Tenerife is the largest island in surface area in the Canaries and is home to Mt. Teide, which, at 3.717 m, is the highest mountain in Spain. The complex nature of access and the rugged landscape have led to the conservation of singular geographical landmarks : the heights of Anaga and Teno, two lost paradises from the Tertiary Age, where native plants thrive and the lie of the land is unique. The crest formed by the north and south slopes is a mountain chain that culminates in Las Cañadas del Teide and determines the island's weather.
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Despite this, as with practically all the islands, micro-climates result in the creation of a miniature continent, crammed with personality, with luxuriant vegetation and scored by complex terraces, where tradition has forced the local people to "construct" their own land by "tricking" the steep hillsides and so be able to grow cereals, vegetables, potatoes, sugar cane, tobacco, vines, yams, onions and tomato plants. And when all that was left was a rocky space, there they built their house. A simple house made from volcanic stone, with a minimum of wood and tiles, giving the impression that it has emerged from the basal pit created by the materials thrown up by the volcano.
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And of course, the north and south are not the same, although both become one in Mt. Teide. Climbing up from the coast, one route takes you scrambling through euphorbias and spurges, across rough hillsides, where the rocks are held together by century-old lichens, up a gentle slope, beginning at the shore, with its black sand beaches. The other takes you through fayal-brezal (shrubs and heath), laurisilva (laurel forest), pine groves and finally brings you to Teide broom, Teide violets and tajinastes (Vipers Bugloss). Here the north-facing shoreline is rugged and battered by heavy seas. These cliffs bear the brunt of the cool trade winds, loaded with moisture which bring wet fronts that colour the cliff tops green and keep the woodlands leafy, until they eventually disappear towards the south.
The Governor Don Alonso Fernández de Lugo and his troops conquered this island, the largest in the Macaronesian archipelago of the Canaries, for the Crown of Castile on 25th July 1496.
With a surface area of 2.036 km2 and a resident population of 650.000 inhabitants, this island is made up of 31 boroughs.
The varied weather makes it attractive and the uneven mountainous terrain means that it is a magical paradise, enigmatic and surrounded by mystery. There is a great diversity in native flora and fauna.
The tourist emporiums built up in the north and south for the enjoyment of outsiders, always accompanied by the hospitality and kind welcome of the local people.
There is a strong artistic, historical and musical tradition here..., an important background of folklore and gastronomy, which combines what is native to the island with what comes from elsewhere. Tenerife is a mixture of cosmopolitanism and originality.
In the north-east, the wild, precipitous and open Anaga peninsula is home to the island's capital city, which lies on the southern side, at the foot of the central mountain chain.
