The island located farthest north and west of the
Canary archipielago, La Palma is perhaps the most scenic of the 7
islands.
One of the last islands to be conquered by the Spanish
towards the end of the 15th century.
Although the Spanish declared the island conquered
in 1492, the locals continued to rebel and hold out in the Caldera
de Taburiente mountains. Alonso Fernandez de Lugo of Spain tried numerous
times to locate and defeat the rebels without success. Eventually,
Alonso Fernandez convinced the rebel leader to meet with him to nagotiate
a treaty. At the supposed "signing of the treaty", Alonso
massacred the rebel leader and his army thus finally taking over the
island of La Palma.
La Palma's main appeal tp its residents, then and
now, has been it's ideal climate, the best of theislands for farming
crops. In the 16th century sugar cane was planted. Vines and wine
were also established along with the port in Santa Cruz de La Palma,
the island's capital. By the 18th century, the port in La Palma was
one of the most important in the Spanish empire.
In the 19th century, one of the most important crops
on the island was the "prickly pear tree", famous for producing
dyes. Banana plants were introduced to the island and ship-building
became important to the island. Throughout the centuries the population
grew from 20,000 in the late 18th century to over 80,000 in the year
2000.
Today, the base of the economy of La Palma is its
banana plantations with some 130 million kilos exported each year.
Farmers also rely on goat-breeding and cultivation of avocado, tobaco,
silk and vineyards for La Palma's wine.
Covered more within the site are the volcanos of
La Palma but the last erruption took place in 1971, lasting 25 days
in the south of the island from the volcano "Teneguia"