General Information

Volcanic landscapes
The Canary Islands lie near the northern coast of Africa surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. The islands autonomous region is made up of seven large islands: Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma, la Gomera and el Hierro. and other smaller ones, such as Graciosa, Alegranza and Lobos. The coasts are blessed with vast sandy beaches full of outstanding reefs, capes and bays. Nevertheless in some areas along the western and northern coasts of Gran Canaria, there are many cliffs and steep rock faces. The Canary Islands is characterised by its volcanic scenery. This can be divided into three different regions: the central islands, the eastern islands and the western islands. The volcanic activity of the past has created a most peculiar landscape on the islands, with craters, volcanic cones, volcanic rocks, tubes etc. The island's most emblematic natural landscape has to be mount Teide which, standing at 3,718 metres high, is the tallest mountain in Spain. In order of importance are Blanca mountain (2,743 metres) and Viejo peak (3,100 metres). The island's geography and low rainfall ensure that there are no major rivers of note.

Transportation

Network Connections
The autonomous region of the Canary Islands has an excellent network of sea and air routes, which are more modern and developed than the network of roads given the islands mountainous terrain.

The main ports in the islands are those of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas. The busiest airports are Los Rodeos, Reina Sofia, Gando (Gran Canaria) and Lanzarote airport. Given that the Canary Islands have to cope with some of the largest tourist numbers in all of Europe, the airports and seaports have excellent facilities, and have regular connections with the mainland and the rest of Europe and America. There are also air and sea links between the various different islands in the archipelago, as all of them have airports.

Administration

The Canary Islands government
This autonomous region is made up of two provinces. The first is Santa Cruz de Tenerife, consisting of the islands of Tenerife, La Palma, la Gomera and el el Hierro. Its capital is Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The other is Las Palmas (islands of Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura) and whose capital is Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

The Autonomy Statute was approved for the Canary Islands in 1982. The Regional Government of the Canary Islands is made up of President, Vice President and various regional ministries.

Population

Densely Populated islands
The population of this autonomous region according to figures from the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE) as of the 1st of January 2004, after having reviewed the Inhabitants register, is 1,915,540.

The population breakdown of the islands is as follows: Tenerife: 812,839, Fuerteventura: 79,986, Gran Canaria: 790,360, Lanzarote: 116,782, La Palma: 84,282, la Gomera: 21,200 and el Hierro: 10.071. The main cities in the region are: Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, La Laguna, Telde, La Orotava and Arrecife.

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