People from a foriegn land - but less than you might imagine.

 Still here.



Back to the past. From 1833 to 1927, Santa Cruz de Tenerife was the sole capital of the Canary Islands. In 1927, the government ordered that the capital be shared with Las Palmas - which is what happens today,  This change in status has encouraged development in Las Palmas.


Tourists began visiting Tenerife from Spain, the United Kingdom, and northern Europe in large numbers in the 1890s - although obviously not the hoi polloi   The northern towns of Puerto de la Cruz and Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Did well out of it.  Independent shipping business, such as the Yeoward Brothers Shipping Line, helped boost the tourist industry during this time, adding to ships that carried passengers. The naturalist Alexander von Humboldt toddled up to the peak of Mount Teide and remarked on the beauty of the island - which helped.





One of the titles Francisco Franco didn’t have put on his ‘I’m a big boy’ Valle de los Caídos tomb was Miss Canary Islands.  It was awarded to the Dictator with Daddy Issues by his fellow plotters because he wouldn’t commit to the coup d'etat until late on in the process.  He was posted to Tenerife in March 1936 by a Republican government who were, rightly, sure he was a wrong ‘un and wanted him away from the mainland.  With the help of a British hired Dragon Rapide he was flown to take part in the attempt to stop the Twentieth Century happening in Spain.



The 1940s and the early 50s were miserable. Thousands of the island's inhabitants to emigrate to Cuba and other parts of Latin America.  It is estimated that 16,000 people left the Canary Islands clandestinely by boat attempting to reach Venezuela - with up to a third dying en route.  This didn’t stop the population growing, even then. |The advent of the jet airline brought second homers and holiday makers south.  



The population numbers around 967,000 [July 2025].  As of 1st January 2024, 22.6% of the population in the Canary Islands were born outside Spain, marking a 5.8% increase compared to the previous year.  Among foreign nationals, the largest group hails from Venezuela, accounting for 3.7% of the total population. Other prominent nationalities include Cubans (2.6%), Colombians (2.2%) and Italians (1.9%). The Brits and Germans were in 3rd and 4th place in 2018 - a long way behind Venezuelans.  Tenerife itself has a foreign-born population rate of 24.7%, placing it behind Fuerteventura (38.4%), Lanzarote (33.2%), El Hierro (30.5%) and La Gomera (25.4%) in terms of the proportion of non-Spanish residents.



We will move tomorrow, honest.


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