The Guanches
It is assumed that the Guanches (pre-Spanish population) of La Palma have immigrated from North Africa in several waves from about 500 BC. Remnants of the language, traditions, eating habits and the traditional description of the ancient Canarians as tall, light-skinned, Berber-like types... Read more
From Spanish Conquest to Modernity
As soon as the Spaniards had completed the conquest of La Palma, they used the island as an export base for colonial trade and the production of sugar cane. The fluctuations and the dynamic development on the world market of the colonial empires threw La Palma several times in the course of its economic history... Read more
Historical Overview:
| from 1100 BC. | Phoenician sailors in the Eastern Atlantic, possibly also in the Canary Islands |
| from 500 BC. | The settlement of La Palma by Berber tribes from North Africa (several waves) |
| 25 BC. | The African king Juba explores the Canaries (report by Pliny the Elder) |
| 2nd century AD. | Ptolemy draws La Palma (Iunionia maior) on his world map |
| 10th century | Arab seafarers on the Canary Islands |
| 1336 | Lancelotto Malocello lands for the Portuguese on Lanzarote |
| 1447 | Hernán Peraza fails at the conquest of La Palmas |
| 1479 | The Canaries are awarded by the Pope in the Treaty of Alcácovas Spain |
| 1492-1493 | Spanish conquest La Palmas |
| 1496 | The last natives of Tenerife are defeated by the Spaniards |
| around 1500 | First emigrations from La Palma to South America |
| 1500-1550 | Bloom of sugar cane cultivation on La Palma |
| 1550-1715 | Bloom of viticulture |
| 1553 | The pirate François Le Clerc burns down Santa Cruz de la Palma |
| 1585 | The pirate Francis Drake threatens Santa Cruz but does not take it |
| 1657 | Central customs office is moved from La Palma to Tenerife |
| from 18th century | Multiple waves of emigration to South America |
| from 1773 | First democratic citizenship in Santa Cruz |
| 1840-1888 | Bloom of the cochineal lice breed; afterward emigration to South America |
| from 1894 | Banana plantations on La Palma |
| 1898 | Germany, France, and Belgium try in vain to "buy" the Canaries |
| 1927 | Two Canarian provinces: La Palma belongs to Tenerife |
| 18.07.1936 | General Franco is fighting from Tenerife against the elected Spanish government |
| 18.07.1936 | General Franco putsches from Tenerife against the elected Spanish government |
| 1949 | Eruption of the volcano San Juan on La Palma |
| 1954 | (still under Franco): first German tourists land on Tenerife, since 1960 building boom there and on Gran Canaria |
| 1971 | Eruption of the volcano Teneguía on La Palma |
| 1975 | Death of Franco |
| 1982 | Canary Islands autonomous Spanish region |
| 1985 | Inauguration of the observatory at Roque de los Muchachos |
| 1987 | First charter plane on La Palma |
| 1996 | Full integration of the Canary Islands into the EU |
| 2002 | Introduction of the Euro |
| 2003 | All of La Palma becomes a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve |
| 2007 | One of the largest telescopes in the world goes into operation on the Roque de los Muchachos |
