Soccer is the sport par excellence on La Palma, and it is also the one with the largest number of followers. The three local teams with the most fans are Club Deportivo Mensajero, Sociedad Deportiva Tenisca in Santa Cruz de La Palma and Unión Deportiva Los Llanos de Aridane in the municipality of the same name. In total there are 19 federated clubs. These teams play in the regional categories of the Canary Islands, with the Tenerife soccer federation having a headquarters in the capital of the island.

Mountain Race

The Transvulcania is a mountain ultramarathon, it is based on a very demanding course of just over 73 km and 8500 m of cumulative unevenness. Since 2012, he has scored points for the Mountain Racing World Championship.

Indigenous sports

Numerous native games are played on La Palma. Some come from old working methods, such as the Salto del Pastor, which was the way shepherds had to descend from the peaks or the Calabazo, which was the way to pass water from one channel to another. Among the Canarian sports practiced on the island, the following should be highlighted:

Canarian fight

A fight.

The Canarian wrestling takes place inside a circle, usually made of sand, called a terrero. In it, two wrestlers face off trying to take each other down. The island body that oversees this sport is the Insular Federation of Canarian Wrestling, and is based in Los Llanos de Aridane.

On La Palma, there are ten land plots distributed among nine municipalities:

• San Andrés and Sauces:

1. Terrero San Andrés y Sauces

• Santa Cruz de la Palma:

1. Terrero Candelaria
2. Terrero Benahoare

• Breña Alta:

1. Terrero Antonio García

• Mazo:

1. Land of Villa de Mazo

• Fuencaliente

1. Terrero Municipal Juan Carlos Martín Guillén

• El Paso:

1. Terrero Tamanca-Las Manchas

• The Plains of Aridane:

1. Terrero Camilo León

• Tazacorte:

1. Land of Tazacorte

• Tijarafe:

1. Land of Tijarafe

La Palma has several clubs that participate in the Regional League of the Government of the Canary Islands. These clubs are Bediesta (from San Andrés y Sauces), Candelaria-Mirca and Tedote (from Santa Cruz de la Palma), Balta (from Breña Alta), San Blas (from Mazo), San Antonio (from Fuencaliente), Las Manchas (from El Paso), the Aridane (from Los Llanos), the Tazacorte (from Tazacorte) and the Candelaria-Tijarafe (from Tijarafe).

Canary stick

Demonstration of Palo Canario.

The canary stick game is a martial art that is practiced between two players who, without actually making contact with the opponent's body, engage in combat with sticks. The stick game, originally, was not playful, but was a combat method that some believe was already used by pre-colonial canaries. On the island of La Palma, there are two clubs that are members of the Federación del Juego del Palo, the Club Escuela-El Paso and the Club Grupo Galguén. These clubs participate in the Liga del Juego del Palo, in which teams from La Palma, Tenerife, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura compete. Despite lacking clubs, the tradition is still maintained in the form of exhibitions, especially on religious festivals. The Vidal style is originally from Garafía.

Canary Ball

Similar to the Occitan game of petanque, Canarian bola has boomed in recent years, with several teams and courts existing on the island. It basically consists of adding points for the team itself by throwing some balls that must be left as close as possible to an object called mingue or bowling alley. It is played on a rectangular field of sand or earth between 18 and 25 m long and a width between 3.5 and 6 m. In La Palma there is a fondness for this game, actively participating in the competitions held both at the island and regional level.

Water sports

The geographical characteristics of the island's seabed, together with the high quality of its waters, make La Palma a special place to practice scuba diving. The volcanic bottoms of the palm have ravines and underground lava arches. In some areas, due to the great depth, apnea is practiced, achieving the depth record (125 meters) by Audrey Mestre off the coast of Puerto Naos.

Other sports

Paragliding landing at Puerto Naos

In addition to those mentioned, other sports are practiced on the island, of which the following is a brief list:

• Cycling: during the year several cycling competitions take place, highlighting the mountain biking modality.
• Motocross: on the island there are several circuits, in which usually tests are held, some of them worthwhile for the Motocross Regional Championship of the Canary Islands.
• Land Rallys: Throughout the year there are races of land rallies in La Palma, some of them punctuate at the Rallyes de Tierra de Canarias Championship.
• Paragliding: This sport has been practiced on the island for approximately twenty years and although it is not a majority it is practiced, especially by foreign visitors. On several occasions a National League test has been organized in December. The most important flight area is Puerto Naos, in addition to Barlovento, Risco de la Concepción, Puntallana, etc. Sometimes high-speed flights can be made from the Snow Pico.
• Other minority sports, which also exert attraction among tourists, are surfing, hiking and speleology. In the case of speleology, its practice on the island has evolved in the last ten years until it became one of the benchmarks of the activity in the archipelago.

Parties

Virgin of the Snows, patron of La Palma.

The most outstanding celebration of La Palma takes place in the so-called Lustral Festivities of the Bajada de la Virgen de las Nieves, patron saint of the island who, every five years —those ending in -0 or -5—, travels on the second Saturday July, from the Royal Island Sanctuary to the capital of the island until his name day, August 5. During these celebrations, apart from the pilgrimage that accompanies the patron saint to Santa Cruz and vice versa, there are representations of the conquest of the Island, simulations of Benahoaritas rituals and the Dance of the Dwarfs, the most outstanding act of the festival, in the which dancers disguised as dwarfs in nineteenth-century costumes parade through the streets of the capital practicing a characteristic dance. The other important representation is the Minuet dance, which imitates a nineteenth-century dance.

Dance of the Minué.

Danza de los Enanos en la Bajada de La Virgen 2015.

Carnival is another of the most celebrated festivities. Despite having all the characteristic elements of the Canarian carnivals (carnival queen, comparsas, murgas etc.) the La Palma Carnival stands out for its the celebration of the Indians. This party, which takes place on Carnival Monday, is a mockery of the Indianos, that is, the palmeros returned from the Americas. For the occasion, everyone dresses up in lace suits and pristine white guayaberas in the same way that the wealthy emigrants returned. After a representation in which a period ship arrives at the port full of Indianos, with their parrots, servants (known as the black Tomasa) and other characteristic elements, a pitched battle of talcum powder begins for the streets of the capital to the rhythm of the Cuban son.

There is also a great tradition of celebrating the Day of the Cross on May 3 in the towns of the eastern region of the island, in which the founding of the city of Santa Cruz de la Palma, which occurred on May 3, is commemorated twice May 1493 and the festivity of the cross, for which many crosses distributed by each town and neighborhood are hung and dressed with jewels, and it is customary to visit the different crosses on the night of the previous day.

In addition, each municipality of La Palma has its patron saint festivities, and there are even independent festivities in some neighbourhoods, such as the case of Argual, in the municipality of Los Llanos.

Folklore

The folklore of La Palma is similar to that of the rest of the Canaries, with the exception of the sirinoque dance that is native to the island.

International Small Film Festival of the Canary Islands

El Festivalito, the name by which the Canarias-Isla de La Palma International Chico Film Festival is best known, is a digital film festival that has been held every summer on La Palma since 2002. It was the first international in incorporating filming into its programming taking advantage of new technologies.

Since its first edition, El Festivalito has added to the usual sections in traditional film festivals —official and informative sections, retrospectives, round tables...— a contest that challenged participants to write, shoot and premiere a short film within the framework of the festival taking advantage of the virtues of digital technology and the natural space of the island. It is the La Palma Rueda section, through which filmmakers from the five continents have passed. Since 2002, more than 120 short films have been produced with the La Palma Rueda label, in addition to two experimental feature films. The works must be inspired by a motto that is made public at the opening gala, and premiered at the closing ceremony of the contest

The Festivalito awards, which are awarded both in the exhibition sections and in the La Palma Rueda section, are the Festivalito Stars, which each year are designed by a different artist inspired by the clear firmament of La Palma.

La Palma in popular culture

At the movies

In recent years, the island has been the recipient of filming of some film productions, documentaries, series episodes, short films or specific shots both in feature films or other audiovisual content. Some of the most important filming made on the island are:

• Berlin Station: American TV drama series created by Olen Steinhauer, in one of the chapters the island of La Palma served as the stage to represent Latin America.
• Journey to the Lost World: It's a 1977 technicolor adventure/fantasy film where the island comes out in numerous scenes.

Gastronomy

La Palma gastronomy stands out for being one of the most elaborate in the archipelago, especially with regard to its desserts, present in most of the islands, and its mojos.

Moros and Christians.

Main Courses

• Scachón o escacho palmero
• Chicharrones
• Roller
• Old clothes
• Soup of chickpeas or chickpeas
• Rabbit in salmorejo
• Wheat stock
• Steps
• Drunk tortilla (from Barlovento)

Mojos

It is a type of traditional sauce from the Canary Islands, an essential accompaniment to some typical foods of the archipelago. Due to its pepper content, many of the types of mojos are spicy, among them are coriander, parsley, paprika, etc. However, the range of these sauces is very wide and allows the use of different ingredients in its preparation such as almonds, cheese, saffron and fried bread, among other possibilities.

Wrinkled potatoes

Both fish and meat are usually accompanied with wrinkled potatoes. This is a typical dish from the whole of the Canary Islands that simply responds to the way potatoes are cooked. With water, a lot of salt, and without peeling. In 2016 they were proclaimed a gastronomic marvel of Spain in a contest promoted by Allianz Global Assistance, by obtaining first place through a popular vote over the Internet.

Desserts

• Bienmesabe
• Prince Albert
• Almonds
• Quesillo
• Raptures
• Almond cheese
• Truchas (almond fillets)

Drinks

• Wine (especially the malvasy and the of tea)
• Rum of reed
• Ron honey
• Coffee cut
• Mistela
• Parra

Featured clappers

Elijah Yanes.

Elsa López.

Manolo Blahnik.

José Mata.

Principal level: Palmers

The island of La Palma has been the cradle of illustrious characters in many cultural, artistic and scientific fields. Below is a summary of the most renowned characters in La Palma:

Aboriginal

• Tanausú, Captain Benahoarita of Aceró.
• Maxerco, Aboriginal king of La Palma.

Religion

• Francisco Díaz Taño, Jesuit priest and missionary, defender of the Guaraní Indians.
• Luis Tomás Leal, provincial of the Order of Preachers in the Canary Islands.
• Manuel Díaz Hernández, an enlightened and humanist polyphacetic priest.
• Elías Yanes Alvarez, Archbishop of Zaragoza, former President of the Spanish Episcopal Conference.
• Bernardo Alvarez Afonso, bishop of the Diocese of San Cristobal de La Laguna.

Literature

• Cristóbal del Hoyo-Solorzano and Sotomayor, writer and poet of the Enlightenment.
• Antonio José Álvarez de Abreu, lawyer, teacher, writer, governor, minister.
• Felix Duarte Pérez, poet, writer and creator of Mother's Day.
• Elsa López, poet, novelist, journalist.
• Felix Francisco Casanova, poet and writer.
• Domingo Acosta Guion, writer and journalist.

Art and music

• Manuel González Méndez, painter, musician, sculptor and professor of Fine Arts.
• Carmen Arozena, painter and recorder.
• Gregorio Toledo, painter and teacher.
• Antonio González Suárez, painter and teacher.
• Lino Britto, dancer, theatrical and musical director.
• Ima Galguén, singer and composer.
• Luis Morera, singer and composer. Member of the Taburiente palm tree.
• Pedro Fausto, painter.

Policy

• Alonso Pérez Díaz, lawyer, professor, politician.
• José Miguel Pérez Pérez, founder of the Communist Party of Cuba and secretary general of the Communist Party of the Canary Islands
• Blas Pérez González, lawyer, writer, politician, minister.

Company

• Pedro Capote Lorenzo, industrial tabaquero.
• Manolo Blahnik, fashion designer.

Communication and education

• Guillermo Sautier Casaseca, writer and radio writer.
• Leoncio Afonso Pérez, academic, thinker, researcher and geographer.
• Luis Felipe Gómez Wangüemert, professor, journalist, farmer, politician.
• Juan Régulo Pérez, professor, philologist, editor.
• Jaime Pérez García de Aguiar, journalist, historian, official chronicler.
• Antonio Camacho Díaz, economist, mathematician, professor emeritus.

Medicine

• Elías Santos Abreu, doctor, scientist, journalist, artist.
• Javier Pérez Pérez, president of C. D. Tenerife and doctor.
• José María Brito Pérez, surgeon, researcher and professor.

Sport

• Rosana Simon, Olympic athlete.
• José Mata, Killer and actor.