Las Palmas
Las Palmas, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, together with Santa Cruz de Tenerife capital of the Spanish region Canary Islands (Islas Canarias) and administrative seat of the province Las Palmas at the north-eastern tip of Gran Canaria, with 379 800 residents the largest city of the Canary Islands; catholic bishopric; University. The city stretches for 12 km along the coast; Seaside resort; Tourism. The port (with a fishing port and naval base) plays an important role in transatlantic traffic; Export of bananas, tomatoes, early vegetables, sugar, fish products; Food and luxury food industry; 22 km south of the international airport (Gando).
In the picturesque old town (»Vegueta«) with buildings in the Spanish colonial style are the Gothic Santa Ana Cathedral (1497–1570) with a classical facade (1781) and Baroque high altar, the Museo Canario (finds from the Guanche period), the Casa de Colón (Columbus House, late 15th century, Columbus Museum; collection of paintings; former residence of the first Spanish governors) and the Ermita San Antonio Abad (15th century); in the Doramaspark open-air museum Pueblo Canario, which shows the most important types of Canarian architecture, with the Néstor Museum (works by the Canarian painter Néstor Martín Fernández de la Torre, * 1887, † 1938). In 1989 the Atlantic Center for Modern Art (Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno, CAAM; by Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oiza), which presents temporary exhibitions in addition to the collection of works by contemporary Canarian and Spanish artists; the Castillo de la Luz (1492) on the Isleta peninsula.
Las Palmas was founded in 1478 on the orders of the Catholic Monarchs, was a stopover on Columbus’s voyages to America, withstood the Dutch and British sieges (F. Drake) in the 16th century, became the island’s capital in 1826 and the provincial capital in 1927.
Santa Cruz de Tenerife (city)
Santa Cruz de Tenerife [- crudely DE], Santa Cruz, along with Las Palmas de Gran Canaria capital of the Spanish region of Canary Islands (Islas Canarias) and capital of the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and the Canary Island of Tenerife, on the northeast coast, (2020) 209 200 residents.
Faculties of the University of La Laguna; Venue of several music festivals, famous carnival; important commercial and transport port, submarine cable station, free trade center; Oil refinery, chemical industry, canned fish, cigar industry, fruit trade; international airport 12 km west.
Inside the church of Nuestra Señora de la Concepción (1502; rebuilt in 1652) there are baroque works of art (17th / 18th centuries) and the “Cross of Conquest”. The monastery church of San Francisco (1680; restored in 1777) has an azulejos dome in the tower (1777). The “Museum of Nature and Man” is located in the old Hospital Civil (with an archaeological museum; Museum of Natural Sciences, the Canary Institute of Paleontology and Bioanthropology). Other facilities are the Museum of Fine Arts (including contemporary Canarian art, Dutch and Italian masters); Military museum; Casino (palatial building from the 18th century with murals by Canarian artists); modern auditorium (1991-2003) by S. Calatrava, TEA art and culture center (opened in 2008) by the architects Herzog & de Meuron.
Hierro
Hierro [ jεrr ɔ ], formerly Ferro, the westernmost of the Canary Islands, 269 km 2, 10 900 residents. The triangular island of volcanic origin has mostly rugged cliffs. The mountainous interior, overgrown with pines, beeches and Saba bushes, has many volcanic craters; in the center a high plateau with around 1,500 ash cones, overlooked by the Malpaso (1,501 m above sea level). The climate is mild all year round, rich in fog and has high humidity; However, Hierro suffers from a shortage of fresh water. The residents practice fishing, viticulture and fruit growing (figs). Tourism is of growing importance. The main town is Valverde (5,000 residents), with a church fortress (17th century), a small port (10 km to the east) and an airport. The southeast around the Restinga peninsula is a marine reserve. In the Garganta de Candia ravine, prehistoric, not yet deciphered petroglyph characters (“Los Leteros”). Eruptions of an underwater volcano off the southwest coast since 2011. – In 1634 French geographers laid the prime meridian through Cape Punta Orchilla (lighthouse), which in ancient times was considered the most western point of the Old World; In 1884 it was replaced by the Greenwich Prime Meridian.
La Palma
La Palma, most northwest of the Canary Islands, in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain; 708 km 2, (2019) 84 800 residents.
Inside, the steep-walled Caldera de Taburiente (National Park, 4 690 ha), the edge of which in the Roque de los Muchachos rises to 2 423 m above sea level, defines the landscape. The Teneguía volcano (active in 1971) rises on the southern edge of the caldera. The vegetation is different in the individual altitude levels. Again and again, wildfires plague the island; Most recently, around 4,000 hectares of pine forests were burned in the summer of 2016.
In the Belmaco Cave there are rock carvings of the Guanches; on the coast irrigation crops: wine, vegetables (tomatoes), tropical fruits (bananas), tobacco. The main places are on the east coast Santa Cruz de la Palma (15,700 residents; port, airport) and on the west coast Los Llanos de Aridane (20,800 residents); Tourism.
That has been going on since around 2000 BC. La Palma, populated by Guanches, was discovered in 1312 by Lancelotto Malocello. In 1492/93 the island was conquered by Spanish troops and was an important stopover for Spanish ships on their way to Latin America in the following two centuries.
According to Zipcodesexplorer, the Roque de los Muchachos is the location of an international observatory that houses two solar telescopes, several mirror telescopes, including the William Herschel telescope (mirror diameter 4.2 m), the Galileo telescope (mirror diameter 3.5 m) and the Gran Telescopio, which was completed in 2009 Canarias (GTC; also Grantecan), as well as the two identical gamma ray telescopes MAGIC I and II (gamma astronomy). The primary mirror of the Gran Telescopio Canarias has a diameter of 10.4 m and consists of 36 hexagonal segments. It works on the principle of active optics (adaptive optics). The GTC is the world’s largest reflector telescope; its central instrument is a combination of camera and spectrometer for the infrared range (CanariCam).
