Lanzarote

Formerly called Lancerotte in French, Lanzarote is an island located in the Atlantic Ocean vis-a-vis the African coasts and fact part of the Archipel of the islands the Canaries. The capital of the island east Arrecife. Lanzarote belongs to the province of Las Palmas, Communauté Autonomous of the Canaries.

The name of the island could come from the sailor génois Lanceloto Malocello, who visited the island at the 14th century.

One of its cities, Charco del Palo, is entirely nudist.

This island is the principal framework of the account éponyme of Michel Houellebecq . An important part of the action of the last novel of Houellebecq " The possibility of a île" (Beech, 2005, http://www.houellebecq.info/poplivre.php3?id=25) are also held on the island of Lanzarote, place charged in volcanic energy chosen by the sect with Elohimites to establish its embassy there.

Description

It is Eastern of the archipelago and it is characterized by the volcanic cover which extends along all the surface, due to the great volcanic activity of the beginnings of the 18th century.

It is at a distance of 1000 km of the Iberian peninsula and to 140 km of the African coast. Its surface is of 845,93 km ² and its population is of 123.039 inhabitants. (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica de España, 01-01-2005). Close to the island the small islands or minor islands are Alegranza, Graciosa, Montaña Clara, Roque del Este and Roque del Oeste.

Las Peñas del Chache with an altitude of 670 m is the culminating point of the island. One finds in Lanzarote the National park of Timanfaya and the island is considered Réserve of biosphere by UNESCO. The underwater volcanic tunnel longest of the world is in Lanzarote: Tunnel of Atlantis.

Climate

The maximum temperatures oscillate in Lanzarote between 22º and 25º, the minimal ones do not go down below the 12º in winter and the average of precipitations is of 200ml annual. Precipitations oscillate between 250 mm with Famara and only 50 ml in the zone of the Côte of Rubicon. The climate is much more moderate than its geographical latitude supposes it. Two climatic elements take part in this atmospheric softness: the Trade winds and the cold current of the Canaries. The wind is practically present permanently on the island. The summer months of the storms can be generated charged with sand of the desert, the Sirocco (also called Calima in the Canaries), with temperatures going until 46º (2004) and a very reduced visibility.

Lanzarote is located in the hot and dry climatic zone which corresponds to its latitude, included in the belt of subtropical high pressures. Its climate is semi-arid, and is characterized by a weak pluviometric mode (annual rainfall < 200 mm/m ²), ascribable mainly to the specific orography of the island, owing to the fact that its low altitude prevents the retention of the moisture contained in the winds trade winds, except for the zones highest (Los Ajaches and los Riscos de Famara). This characteristic prevents the existence of orographical rains, if abundant in the Western islands, because of absence of mountainous obstacles of scale able to retain the “sea of clouds”.

The island has been inhabited for at least two millenia. The inhabitants of the island are known under the name of Mahos or mahoreros, and would belong to the people Berbère S. the most probable assumption on the settlement of the island corresponds to successive migratory waves since the Africa of North. The original name of the island east Tite-roy-gatra , which means red Montagne .

Sources

Descriptions which the first Europeans made who visited the island during the Bas the Middle Ages speak about men of white race, large, muscular, of great beauty, and much of them were fair…. . These descriptions offered a rather idealized vision. Information available on aborigenes of the island is indirect and not very reliable. The documentary source most important is the Canarian, account written by the domestic chaplains of the Norman francs Jean de Béthencourt and Gadifer of the Room during the invasion of the island in 1402. Although there exist certain inscriptions aboriginals in writing Tifinagh, those could not be translated.

Economy and company

Old the mahos lived of breeding, shells in seaside, the fruit collection and had a very limited agriculture. They did not know metals and had lost knowledge concerning oceanic navigation. They lived in caves or huts of half-sunken stones ( put Hondas ), covered not tanned goatskins and fed from Gofio, of meat of goat and fish. Almost all the chronicles speak about their peaceful and hospital nature and their taste for the music and the dance.

The social organization was adapted to the conditions of the island, low in resources. The hierarchy was patriarchal and hereditary, exerted by kings or Mencey be which was elected by the noble ones. Their justice was extremely hard according to the first European visitors, was managed on the public place or tagoror .

Conquest of Lanzarote

The island of Lanzarote was already known in the Antiquité. She was visited by the Phéniciens, which came to seek the Orchilla there, the invaluable red dyeing which pushes on the rocks directed in the north of the island. The single written testimony of the medieval time, not very reliable, is the voyage of San Borondón. In 1312 the navigator génois Lanceloto Malocello redécouvrit the island of Lanzarote for Europe and gave him its current name, which appears for the first time on the chart of Angelino Dulcert in 1339. During the fifty years which followed several forwardings were organized, or rather raids, in the search of slaves, skins and dyeings. Begin the indigenous decline of the population then. In 1377 Ruiz de Avendaño, commander corsair of the fleet Castilian, made shipwreck after a storm on the island of Lanzarote, where it is received by king Zonzamas, who offers to him the hospitality of the bed of the Fayna queen. From this relation will be born the princess Ico, white and fair, mother of last king de Lanzarote, Guardafia. In 1393, the noble Almonáster Castilian arrives at Lanzarote. When it turns over to the pénínsule it brings back with him of the autochtones and certain agricultural produce.

The first European forwardings which came to research from slaves first of all made stopover in Lanzarote and Graciosa, the islands closest to the Iberian peninsula. This contributed to a demographic fall during the 14th century, so that when the first forwardings of conquest, the population was in clear retreat.

The final conquest of the island occurs with the forwarding of the mercenaries and the Norman adventurers Jean de Béthencourt and Gadifer of the Room, with the service of Henri III of Castille. On their arrival on the island in 1402 it remains only 300 autochtones and the expeditionary ones are established on the Côte of Rubicon, aur southern of the island. Following the unfruitful test of conquest of Fuerteventura, Béthencourt turns over in Castille and he sees himself offered the seigniory of Lanzarote. On its return, the resistance of the natives was repressed to fire and blood by Gadifer of the Room. After the successive failures of conquest of the other islands and being given the little of commercial interest that Lanzarote supposesupposed then, Jean de Béthencourt yields the seigniory of the island to his relative Maciot de Bethencourt.

Feudal seigniory

Lanzarote becomes a feudal seigniory which passes with the hands of the descendants of Béthencourt to noble Andalusians like the Count Niebla, Hernán de Peraza and Pedro Barba.

In these first years an important quota of Berber origin is brought on the island in order to repopulate it. This new contribution will mix with the population aboriginal and the European colonists.

For the following centuries the island will maintain a structure of feudal capacity, until the abolition of the seigniory by the courses of Cadiz in 1812. Because of its proximity of the African coasts, Lanzarote will be objetif Berber and European pirate raids. In 1586 the Berber corsair Amurat took the island with five hundred men and captured the family of the lord. In 1618 invaded Soliman and the island shaves. During its last forwarding to the research of El Dorado, Sir Walter Raleigh attacks Arrecife in 1617 and shaves the city. The population took refuge during the attacks in the Cueva of los Verdes ( cave of the greens ).

Modern history of the island

The eruption of Timanfaya

“On September 1st 1730, between the nine hours and the ten hours of the evening, the ground opened with Timanfaya, with two leagues of Yaiza… and an enormous mountain rose known center of the ground”, according to the testimony of the priest Lorenzo Curbelo. The island entirely changed. Ten villages were buried (Tingafa, Montaña Blanca, Maretas, Santa Catalina, Jaretas, San Juan, Peña de Palmas, Testeina and Rodeos) and during six years the lava extended to the south, covering a quarter of the island and recovering the plains around volcanic ash. In 1824 the erruptions begin again in Timanfaya. Followed of terrible famines and a good part of the population saw herself obliged to emigrate. Since the landscape changed thanks to the agricultural techniques of culture on Lapilli S volcanic that the conejeros use to retain the moisture of the trade winds. The National park of Timanfaya offers a beautiful outline of the vestiges of the eruption.

Economic activity

During second half of the 18th century one introduced the culture of soda, plants crawling rich in alkalis which was used in the manufacture of the soap. From America to Lanzarote the culture came from the cochineal on prickly peartrees, the Potato and the Tomate. The cochineal was during a time one of the most important industres of the island. One can still see the plantations in the villages of Guatiza and Mala. Of Europe the vine stocks arrived with which the wine of malvasía (wine of Malvoisie) will be done, preferred wine of the character of Shakespeare, Falstaff.

XXème century

During the 20th century the economy of the island passes from a dependence of agriculture and salting of fish to a nearly exclusive dependence of tourism.

The character of César Manrique played a role-key then so that the tourist development of the island does not destroy the original landscape. He was also the creator of some of the places of greater interest of the island: The Jameos del Agua, the Watchtower LED Rio and el Taro de Tahiche ; nevertheless the development of the last years deteriorates the landscape and the environment of the island, in spite of the declaration of the island like World reserve of the Biosphere. This economy turned towards tourism and the sector of construction made pass Lanzarote to be an island from where one emigrated with being an island with strong immigration, which generated a big demographic rise. In spite of the fact that the immigration of continental Africa is shown finger for the conditions under which it takes place, the greatest quota of population comes nevertheless continent of Europe.

Municipalities

The island of Lanzarote is divided into 7 municipalities:

Arrecife (Capital), Haría, San Bartolomé, Teguise, Tías, Tinajo, Yaiza

External bonds

Lanzarote Guides of voyage and real
Lanzarote
Portail of Lanzarote

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