FUERTEVENTURA: PIRATES, STRONG WINDS AND CALIMA

Tina Picotes in Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

Today, Tina Picotes and her friends are visiting Fuerteventura. Tina loves nature and extreme landscapes and visit Fuerteventura is a good opportunity to enjoy them. She is very interested in painting the different kinds of butterflies that live in the island.

During the flight from Gran Canaria to Lanzarote, The Grandma has studied a new lesson of her Intermediate Language Practice manual (Grammar 30 & 31).

More information: Place and Position

Fuerteventura is one of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean and is part of the North Africa region. It is the second largest of the Canary Islands, after Tenerife. It was declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO in May 2009. Its capital is Puerto del Rosario.

Traditionally, Fuerteventura's name has been regarded as a reference to the strong winds around the island and the resulting danger to nautical adventurers. However, it might have referred instead or also to wealth, luck or destiny.

In 1339 the Mallorcan navigator Angelino Dulcert, in the Planisferio de Angelino Dulcert, referred to the island as Forte Ventura.

Another theory is that the island's name derives from Fortunatae Insulae, Fortunate Islands, the name by which the Romans knew the Canary Islands.

Contemplating landscape, Fuerteventura

The indigenous name of the island, before its conquest in the 15th century, was Erbania, divided into two regions (Jandía and Maxorata), from which the name majorero, originally majo or maxo derives. However, it has been suggested that, at some point, Maxorata, which meant the children of the country, was the aboriginal toponym of the entire island.

The first settlers of Fuerteventura are believed to have come from North Africa. The word Mahorero (Majorero) or Maho is still used today to describe the people of Fuerteventura and is derived from the ancient word mahos, a type of goatskin shoe worn by these original inhabitants. They lived in caves and semi-subterranean dwellings, some of which have been excavated, revealing remnants of early tools and pottery. In antiquity, the island was known o.a. as Planaria, in reference to the flatness of most of its terrain.

In the 11th century BC, Phoenician settlers landed in Fuerteventura and Lanzarote.

Several Spanish and Portuguese expeditions to the islands were organized around 1340, followed by Moors and European slave traders. At the end of the Iberian conquest, the island was divided into two Guanches kingdoms, one adhering to King Guize and the other to King Ayoze.

The territories of these kingdoms were called Maxorata in the North and Jandía in the South respectively. They were separated by a wall, which traversed the La Pared isthmus. Some remains have been preserved. The ancient name for the island, Erbania, is derived from this wall's name.

More information: Visit Fuerteventura

The island's conquest began in earnest in 1402, commanded by French knights and crusaders Jean de Béthencourt and Gadifer de la Salle. They arrived with only 63 sailors out of the original 283, as many had deserted along the way.

After arriving and settling in Lanzarote, the invaders made some first excursions to the neighboring islands. In 1404, Bethencourt and Gadifer founded Betancuria, on the West coast, the first settlement on the island. After numerous difficulties, Gadifer took charge of the invasion, while Bethencourt returned to Spain to seek the recognition and support of the Castilian king.

Joseph de Ca'th lon visits Fuerteventura

In 1405, de Béthencourt completed his conquest of the island, establishing its capital in Betancuria, Puerto Rosario took over the mantle as island capital in 1835. 

In 1424 Pope Martin V, through the Betancuria Brief, edicted the establishment of the Bishopric of Fuerteventura, which encompassed all the Canary Islands save for the island of Lanzarote. The Bishopric of Fuerteventura was based in the Parish of Santa María de Betancuria, bestowing upon the latter the status of Grant Cathedral. After the reabsorbtion of the Diocese of San Marcial del Rubicón by the papacy of Pope of Martin V, the Bishopric of Fuerteventura was abolished in 1431, only seven years after it was created.

The first census recorded a population of some 1,200 inhabitants. The population increased gradually thereafter. In 1476 the territory became the Señorío Territorial de Fuerteventura, subjected to the Catholic Monarchs. In later years, the island was invaded by the Spanish, French and the English.

 More information: Hello Canary Islands

Over time, the island endured numerous pirate raids. A Berber lead expedition invaded in 1593, sweeping as far inland as the capital. Various castles were built along the coastline, to protect against these type of attacks. The population was moved inland as a second protective measure. Because of the raids, a first Captain General was dispatched to Fuerteventura, accompanied by a number of Sergeant Majors, to defend the island in the name of the Crown. At that time Betancuria became the religious capital of the island.

Two major pirate attacks took place in 1740, within a month of each other. Two separate bands of English privateers attempted to loot the town of Tuineje. These attacks were however successfully averted by the local population and the island's militia. This successful repelling of the invaders is celebrated at a re-enactment that takes place in Gran Tarajal every year in October.

In 1852, a free trade zone was extended by Isabella II to the Canary Islands. Military island rule, which began in 1708, was finally dissolved in 1859, and Puerto de Cabras, now Puerto del Rosario, became the new capital.

Jordi & Tonyi visits El Cotillo, Fuerteventura

The Canary Islands obtained self-governance in 1912. In 1927, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote became part of the province of Gran Canaria. The seat of the island's government or Cabildo Insular is located in Puerto del Rosario.

By the 1940s the island had an airport, just west of Puerto del Rosario on the road to Tindaya, still visible today. Mass tourism began to arrive in the mid-1960s, facilitated by the construction of Fuerteventura Airport at El Matorral and the first tourist hotels.

The island's proximity, a mere 100 km, to the West African coast and the fact that it is part of the Schengen territory make it a prime target destination for undocumented immigrants. However, many have perished while attempting the crossing.

More information: Responsible Travel

Fuerteventura is the oldest island in the Canary Islands dating back 20 million years to a volcanic eruption from the Canary hotspot.

The majority of the island was created about 5 million years ago and since then has been eroded by wind and precipitation. On the seabed off the West coast of the island rests an enormous slab of bedrock 22 km long and 11 km wide, which appears to have slid off the island largely intact at some point in prehistory, similar to the predicted future collapse of Cumbre Vieja, a geological fault on another Canary Island, La Palma. The last volcanic activity in Fuerteventura occurred between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago.

The climate on Fuerteventura is pleasant throughout the year. The island is hence referred to as the island of eternal spring. The sea regulates air temperature, diverting hot Sahara winds away from the island. The island's name in English translates as strong fortune or strong wind, the Spanish word for wind being viento.

Calima in Fuerteventura

During the winter months, temperatures average a high of 22 °C and a low of around 15 °C, whereas during the summer a mean high of 28 °C and a low of 20 °C can be expected. Precipitation is about 147 mm per year, most of which falls in autumn and winter. December is the month with highest rainfall. A sandstorm known as the Calima, similar to the Sirocco wind, which blows to the North of the Sahara, to Europe, may blow from the Sahara Desert to the Northwest, and can cause high temperatures, low visibility and drying air.

Temperatures during this phenomenon rise temporarily by approximately 10 degrees Celsius. The wind brings in fine red dust. The fine white sand is not blown in from Sahara. It is made up of dead coral reef and local seabed upheaval. visibility can drop to between 100 to 200 m or even lower and can even bring African locusts to the island.

More information: La Palma 24

The island is home to one of the two surviving populations of the threatened Canarian Egyptian vulture. It is also inhabited by many wild dogs and cats. 

On the barren, rocky land there are Barbary ground squirrels and geckos. Fuerteventura also hosts several migratory and nesting birds. The island has significant populations of the collared dove, common swifts and several finch species especially in the vicinity of holiday developments.

Despite its arid climate, the island is also home to a surprisingly large insect fauna. Butterflies which commonly occur on the island include the clouded yellow (Colias hyale) and the bath white (Pontia daplidice) which feeds on xerophytic cruciferae.

Danaus plexippus a.k.a. Monarch Butterfly

The island is also home to the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) and its close African relative Danaus chrysippus.

Around holiday developments such as Caleta de Fuste, water is relatively abundant, and dragonfly species including the blue emperor (Anax imperator) and the scarlet darter (Crocothemis erythraea) can be found.

The island's sand dunes and shoreline are home to a number of bee and wasp species including the large eumenid caterpillar hunting wasp, (Delta dimidiatipenne) and the blue banded bee, (Amegilla canifrons).

Hawkmoths also occur on the island. One of the more notable species is Hyles tithymali which feeds on endemic spurges such as Euphorbia regis-jubae.  

Acherontia atropos, the deaths-head hawkmoth also occurs on the island presumably feeding on members of the Solanaceae, for example, Datura innoxia and Nicotiana glauca which are common weeds in the vicinity of human habitation.

The official natural symbols associated with Fuerteventura are Chlamydotis undulata fuertaventurae (hubara or houbara) and Euphorbia handiensis (Cardón de Jandía).

More information: UNESCO

I can't change the direction of the wind,

but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.

Jimmy Dean