YourHolidays - Fun Facts about Canary Islands

We have some interesting and fun facts about the Canary Islands you might not know.

- Roque Nublo: It used to be a fabulous phallic shaped rock, a holy monument, the place to make sacrifices to the sun god. Now Roque Nublo (or Cloud Rock) is the iconic site of the island of Gran Canaria. It stands proud to an impressive 1,813m (5,948 ft) above sea level, making it one of the largest free-standing rocks in the world.

- The warm waters surrounding the Canary Islands attract lots of different marine wildlife, including many whales and dolphins that live there permanently, so you're pretty much guaranteed to spot some!

- Nelson lost his arm here. It was at the battle for Santa Cruz in Tenerife where Nelson lost his arm in 1797. He also lost 400 men in the battle, unsurprisingly he lost the battle.

- The Canary Islands have the highest point in the Spanish territories. At 3,718 metres (12,198 feet) high, Mount Teide is taller than any of the mountains on the mainland, including the Pyrenees.

- Mount Teide is the highest mountain in all of Spain but did you know that it is the 3rd highest volcano in the world when measured from its base at the bottom of the sea?

- Christopher Columbus used the islands as a stopover on his way to the Americas.

- The islands were also colonised concurrently with the American continent, and there are lots of parallels to be found in architecture and accents with modern-day Latin America.

- The Guanches, the original aboriginals’ peoples of the Canary Island built pyramids and prayed to various gods, demons and spirits. Some of the pyramids still remain in Guimar closer to Candelaria Fuerteventura and today are a popular tourist attraction.

- The island is named after dogs, while you might think the Canary Islands are named after canaries, the name Gran Canaria is probably derived from the Latin name Canariae Insulae meaning “Canine Islands”. 

There are a number of alternative theories as to why the island was named after dogs, including that it contained lots of large dogs, or that the original inhabitants worshipped dogs and also that Romans named them after the seals they saw there – aka “sea dogs”. 

The birds are named canaries after the islands and not the other way round since they originated in the Macaronesian Islands which include the Canaries as well as the Azores and Madeira.

- There is a theory, although for many a legend, which says that the Canary Islands were part of the lost civilization of Atlantis.

- The island of Fuerteventura has been declared a Bisosphere Reserve.