Discount Hotels Tenerife - Canary Islands
Historical interest: Tenerife - Canary Islands
    
Tenerife's history is extremely colourful and dates back several millennia. The
islands are estimated to be 30 million years old - relatively young by geological
standards. Their existence was known in ancient times; in his dialogues Timaeus
and Critias, Plato spoke of Atlantis, a continent that had sunk beneath the ocean
floor in a great cataclysm that left only the peaks of its highest mountains above
the water. Whether Plato was being allegorical is uncertain, but the islands gained
an almost mythic reputation, passed down from one classical writer to the next.
By the time the Europeans began looking around the area in the Middle Ages,
the islands were inhabited by a variety of tribes often hostile to one another.
The first account of an actual landing by Europeans doesn't come until the late
13th or early 14th century, when a Portuguese-Italian mission of 1341 finally
put the Canaries on the map.
The Canaries were declared a province of Spain in 1821, and Santa Cruz de Tenerife
was declared the official capital. Several agricultural commodities followed
boom/bust cycles on the islands: sugar cane, wine and then cochineal for making
dyes all had their day, followed by bananas and, to a lesser extent, tomatoes
and potatoes.
The short period of hope that followed WWI was dashed when Spain fell into
the chaos of civil war in 1936. In March of that year, the Spanish Republic
transferred General Franco to the Canaries, under the suspicion that he was
involved in a plot to overthrow the government. By the early 1960s, Franco decided
to throw the country's doors open to sun-starved tourists.
The Canaries became a comunidad autónoma (autonomous region) in 1982,
and the Coalición Canaria played a large role in the right wing Partido
Popular's win at the general elections in 1996. They have lent their support
to the government on condition that consideration be given first and foremost
to their needs, putting the interests of the islands before any national considerations.
These days, tourism is by far the most important economic activity on the island;
millions of sun-seeking hedonists now flock to Tenerife annually. Other traditional
industries still survive though, including: banana and tomato plantations and
many vineyards along the northern slopes of Teide.
Selection of hotels in this region:
Sheraton Mencey Hotel | | Pelinor Hotel | | Playa La Arena | |
Click below for a
full list of hotels and online booking
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