Eight Canarian Islands – That the Canary Islands consists of seven islands has been a thing of the past for some time.
In 2014, the Canarian Parliament unanimously approved the proposal that the island of La Graciosa be considered an independent island with its own legal entity. Four years later, on 26 June 2018, the Senate unanimously approved a Popular Party motion recognising La Graciosa as the eighth inhabited island of the Canary Islands.
This means that the Canarian archipelago was expanded and its smallest brother is now counted as a full family member with the rest of the family. The number of Canary Islands is eight. This took some getting used to!
Cute island
Today, people still talk about the seven Canary Islands. Even explanatory internet literature such as Wikipedia still talks about seven rather than eight Canarian Islands.
La Graciosa, part (municipality) of Teguise, in turn the capital of Lanzarote until 1852, has always been administratively dependent on Lanzarote. Geographically, too, it was always named in the same breath as the island on which it depended. La Graciosa is the only one of the smaller islands that is inhabited; Alegranza, Montaña Clara, Roque del Este and Roque del Oeste are nude islands that, together with La Graciosa, are part of El Parque Natural del Archipiélago Chinijo.
The cute island lies 2 kilometres north of Lanzarote and is separated from it by the Rio strait. The island is mainly covered in volcanic sand and only 700 people live there. People live off fishing and tourism. One mountain overlooks the island; Las Ajugas is 266 metres high.
Gracioceros
Residents of La Graciosa, also called Gracioseros, handed over a petition to the island government of Lanzarote and the Canary Government in spring 2013. With 8,000 signatures, they conveyed their wish for Islota La Graciosa to be the eighth island to be added to the archipelago as a fully inhabited island. The signatures were collected at the town hall of Teguise, the municipality to which La Graciosa then administratively belonged.
Over a year later, in a parliamentary session, the proposal was passed unanimously. Never before has unanimity been reached on a politically sensitive proposal, said Chamber president Antonio Castro. The decision was voted on 23 October 2014 at 10.45 am at a full plenary session. Thus, La Graciosa was on a sigh to be recognised as an autonomous island with a single local entity status with the legal personality of an inhabited island. Legal gibberish to say that La Graciosa will soon become a full-fledged eighth island.
Approval
The Gracioseros can then decide for themselves whether they are satisfied with all the proposals approved in the initiative. Among other things, the approved text speaks of a village, but a law will also be voted on soon that will offer municipalities a larger scope. This would then fit perfectly within the framework of the new identity with decentralised powers.
Paradise Island will officially become the eighth island on Tuesday 26 June 2018 after the Senate considered the dossier and the motion by the political party Partido Popular. The tiny island that houses the villages of Pedro Barba and Caleta del Sebo is called la octava isla canaria habitada by Canarians.
Wish list
For La Graciosa, this is the chance to put itself in the limelight and be able to take its own initiatives to promote tourism as a fully-fledged tourist attraction. They can also now decide on a cemetery, roads, agriculture, livestock farming, waste management or implementation of alternative energy sources. Even a helicopter pad is on the wish list of the ‘Gracioseros’.
Only administratively will they continue to lean on Lanzarote, now the big brother. There will be no town hall on the tiny island and no administrative services either.
The Canary archipelago is now in balance, the position is equal: 4 islands form the western Canary province and 4 islands the eastern one. Nice balance!
More History [HERE]
Geology.com © Photography
Eight Canarian Islands ©
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