GRAN CANARIA A.K.A. TAMARÁN, LAND OF THE BRAVE

Joseph de Ca'th Lon visits Gran Canaria

Today, The Grandma and her friends have just arrived to Las Palmas, the capital of Gran Canaria the next island that they are going to visit.

Gran Canaria is a unique island with different microclimes and they are very interested in discovering all of them.

Moreover, in Gran Canaria there is one of the 14 ground stations in the Manned Space Flight Network which supports the NASA and Joseph de Ca'th Lon wants to visit it.

During the travel from Tenerife to Las Palmas, The Grandma has studied a new lesson of her Intermediate Language Practice manual (Grammar 25).

More information: Relative Clauses I

Gran Canaria meaning Great Island of Dogs, is the second most populous of the Canary Islands.

Gran Canaria is located in the Atlantic Ocean about 150 kilometres off the northwestern coast of Africa and about 1,350 km from Europe. With an area of 1,560 km2 and an altitude of 1,956 m at the Pico de las Nieves, Gran Canaria is the third largest island of the archipelago in both area and altitude.

In Ancient History, Gran Canaria was populated by the North African Canarii, who may have arrived as early as 500 BC. The Canarii called the island Tamarán Land of the Brave.

In the Medieval period, after over a century of European incursions and attempts at conquest, the island was conquered on April 29, 1483 by the Crown of Castile, under Queen Isabella I. The conquest succeeded after a campaign that lasted five years, and it was an important step towards the expansion of the unified Spain.

The Grandma & Claire Fontaine visit Gran Canaria

The capital city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria was founded on June 24, 1478, under the name Real de Las Palmas, by Juan Rejón, head of the invading Castilian army.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus anchored in the Port of Las Palmas, and spent some time on the island, on his first trip to the Americas. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is, jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the capital of the Canary Islands. Gran Canaria is located southeast of Tenerife and west of Fuerteventura. The island is of volcanic origin, mostly made of fissure vents. Gran Canaria's surface area is 1,560 km² and its maximum elevation is 1,949 metres, Pico de Las Nieves. It has a round shape, with a diameter of approximately 50 km.

About 80% of the volume of the island was formed during the Miocene period eruptions, between 14 and 9 million years ago. This is called the Old Cycle and is estimated to have lasted some 200,000 years and have emitted about 1000 km3, mostly of fissural alkali basalt. This cycle continued with the emission of trachytes, phonolites and peralkaline rocks. This period was followed by one of erosion, which lasted some 4 million years.

More information: Gran Canaria

A second cycle of volcanic eruptions, known as the Roque Nublo cycle, took place between 4.5 and 3.4 million years ago. This shorter cycle emitted about 100 km3. Most of the inland peaks were formed by erosion from these materials. This period also started with fissural basalts, but ended with violent eruptions of pyroclastic flows. Some phonolitic features, like the Risco Blanco, were also formed in its last stages.

The third or recent cycle is held to have started some 2.8 million years ago and is considered to be still active. The last eruptions are held to have occurred some 3500 years ago.

The changes in volume and, therefore, weight of the island have also caused the island to rise above the previous sea level during erosive periods and to sink during eruptive periods. Some of these fossil beaches can be seen in the cliff faces of the more eroded northern coast.

Jordi & his friends visiting Gran Canaria

Until the conquest, Gran Canaria had extensive forests, but then suffered extensive deforestation as a result of continuous logging, land divisions and other intensive uses. This reduced the forest cover to just 56,000 hectares, making the island the most deforested of the Canary Islands.

Gran Canaria lies within the Province of Las Palmas, which consists of the eastern part of the Canary Islands community. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is the provincial capital, one of the two capitals of the Canary Islands along with Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

The island of Gran Canaria is governed by the Cabildo Insular de Gran Canaria.

According to the Koppen Climate Classification, Gran Canaria is considered to have a desert climate (Bwh) due to its consistent warm temperatures and severe lack of precipitation.

More information: Hello Canary Islands

Gran Canaria is noted for its rich variety of microclimates. Generally speaking though, the average daytime high ranges from 20 °C in winter, to 26 °C in summer. Some cool nights occur in winter, but lows below 10 °C are unknown near the coast. Inland the climate is still mild but mountainous areas see the occasional frost or snow.

Annual rainfall averages 228 mm, most of this falling in the cooler months, with July, August and September normally rainless. Rainfall is unevenly distributed through the island with some areas being much drier than others. Cloud cover and sunshine is often quite variable during the cooler months, and there can be several rather cloudy days at times in winter. Summers are generally quite sunny however, with the south of the island being most favoured.

Gran Canaria agriculture is unique among the Canaries Islands in that it was traditionally dominated by plantations, with much of these being grains as well as sugarcane, rather than by stock-breeding. The caves of Valerón, a property of cultural interest in the archaeological site category, in the municipality of Santa María de Guía bears testimony of it by being the largest pre-Hispanic collective granary of the Canaries.

Tina Picotes & Claire Fontaine visit Gran Canaria

This island is called a Miniature Continent due to the different climates and variety of landscapes found, with long beaches and dunes of white sand, contrasting with green ravines and picturesque villages.

A third of the island is under protection as a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. The official natural symbols associated with Gran Canaria are Canis lupus familiaris (Canary Mastiff) and Euphorbia canariensis (Cardón).

Nearly half of the island territory -667 km² (42.7% of island)- is under protection from the Red Canaria de Espacios Naturales Protegidos, Canary Islands Network for Protected Natural Areas. Of the 146 protected sites under control of network in the Canary Islands archipelago, a total of 33 are located in Gran Canaria, the second most protected island in the group.  There are seven different categories of protection:

Six nature reserves -El Brezal, Azuaje, Los Tilos de Moya, Los Marteles, Las Dunas de Maspalomas and Güigüi

-Two integral nature reserves -Inagua and Barranco Oscuro

-Two natural parks -Tamadaba and Pilancones

-Two rural parks -Nublo and Doramas

-Ten natural monuments -Amagro, Bandama, Montañón Negro, Roque de Aguayro, Tauro, Arinaga, Barranco de Guayadeque, Riscos de Tirajana, Roque Nublo and Barranco del Draguillo

-Seven protected landscapes -La Isleta, in the capital Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Pino Santo, Tafira, Las Cumbres, Lomo Magullo, Fataga and Montaña de Agüimes

-Four sites of scientific interest -Jinámar, Tufia, Roque de Gando and Juncalillo del Sur

In the 1960s, Gran Canaria was selected as the location for one of the 14 ground stations in the Manned Space Flight Network (MSFN) to support the NASA space program. Maspalomas Station, located in the south of the island, took part in a number of space missions including the Apollo 11 Moon landings and Skylab. Today it continues to support satellite communications as part of the ESA network.

More information: Visit Canary Islands

Gran Canaria... 

El alma eres de mi tierra fuego y lava junto al mar.

Gran Canaria...

You are the soul of my homeland, fire and lava next to the sea.
 

Néstor Alamo