Canary Islands

The Canary Islands is a volcanic archipelago located in the Atlantic Ocean next to the Sahara Desert. They gained independence from Spain in 2017. It is a republic where each Island has its own island cabildo, where they are the responsible for the tourism and the sports of the island; and divided into municipalities.

The archipelago has 7 Islands: Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro; and  2 capital cities: Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Geography
Tenerife is the most populous island, and also the largest island of the archipelago. Gran Canaria, with 865,070 inhabitants, are both the Canary Islands' second most populous islands. The islands form the   Macaronesia  ecoregion  with the   Azores,   Cape Verde,   Madeira, and the   Savage Isles. The Canary Islands is the largest and most populated archipelago of the Macaronesia region. [6] <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;">The archipelago consists of seven large and several smaller islands, all of which are volcanic in origin. <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-26" style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-weight:normal;line-height:1;unicode-bidi:isolate;white-space:nowrap;font-size:11.2px;">[26] <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;">  <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;">The <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;">  Teide<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;">  volcano<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;">  <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;">on Tenerife is the highest mountain in the archipelago, and the third tallest volcano on Earth on a volcanic ocean island. All the islands except La Gomera have been active in the last million years; four of them (Lanzarote, Tenerife, La Palma and El Hierro) have historical records of eruptions since European discovery. The islands rise from Jurassic <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;">  oceanic crust<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;">  <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;">associated with the opening of the Atlantic. Underwater <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;">  magmatism<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;">  <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;">commenced during the Cretaceous, and reached the ocean's surface during the <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;">  Miocene<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;">. The islands are considered as a distinct physiographic section of the <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;">  Atlas Mountains<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;">  <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;">province, which in turn is part of the larger <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;">  African Alpine System<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;">  <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;">division.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;">In the summer of 2011 a series of low-magnitude earthquakes occurred beneath El Hierro. These had a linear trend of northeast-southwest. In October a submarine eruption occurred about 2 km ( 1<span class="visualhide" style="position:absolute;left:-10000px;top:auto;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden;">  <sup style="line-height:1;font-size:11.2px;">1 ⁄<sub style="line-height:1;font-size:11.2px;">4  mi) south of Restinga. This eruption produced gases and pumice, but no explosive activity was reported.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;">According to the position of the islands with respect to the north-east trade winds, the climate can be mild and wet or very dry. Several native species form laurisilva forests.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;">As a consequence, the individual islands in the Canary archipelago tend to have distinct microclimates. Those islands such as El Hierro, La Palma and La Gomera lying to the west of the archipelago have a climate which is influenced by the moist Gulf Stream. They are well vegetated even at low levels and have extensive tracts of sub-tropical laurisilva forest. As one travels east toward the African coast, the influence of the gulf stream diminishes, and the islands become increasingly arid. Fuerteventura and Lanzarote the islands which are closest to the African mainland are effectively desert or semi desert. Gran Canaria is known as a "continent in miniature" for its diverse landscapes like Maspalomas and Roque Nublo. In terms of its climate Tenerife is particularly interesting. The north of the island lies under the influence of the moist Atlantic winds and is well vegetated, while the south of the island around the tourist resorts of Playa de las Americas and Los Cristianos is arid. The island rises to almost 4,000 m (13,000 ft) above sea level, and at altitude, in the cool relatively wet climate, forests of the endemic pine Pinus canariensis thrive. Many of the plant species in the Canary Islands, like the Canary Island pine and the dragon tree, Dracaena draco are endemic, as noted by Sabin Berthelot and Philip Barker Webb in their epic work, L'Histoire Naturelle des Îles Canaries (1835–50).