Lanzarote

Lanzarote is strange and bizarre, comparable to a moon landscape. No green areas, just a few trees, plenty of black magma. A brittle beauty, black. Shaped by elemental powers. Serpentines for sport addicts. The fire of the earth created an island of nature miracles. Lanzarote, only 125 km from the African mainland and therefore the most northeastern island of the archipelago, is, with its 795 sqkm the fourth biggest of the Canary Islands. This island leaves nobody unimpressed. Some of the visitors come year after year, addicted to its magnificent charm. Others are shocked by all the rock, heat, solidified magma and the meagre landscape under a burning sun. It is noticeable that under this islands, there boils the volcano – at the moment luckily at a very small flame. It is especially this dryness and brittle landscape that attracts the tourists apart from the beaches and the sea. The senses are provoked by the elemental powers. Fire and water are next to each other. Because Lanzarote is apart from being volcanic, of course, also a beach holiday destination.

Unlike in Fuerteventura there are, apart from the foreigners who have their permanent residence here, plenty of people who don't live of the tourism. The natives near the coast are still fishermen and further inland near the white villages one will still find a strange, traditional kind of agriculture. Nowhere else in the world is vine cultivated the way it is in Lanzarote. The vines are grown in funnels of clinker each surrounded by a little wall. The clinker collects the dew and the funnel directs it towards the vines. The hotels are still not high here, the landscape is mostly preserved. The charm of the island is created by a combination of the primeval, volcanic nature, the tranquil life of the natives, the sea and the reasonable way of dealing with tourism. Costa Teguise and Puerto del Carmen are the touristic hotspots of this individual island which is biosphere reservation protected by the UNESCO.

Despite the fact that the island is only approx. 60 km long from Northeast to Southwest and only 20 km wide from east to west there are still very contrasting landscapes: Endless clinker- and ash fields are covering especially the western parts like the Montaña del Fuego – the fire mountains. These are also Lanzarotes national parks. The south is dry and sparsely populated and very popular with the tourists because of its beautiful golden beaches around EL Papagayo. The centre of the island is famous for its strange vine cultivation around La Geria and disperses in the east into the tourist centres Puerto del Carmen and Costa de Teguise which frame in the capital of Lanzarote, Arrecife.

The north around the village Haría is unexpectedly green and sumptuous and forms the agricultural part of the island. And one mustn't forget the three little islands La Graciosa, Montaña Clara and Alegranza, which seemed to be spots of colour detached from the pallet of Lanzarote.

There are several theories about the origin of the name of Lanzarote: Antonio de Nebrija derives 'Lanzarote' of the words 'lanza' (lance) and 'rota' (broken), because the conqueror Jean de Bethencourt broke a lance when he landed on the island. Though this theory sounds very nice it is far from proven and also unlikely since the Spanish word for broken lance is 'lanza quebrada'. Another theory claims that 'Lanzarote' in Latin is a kind of resin or rubber. There are plenty of bushes called 'Tabaiba' on the island, which produce a sweet and thick sap, which could have given the island its name. Yet another variation is the following: In the 13th century there lived a trader from Genoa called Lancilloto Maloxelo. He used to travel to an island, which was called Tytheroygatra by its natives. He did business with the inhabitants of this island for 15 years and then named it after himself: Lanzarote.

According to first visitors of this area there were 6 Canary Islands without the 5 smaller islands, which form the Chinijo archipelago. It is believed that the islands Lanzarote and Fuerteventura were connected then (these two islands and Lobo are not separately mentioned). There used to be a big wall in Lanzarote, which split the island in two halves. This permits the conclusion that there were two kingdoms. The people used to travel to the mountains for sacrifice rituals with raised hands and spilled cups of milk. A crown was found of which it is believed to be the crown of the first king who managed to unite the two realms. The crown is made of goat leather decorated with shells. On the 7th of September the corsair Calafat attacked the island under the order of the king of Fez. He had nine galleys with seven flags and 600 marksmen. The count of Lanzarote could capture one flag and kill 50 pirates but the pirates destroyed the whole island and took more than 90 prisoners. At the end of 1586 the Algerian corsair Argelino Morato attacked the island with seven galleys 800 soldiers and 400 Turks. After he attacked the Castillo de Guanapay twice he could be defeated but with the loss of the governor Diego de Cabrera Leme. Morato burned vast amounts of wheat and barley and also all the files and letters of the officials. Therefore no documents or manuscripts could be saved.