Posted
on May 30, 2016
Did
you know that one of the “autonomous communities” of Spain is a
group of islands quite close to Morocco, in Africa?
The
Canary Islands is a group of eight inhabited islands. These volcanic
islands form an archipelago. Back in the days of exploration and
colonization, Spanish galleons on the way to the “New World”
would stop at the Canaries for fresh food and water—and mostly so
that they could catch the prevailing trade winds. Being such an
important stopover spot brought great wealth to some of the Spaniards
living on the islands.
Of
course, being in a good spot for European ships was not so good for
the original inhabitants of the islands. The various peoples living
on the islands were either fought against and killed or converted and
assimilated. The native peoples of two islands surrendered to the
Spaniards quite quickly, but the other islanders resisted for
decades – in some cases, for almost a century!
A
few elements of the original cultures still survive today. One
interesting element is Silbo, a whistled language that was spoken on
four of the islands before the Spaniards arrived. Silbo was adapted
to Spanish and is still used today in some cases.
Apparently
the whistling could be used to communicate across deep ravines and
narrow valleys of the islands – up to five kilometers (three
miles)! So it is often used to announce events and to advise or warn
the public. Check it out!
These
days, the beaches and sunny weather attract a lot of tourists. I
guess you can see that there are some beautiful things to see in the
Canaries:
 |
| Famara Beach, on Lanzarote, above Garajonay National Park, in La Gomera, below |
 |
| Las Palmas, on Gran Canaria, above Mount Teide, on Tenerife, below |
 |
| Rocky shore on Lanzarote, above Sand dunes on Gran Canaria, below |
 |
| There are such clear skies that there are three international observatories on the islands. Below, Lanzarote has an underwater sculpture museum. |
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