Lanzarote

:Lanzarote is also the title of a novella by Michel Houellebecq translated by Frank Wynne

History

Lanzarote was probably the first Canary Island to be settled. The Phoenicians were settled around 1100 BC. The Greek writers and philosophers Herodotus, Plato and Plutarch described the garden of Hesperis, the land of fertility where fruits and flowers smell in the part of the Atlantic. The first known recordings came from Pliny the Elder in the encyclopedia Naturalis Historia on an expedition to the Canary Islands. The recordings of the names of then called Insulae Fortunatae were Canaria (Gran Canaria), Ninguaria (Tenerife), Junonia Mayor (La Palma) and Capraria (El Hierro). Lanzarote and Fuerteventura were not mentioned, they were mentioned as archipelago. After the plants were founded on the island, After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Canary islands became abandoned until 999 AD when the Arabs arrived to the island and was known as al-Djezir al-Khalida and other names. In 1336, a ship from Lisbon under the gudiance of Lanzarote da Framqua, alias Lancelotto Malocello. A fort was later built in the area of Montaña de Guanapay near today's Teguise. Jean de Béthencourt arrived in 1402 on a private expedition to the Canary Islands and slavery came to the island as well as raw materials. Bethencourt first visited the south of Lanzarote at Playas de Papagayo. In 1404, the Spaniards with the support of the King of Spain came and fought a rebellion against the local Guanches. The islands of Fuerteventura and El Hierro were later conquered. In the 17th century, pirates raided the island which raided 1,000 inhabitants to slavery in Cueva de los Verdes. In 1730, the island was hit by a volcanic eruption. The eruption created 32 new volcanoes with a stretch of 18 km. The minister of Yaiza Don Andrés Lorenzo Curbelo which was documented in detail until 1731. The eruption lasted for 2,053 days and ended in 1736. The lava covered a quarter of the island's surface, under the most fruitful soils on the island and eleven villages. 100 volcanoes were founded in an area of Montañas del Fuego in which the name originates from the catastrophe. In 1768, the drought affected the island and winter precipitations did not fall. Much of the popoulation emigrated to Cuba and the Americas. Another volcano eruption occurred within the range of Tiagua in 1824 which was not as worse as the major eruption between 1730 and 1736. In 1927, Lanzarote as well as Fuerteventura became part of the province of Gran Canaria.

Related Topics:
Phoenician - 1100 BC - Herodotus - Plato - Plutarch - Pliny the Elder - Naturalis Historia - Gran Canaria - Tenerife - La Palma - El Hierro - Fall of the Roman Empire - 999 - 1336 - Lisbon - Lancelotto Malocello - Montaña de Guanapay - Jean de Béthencourt - 1402 - Playas de Papagayo - 1404 - Guanches - 1730 - 1736 - 1768 - 1824 - 1927

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