Canary Islands sugar and wine

The Canaries' first major agricultural enterprise was sugar. Sugar canes sprouted easily on the islands, and during the first half of the 16th century a burgeoning industry developed. Boom turned to bust, however, with cheaper sugar production from Brazil and the Antilles (ironically influenced by the Canaries) and the industry died.

Still, trade links had at least been established with both the Old and the New World and wine became the new venture to bolster the economy. Grapes grown in the volcanic soil produced a distinctive, full bodied malmsey wine (malvasia) which became the fashionable drink of aristocratic Europe. Shakespeare and Voltaire, among others, were lavish in their praise, and today's island visitors can still sample the excellent wine in bodegas, restaurants, or even from the supermercado. Old disused wine presses (lagares) may still be seen on hillsides when touring the islands.

By the end of the 18th century the Canaries were a sufficiently important trading point to attract all types of pirates. In 1797 Horatio Nelson attacked Santa Cruz de Tenerife in search of a Spanish treasure ship. The defenders responded vigorously, accounting for the lives of 226 British sailors and the removal of the lower part of Nelson's saluting arm. The Santa Cruzeros clearly had no hard feelings towards the Admiral, however.

Once it was known that the attack had been repelled, a gift of wine was sent out to Nelson (England was, after all, an important wine market) and a street was named Calle de Horacio Nelson in his honour!

By the early 18th century Canarians had become fully Spanish in both outlook and loyalties, and many volunteers joined the Peninsular War (Spaniards call it the War of Independence) which ended in 1814 with the restoration of Ferdinand VII to the Spanish throne.

Economic problems arose in the early 19th century, and the wine industry started to fail. Luckily another single­crop opportunity presented itself in the form of cochineal, a parasite attracted to the opuntia variety of cactlls. The tiny bodies of the female bugs contain a dark red liquid perfect for dyeing, and for 50 years or so, millions of bugs were crushed for the sake of the Canarian economic good.

The Bug Bubble burst with the rise of chemical dyes in the 1870s. With the failure of yet another mono culture, the Spanish government felt constrained to help the Canarian economy. In the mid- 19th Century free port status was granted by royal decree to one port in each of the islands (two in Tenerife). The lowering of duties and trade barriers at a time of considerable shipping expansion had the desired effect, and Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas soon became two of the world's busiest ports.

The most recent major crop to come from the Canaries is bananas. The variety is dwarf banana, small and very tasty, and today demand actually outstrips production in some areas. The first exports were made in the 1880s and it has continued to be a mainstay of the islands' economy. Despite some recent problems and concern for the future, it is hoped that bananas will continue to be an important Canarian crop alongside their other staples, tomatoes and potatoes.

The main economy in the Canary Islands today is tourism, but agriculture still makes up a large part of the islands´ income.

The Canary Islands and the Spanish Civil War

The plot that sparked off the Civil War was hatched in the Canary Islands. In
1936 a group of senior officers, discontented with the policies of the Spanish
Republican Government, met in secret in the woods of La Esperanza on Tenerife.
They had come to meet a fellow officer, Francisco Franco, effectively banished to the Canaries by the government, who feared his subversive plotting. From the Canaries Franco took off for North Africa, the launching pad for the insurgent right­wing attack.

Three years later his armies had triumphed in a ruthless struggle that cost hundreds of thousands of Spanish lives. The Canaries were not spared the horrors of the war (mass Republican executions took place in the aptly named Barranco del Infierno, the Gorge of Hell, on Tenerife) but on the whole they prospered during Franco's period of dictatorship, which gave added protection to their free port status.

Visitors to the Canary Islands

The massive growth of tourism in the islands since the 1960s has in some cases
literally refaced the landscape, with brand new resorts such as Playa de las
Americas springing up like Gold Rush boom towns. However, such developments
are mostly the exception and whole swathes of even the more developed islands
are virtually untouched, while Gomera, El Hierro and La Palma are only now
starting to provide more comprehensive tourist facilities.

The infrastructure and transport system of the islands have meanwhile improved drastically, and since 1978 regional autonomy has provided the islanders with their long­desired
break (though they are still linked to some extent) with Madrid.

Despite the rapid changes that tourism has brought to the islands, the Canarians
hope that it will not go the way of sugar, wine or the cochineal bug but will
provide prosperity for years to come.

If you are planning to fly to Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Palma or Tenerife, you can find some cheap budget airline flights from most major airports in the UK. Once you reach the Canary Islands, you can choose from a vast range of holiday accommodation in Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and Tenerife, and there are plenty of things to see and do during your stay.