Canary Islands

CANARY ISLANDS (Canaries), a Spanish archipelago in the Atlantic ocean; about 6om. W. of the African coast, between 27° 4o' and 3 o' N., and between 13° 20' and 18° 1 o' W. Pop. (in 1930), 558,844; area 2,807 sq.m. The Canary Islands may be considered as two groups, one of which, including Tenerife, Grand Canary, Palma, Hierro and Gomera, consists of mountain peaks, isolated and rising directly from an ocean of great depth ; while the other, comprising Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and six uninhabited islets, is based on a single submarine plateau, of far less depth. Ever since the researches of Leopold von Buch the Canary Islands have been classical ground to the student of volcanic action. Buch considered them to be representative of his "craters of elevation." In common with the other West African islands they are of volcanic origin. The lavas consist chiefly of trachytes and basalts.

Climate.

From April to October a north or north-east wind blows upon the islands, beginning about 10 A.M. and continuing until 5 or 6 P.M. In summer this wind produces a dense stratum of sea-cloud. In winter the islands are occasionally visited by a hot south-east wind from Africa, which is called the Levante, and sometimes brings locusts. In 1812 it is said that locusts covered some fields in Fuerteventura to the depth of 4f t. The climate generally is mild, dry and healthy. On the lower grounds the temperature is equable, the daily range seldom exceeding 6°. At Santa Cruz the mean for the year is about 71 °.

Fauna and Flora.

The indigenous mammals of the Canary Islands are very few in number. The dog, swine, goat and sheep were alone found upon the island by the Spanish conquerors. The ferret, rabbit, cat, rat, mouse and two kinds of bat have become naturalized. The ornithology is more interesting, on account not only of the birds native to the islands, but also of the stragglers from the African coast. Among the indigenous birds are some birds of prey, such as the African vulture, the falcon, the buzzard, the sparrow-hawk and kite. There are also two species of owl, three species of sea-mew, the stockdove, quail, raven, magpie, chaffinch, goldfinch, blackcap, canary, titmouse, blackbird, house-swallow, etc.

The position of mountainous islands like the Canaries, in the subtropical division of the temperate zone, is highly favourable to the development, within a small space, of plants characteristic of both warm and cold climates. Buch refers to five regions of vegetation in Tenerife :—(I) From the sea-level to the height of I,3ooft. This he styles the African region. The climate in the hottest parts is similar to that of Egypt. Here are grown, among the other introduced plants, the coffee tree, date-palm, sugar cane, banana, orange tree, American agave and two species of cactus; and among indigenous plants, the dragon tree on the north-west of Tenerife. A leafless and fantastic euphorbia, E. canariensis, and a shrubby composite plant, Cacalia kleinia, give a character to the landscape about Santa Cruz. (2) Between I,3ooft. and 2,800ft. This is the region of south European vege tation, the climate answering to that of southern France and central Italy, with vines and cereals. (3) The region of indig enous trees, including various species of laurel, Ardisia, Ilex, Rhamnus, Olea, Myrica and other trees found wild also at Madeira. It extends to the height of 4,000ft. (4) The region of the beautiful Pinus canariensis, extending to the height of 6,400 ft.; here the broad-leaved trees have ceased to grow, but abores cent heaths are found throughout its whole extent, and specimens of Juniperus oxycedrus may be met with. (5) The region of Retama (Cytisus nubigenus), a species of white-flowering and sweet-scented broom, which is found as high as II,000ft. The number of wild flowering plants may be estimated at goo, upwards of 27o of which are peculiar to the Canaries.

Inhabitants.—The Guanches (q.v.), who occupied the Cana ries at the time of the Spanish invasion, no longer exist as a separate race. The present inhabitants are slightly darker than the people of Spain, but in other respects are scarcely distinguish able from them. The men are of middle height, well-made and strong. Spanish is the only language in use. Fully 8o% of the inhabitants could neither read nor write in 1900; but education progresses more rapidly than in many other Spanish provinces. Good schools are numerous, and the return of emigrants and their children who have been educated in the United States, tends to raise the standard of civilization. The sustenance of the poorer classes is chiefly composed of fish, potatoes, and go fio, which is, as in Cuba, merely Indian corn or wheat roasted, ground and kneaded with water or milk.

Government.—The archipelago forms one Spanish province, of which the capital is Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the residence of the civil governor. The court of appeal, created in 1526, is in Las Palmas. The captain-general and second commandant of the archipelago reside in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and there is a brigadier-governor of Grand Canary, residing in Las Palmas, besides eight inferior military commandants. The province fur nishes no men for the Spanish peninsular army, but its annual conscription provides men for the local territorial militia, com posed of regiments of infantry, squadrons of mounted rifles and companies of garrison artillery—about 5,000 men all told. The archipelago is divided into two naval districts, commanded by royal navy captains. Roman Catholicism is the official religion, and ecclesiastical law is the same as in other Spanish provinces. The convents have been suppressed, and in many cases converted to secular uses. Laguna and Las Palmas are episcopal sees, in the archbishopric of Seville.

Industry and Commerce.—Owing to the richness of the volcanic soil, agriculture in the Canaries is usually very profitable. Land varies in value according to the amount of water available, but as a rule commands an extraordinarily high price, irrigated land being worth ten or twelve times as much as the non-irrigable (de secano). Until 1853 wine was the staple product, and although even the finest brand (known as Vidonia) never equalled the best Madeira vintages, it was largely consumed abroad, espe cially in England. The annual value of the wine exported often exceeded f 500,000. In 18J3, however, the grape disease attacked the vineyards; and thenceforward the production of cochineal, which had been introduced in 1825, took the place of viticulture so completely that, twenty years later, the exports of cochineal were worth £556,000. France and England were the chief pur chasers. This industry declined in the later years of the 19th century, and was supplanted by the cultivation of sugar-cane, and afterwards of bananas, tomatoes, potatoes, and onions. Bananas are the most important crop. Fishing is a very important industry, employing over I0,000 hands along some 600m. of the African coast, between Cape Cantin and the Arguin Bank. The chief ports are Las Palmas and Santa Cruz, which annually accom modate about 7,000 vessels of over 8,000,000 tons. In 1854 all the ports of the Canaries were practically declared free ; but on Nov. 1, 1904, a royal order prohibited foreign vessels from trading between one island and another. This decree deprived the out lying islands of their usual means of communication, and, in answer to a protest by the inhabitants, its operation was postponed.

The Romans learned of

the existence of the Canaries through Juba, King of Mauretania, whose account of an expedition to the islands, made about 4o B.C., was preserved by the elder Pliny. He mentions "Canaria, so called from the multitude of dogs of great size." Both Plutarch and Ptolemy speak of the Fortunate Islands, but from their description it is not clear whether the Canaries or one of the other island groups in the western Atlantic are meant (see ISLES OF THE BLEST). In the 12th century the Canaries were visited by Arab navigators, and in they were rediscovered by a French vessel driven among them by a gale. A Portuguese expedition, undertaken about the same time, failed to find the archipelago, and want of means frustrated a grandson of Alphonso X. of Castile, named Juan de la Cerda, who had ob tained a grant of the islands and had been crowned king of them at Avignon, by Pope Clement VI. In 1402, Gadifer de la Salle and Jean de Bethencourt (q.v.) sailed with two vessels from Rochelle, and landed early in July on Lanzarote. Between 1402 and 1404 La Salle conquered Lanzarote and part of Fuerteventura, besides exploring other islands; Bethencourt meanwhile sailed to Cadiz for reinforcements. He returned in 1404 with the title of king, which he had secured from Henry III. of Castile. La Salle, thus placed in a position of inferiority, left the islands and appealed unsuccessfully for redress at the court of Castile. In Dec., 1406, Bethencourt left the Canaries, entrusting their govern ment to his nephew Maciot de Bethencourt. Eight years of mis rule followed before Queen Catherine of Castile intervened. Mac iot thereupon sold his office to her envoy, Pedro Barba de Campos; sailed to Lisbon and resold it to Prince Henry the Navigator; and a few years afterwards resold it once more to Enrique de Guzman, count of Niebla. Jean de Bethencourt, who died in 1422, bequeathed the islands to his brother Reynaud ; Guzman sold them to another Spaniard named Paraza, who was forced to re-sell to Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile in 1476; and Prince Henry twice endeavoured to enforce his own claims. In 1479 the sovereignty of Ferdinand and Isabella over the Canaries was established by the Treaty of Alcacova, between Portugal and Castile. After much bloodshed, and with reinforcements from the mother country, the Spaniards, under Pedro de Vera, became masters of Grand Canary in 1483. Palma was conquered in 1491 and Teneriffe in 1495 by Alonzo de Lugo. In 1902 a move ment in favour of local autonomy was repressed by Spanish troops. For administrative purposes the islands are considered as part of Spain. They have been used by Primo de Rivera as a place of exile for certain of his political opponents. (See SPAIN : History.) BIBLIOGRAPHY.-L. von Buch, Physikalische Beschreiburg der kaBibliography.-L. von Buch, Physikalische Beschreiburg der ka- narischen lnselu (182 5) ; P. Barker-Webb and S. Berthelot, Histoire naturelle des Iles Canaries ; A. Millares Cubas, Histoira de la Inquisition en las islas Canarias (Las Palmas, 1874) ; S. Berthelot, Antiquites canariennes (1879) ; A. Millares Cubas, Historia general de las islas Canariennes (Las Palmas, ; L. and A. Millares Cubas, De La Tierra Canaria (1894) ; Dr. A. Tacquin, "Les Iles Canaries et les parages de Oche canariens" in the Bull. de la Soc. Roy. Geogr. de Belge 26 (1902) , and 27 (1903) ; C. J. Pitard and L. Proust, Les Isles Canaries (1908) ; D. A. Bannerman, The Canary Islands, their history, natural history and scenery (1922) ; E. A. Hooton, The Ancient in habitants of the Canary Islands (Harvard African Studies 1925) ; L. Lindinger, Beitrage zur Kenntnis von Vegetation and Flora der kanar ischen Inseln (Hamburg, 1926) ; A. Samler Brown, Madiera, the Ca nary Islands and the Azores (13th rev. ed., 1927).